My '98 Legacy Outback was in the shop for headgaskets and belt drive.  When done, I took it downtown for some groceries (20 miles), started back up the hill, 'bout halfway back, car sputtered and died.  AAA took it back to the shop, who installed new battery, which didn't help. Sometimes cranks slowly, won't start, sometimes cranks fast and won't start, sometimes starts right up and runs for some random time, then dies. Sometimes turning on key pins the temp gage, starts both fans, though engine not hot.

 

Shop has no clue, I think the car's cursed.

 

Anybody have any idea?

 

 

 

Lots of possibilities.

Starting at battery power and ground connections, clean and tight.

Next would be the plugs for the engine wire harness on the bellhousing. Make sure they're clean and plugged in all the way.

Check the main ECU ground on the intake manifold.

It's probably the ground from the battery to the engine. It bolts to the top starter bolt. Take that out and clean all mating surfaces of the ground lead until they're completely shiny. Do the same on the battery end. Certainly wouldn't hurt to do the same on the positive lead to the starter.

It sounds like a resistance issue. Try what ^^ said.

 

How many miles?

 

It sounds like a resistance issue. Try what ^^ said.

 

How many miles?

 

 

210k.

I assume the battery contact connections have been thoroughly cleaned. If they haven't already been checked for internal corrosion at the battery clamps I suggest you do that too. I agree with the others that mentioned cleaning the ground connections. Make sure that the smaller power wire from the battery that ties to the main panel under the hood is making a good solid connection.

Some background here...

 

I bought the car cheap with known heating and electrical issues. Took it to a local shop for the head gasket, etc. repair, all went smoothly, they gave me the car back, it went 'bout 30 miles and just died. Back to the shop on a truck. Turned out to have a shorted battery, stuck a new one in, but car would not run continuously, just died at random times, driven or just sitting and idling.

 

Posed the question here, why it does that? Fairtax4me suggested (above) CPU grounding problem, adding new ground from intake to battery cured the problem. So, having cured the problem, the shop tech took it for a spin to be sure, and hit a deer, goodbye hood, grill and right headlights..

 

(sigh)

 

I'm sticking with my original diagnosis, the car is cursed...

Not a good thing for anybody involved with this, including the poor deer.