I know very little about car repair so please forgive this post if it sounds stupid. I own a 1993 SUBARU LEGACY Wagon 4 Cylinders 02212 6 2.2L MFI and recently took put it in the shop for a starting problem. The car will start normally in the morning but after it warms up to normal operating temperature the Check Engine light comes on and if you are sitting at a red light the idle will go up and down, sometimes getting really low where the car nealy dies, then reving up to a higher than normal idle. Then if you stop the car and try to restart it again before it cools down, it either wont start at all or is very rough starting. The shop says its a bad fuel pump and quoted me a price of $350 parts and $200 labor. Is this a fair price? Can anyone tell me where the fuel pump is located on my car? Thanks for any help.

I don't know how the fuel pump can warm up, if it's immersed in gasoline. Of course, I am assuming the pump is in-tank on this model.

 

If it runs good when first started, and can run 70+ mph, then the pump would be putting out plenty of fuel.

 

Have the codes pulled, maybe you have some sort of temp or O2 sensor problem.

I fully agree with Tiny Clark.

It's a temp sensor or crank angle sensor problem.

Maybe the bypass valve on the throttle housing to.

Since the check engine light comes on there are fault codes in the memory.

Temp. fault code is 21.

Crank fault code is 11.

Bypass valve fault code is 24.

 

Feul pump is inside the tank, under the trunk floor on passenger side (LHD) just behind the rear seat. (but also I dont think that's the problem)

 

Luck!

 

Urban.

Your symptoms are exactly what mine were when I had a coolant temp sensor failure.

Go to my site, notes & tips section, engine related. Read the info on how to pull the codes from the ECU. Pull the codes, reset the ECU.......drive the car....then pull the codes again to confirm which ones are truly causing a problem.....report back....and then either replace the part or take it to a shop and tell them "I want you to replace this part" If that's the case I suggest buying the part yourself and giving it to them. Cheaper that way.

Thanks for all the replies. I had first put the car into a auto shop. They said it was an electrical problem so I put it into an electric shop and they did computer diagnostics on it and claimed there were no fault codes and that I needed a new fuel pump. They guy said the fuel pump pressure was too low. Would this necessarily mean that the fuel pump is bad or could it be a bad sensor of some kind sending the wrong info to the fuel pump or computer?

 

I forgot to mention in my earlier post...If I unhook the battery for an hour or two to reset the computer, check engine light goes off and the car will start up fine and sometimes run for a day or two with no problems until the check engine light comes back on....then its back to where it idles strange and wont start, etc.

When was the last time the fuel filter was replaced?

 

It does sound like a coolant temp sensor.

Maybe I'm missing something but a CEL without a fault code seems pretty fishy to me.

I would try replacing the temp sensor (cheap) before putting all that dough on a new fuel pump.

New fuel filter and tune up 2 months ago. Is the temp sensor easy to replace yourself? This is the coolant temp sensor you are speaking of?

Coolant temp sensor.

It's not complicated but a little difficult to reach. It's under the passenger side rear intake plenum. It screws horizontaly towards the front of the engine. Sart looking at the PCV valve, go down from there and towards the front of the engine under the intake plenum.

What you'll have to disconnect to get free access is intuitive.

You'll nee a ratchet extension preferably with a swivel joint.

Hope that helps.

You could also get a second reading of your ECU fault code by someone else. To be sure.

Thanks everyone.