Posting this to help anyone who may have the same problem. 97 OBS, about one out of 10 starts it would act like it flooded and take extended cranking to catch. No codes. Started getting worse till it was every other start. Still no codes. Replaced the Engine Coolant Temp Sensor, problem fixed, been two weeks now and two tanks of gas, mpg is up 3mpg.

What took you to the coolant temp sensor?

 

Nice fix and thanks for the info.

LOL.... I thought I read your gas mileage IS 3 mpg... LOL congrats on the fix!

Spent several hours on the forums here searching flooding/hard start and no code/no start conditions, and one of the possibilities was the ects. Symptoms fit (engine doesnt know how warm it is and compensates with extra gas) and i had a sensor from my parts car. Currently getting 26mpg around town.

Actually it's a common problem/solution on other cars.

 

I used to buy a lot of Saturns cheap due to this. Install eht enew redesigned CTS and often drive the car home.

 

ALso there are 2 CTS's on a Subaru I believe. Because one time I left the one with a spade terminal around #3 intake off when doing a HG job.

The two pin one goes to the computer. And the one pin one goes to the gauge. That's why if the one to the computer fails you still get a good reading on the gauge. An OBD2 reader could easily show that the computer isn't getting the correct reading.

 

I found out about that one spade one too (left it out). Found it out pretty quick when I started adding coolant...