I bought a 97 impreza L sedan, and had my 94 lego tranny swapped into it. It's all good. After driving for a few minutes, it starts sputtering like it's out of gas. It's not out of gas, and after some research decided to try the coolant temp sensor. It wasn't throwing a code, so I threw a part at it. After plugging in the new sensor, I guess I didn't reconnect one of the hoses, and started the car. it ran for a few then sputtered and died again. I found the hose, put it back where it is supposed to be, and the car wont start. Here is a pic of the hose...

When I took it off, coolant leaked a little bit, and that's all i know about it. What damage could I have caused by running it with this hose disconnected?

 

Thanks!

I don't know what that little hose is for, but would find it highly unlikely that the hose disconnected could cause any damage. The second round of sputtering is prolly a continuation of the first round of sputtering.

 

Suggest you start doing with basic diagnosis....do you have spark at the plugs? Do you have fuel flow? Any chance you are trying to burn old gas that has been in this car for a long long time?

doubtful that caused any major issues.

 

agree with rooster - you need some basic diagnosis done first before we start guessing.

 

has the engine ever run right since the swap was done:

 

"no" - then it's probably something with the swap isn't right, something not plugged in, vaccum leak, etc

 

"yes" - then start with basic diagnosis.

 

does it have spark at each cylinder. fuel at the engine after the fuel filter?

That hose being loose/off wouldn't have caused any damage. That's the thermostatic valve for the IAC. Not the problem.

 

GD

Ok glad I didn't cause any more damage. It's getting spark, runs fine when cold. When it reaches operating temp, it starts sputtering and bogging down. If I give it gas, it dies, and then eventually won't start again until it cools off (it's 110 outside, hasn't started since 11am). I'm sure it will start here in a few hours when the sun goes down. After searching this forum with the symptoms, I decided to throw the sensor at it. No dice. I also may not have purged the air out of the cooling system correctly, but I can't re-do that until it starts. I'm taking it to a shop nearby tomorrow to have them do the obdII freeze frame to see what exactly is happening once it reached operating temp. Thanks guys.

which temp sensor did you replace? the one wire unit or the 2 wire unit?

the 2 prong one, that communicates with the computer, not the gauge.