any thoughts on this would be great

 

gave this 1999 legacy 2.2 to my mom a few years ago

 

she lives in phoenix, az

 

this past summer she said as long as she parks it in the shade it starts fine

 

if she parks it in the sun it will not start , has to be jumped and then will start and run fine

 

swears if she parks it in the shade it has no problems....

 

it has zero problems in the winter, starts fine every time

 

 

wondering if there is a relay, etc close to the top of the motor that might be affected more by the heat build up...

 

 

the car will go to subiworx in phoenix as soon as it acts up again , but thought i might see if there were any suggestions here

 

thank you

 

 

Heat does wierd things to cars, and in Az it can be dramatic.

 

Subarus are known for having the solenoid contacts go bad with time, and this is about the right age. I would also check the condition of the battery and clean the battery terminals.

 

I am assuming here there is no cranking when she turns the key?

I agree....most likely a battery contact. the ring around the battery terminal will expand in heat and contract in cooler temperatures giving it contact when cool and open circuit when hot.

if not, other possibilities: coil pack could be going bad too. when they get hot they stop working. they are located on top of the engine and will absorb the heat transferred up from the intake manifold and right under the hood. if the vehicle is a dark color this adds to the heat absorption.other things to check would be the fuel delivery system and make sure all is tight as fuel will evaporate out of any leaking areas including leaky injectors causing it to be out of fuel or possibly flooding itself... if this is the case turn the key on without starting it and you will hear the fuel pump prime up for a few seconds. turn the key off and do it again..then try to start it holding the accelerator all the way down to open the intake and allow it to air out.....hope this can help and good luck

how old is the battery? I'd expect a battery may only last 2.5 to 3 years in much of AZ.

 

but more details about the no start could help. Is there any sound, does it crank and sputter....w'ever

unfortunately i am not driving it so hard to get really detailed info

 

my understanding is it acts like the battery is dead but then will start fine whne jumped

 

battery is only a year old and supposedly they checked the wires/connections  etc last summer when it was doing this

 

where is the solenoid located? and interesting thoughts about the coil pack too

I was going to skip hot soak coil issues as they would be hotter in Az with the car running then sit parked in the sun.

http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/m0XR9ZZdUj2NmkY1NM3Dyqg.jpg

 

and

 

http://s214.photobucket.com/user/1320fastback/media/DSC00847.jpg.html

well, if there is a click, but no cranking, I'd definitely consider new plunger/contacts in the solenoid (on the starter)

 

as an experiment, sometime when the contacts are intermittent, a car will start after you whack the starter. Use a piece of 2x4. Try a tap first, then a 'bunt' then, a 'single'.

 

if you literally hear nothing, could be some kinda ignition or neutral safety switch. Though jumping 'shouldn't' help with those failures.

For giggles next time it happens have her put the car in Neutral then turn the key As Texan said show her where the starter is and tell her to wack it as hard as she can (she wont hurt it)

lol, unless the starter is on the top of the motor somewhere, very easy to see etc  my mother is not going to whack it with anything

 

she is not at all mechanically inclined

 

i considered the starter issues also but does seem weird she says as soon as it is jumped it starts

 

if i had it i would just start throwing parts at it, but she is not like that

 

hopefully subiworx will be able to replicate the problem and figure it out

 

i will reply back with the solution once it starts acting up and they see it, wont be long, getting hot here

Actually it will get worse with time. A jumpstart has much more amperage then a single battery and can jump past bad contacts, for now.

I suspect the battery.

I would load test it during a no start episode.

yes on the battery and knowing my mother she probably bought a cheap one lol

 

interesting about the jump starting having more amps etc

 

 

will see what the shop comes up with, just wanted to have some ideas or if it was something easy and cheap i could change out myself

 

may not be quite hot enough here for it to mess up, but wont be long

Bad battery. Heat is the worst for batteries, contrary to popular belief that cold is bad. Heat is worse.

just saw my mother and she said the sometimes the car is fine and then sometimes she drives it somewhere in the summer, parks it for an hour or two and then comes back out and the battery is dead

 

somtimes it will jump and sometimes it is so dead they have to take it to autozone and charge it for a few hours

 

it has doen this with two different batteries

 

it seems to be an intermittent high/fast drain

 

what could be getting stuck and drining a battery that fast? coil??

Thats hard to do from this distance, diagnose it from afar.

 

 

First we need to get away from autozone.  It may not be draining as much as keeping up with the load on some days. Someone needs to test the charging system first, properly.

i agree, dont use autozone for anything

 

the car is 2 hours away from me, so hard to do much with it

 

i plan to go with the car monday to get the timing belt replaced and discuss all this with the shop, no reason they cannot check charging system etc

will fill everyone in on what fixes the problem

Since everyone here has already given good advice (my bet is on the battery too), I'm just going to leave this here:

 

AZ is the pit of hell, with all due respect to where you live.  If one lives in the pit of hell, one needs to expect that bad things are going to happen. 

 

Emily

I don't know how old your mother is. But I know mine is getting up there and regularly does things like leaving door slightly open, or keys in/on.

people have accidentally hit the parking switch on top of the steering column (virgin switch) on many occasions. Might be easy to overlook too.

 

any way, sounds like checking for parasitic drain would be a good idea.

 

consider also, a battery that has had multiple complete drain events will have limited life span.

Edited April 2, 201510 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

all good advice, will go over a lot of this with the shop next week

 

i agree emily, not overly fond of az even though i live here, but this heat is hell on the cars

 

and it does not help that my older mother is not good about taking car of cars, does not know much about them and does only short city trips with it, taking a toll on the car

 

have a lot of stuff to go over on it with subi worx next week, anyone ever used that shop? it has good google reviews....

Lots of short tri[s eh?

 

I would start by going over the charging system with a fine tooth comb. Get a good name brand battery. Decrease tehe Maint inervals on the car and do check the parking light switch on the steering column. Thats the #1 source of a battery killer.