ok guys- im stumped-

i have a friend with a 99 outback 2.5 5 spd

 

she had another mechanic completely rebuild the motor, heads, timing, ect. and has been having a problem with the car randomly stalling

 

it happens every 50-60 miles, at no specific time, she returned it to the original mechanic and they replaced EVERY SENSOR!! on the car, everything, o2s, mass air, coil, everything

 

 

problem still persists- brought it to me, i immediatly notice a main ground not conected, i reconected it, they drove it about 200 miles no issue, then it stalled again, so better....but...

 

after every stall, it will immediatly restart and continue driving no problem.

 

ideas

i can't believe i'm going to say this since i think some folks on other sites put WAY too much value in it, but maybe a couple more grounds???

 

i doubt that will help, but i have noticed there are a lot more grounds on the 00 - 04 ej25 than on the 96 - 98 ej25.

 

perhaps the real problem is a loose connection some where.

 

my other guess was an intermittent fuel pump, but i think that would give you a hard start at least every now and then.

they bought a fuel pump and reley- and want me to install it , but im not a "throw parts at it till it behaves" mechanic

"throw parts at it till it behaves"

 

my first wife insisted i treat her that way. it got expensive and then she got gone..

my first wife insisted i treat her that way. it got expensive and then she got gone..

 

Yes, just like some Subarus, some women can become high maintenance. You just have to be careful which one you want to live with.

If it were fuel related I think you would get that fuel starved sputtering , coughing and loopy idle and thats not what you described. So... I'm thinking ignition. Is the coil connector clean and tight? Tap the coil with a piece of wood while running, maybe an internal short in the coil. The main connectors, are they clean? I know there was a tsb about water draining on them. When it stalls does everything go out? Lights etc?:

does 'every sensor' include the Crank Angle Sensor?

 

some folks have had those be intermittent.

 

any codes retrieved after it stalls?

Just out of curiosity: which ground was the one that "almost did it"?

Good catch on the ground wire problem. Bad engine grounds can cause strange things to happen. I assume when the engine fails it is while moving down the road. The trouble could be with the fuel pump relay and swapping it out is an easy thing to do. Another relay I highly suggest you replace is the Main Relay. Some folks have had a problem similar to this and the trouble was due to that relay being intermittent.

It randomly gives a code for the maf, but like I said,its new. The coil is new also. I puled the plugs on both, cleaned and inspected. The ground that was off was the one under the airbox on the firewall. The one near the starter is ugly-ill clean that next. I'm also planning on pulling the crank and cam sensors to inspect

Dan,

 

You don't have a useful location.

 

But pulling hte crank SENSOR around here often leads to bad things.

 

Perhaps no wonter or salt where you live?

no salt on the roads here, no

ill be looking at the car again next week, ill keep yall informed

MAF sensor code could be broken wires and would cause exactly the type of stalling problem you describe. At random the engine will stall, then restart and keep going like there is no problem.

If the MAF sensor signal breaks the ECU kills the engine. A simple "test" is to unplug the MAF, start the engine, and drive around with it like that, but I wouldn't want to drive 50-60 miles that way.

 

I had this same problem with a broken contact inside the MAF, it was difficult to track down, but wiggling the wire harness for the MAF in just the right way would cause it to stall every time. Replaced the MAF and it fixed it. This could just as easily been a broken wire inside the harness making poor contact.

thats where im looking next, harness

If you haven't eliminated a intermittent Main Relay as a possible cause of this trouble I suggest you do that.

hmmmm...thanks-ill look into that