I have a 1992 Subaru SVX with about 95,000 miles on it, pretty well maintained.

 

For a month or so now I have the strangest problem .. very unpredictably, the engine will just shut down while driving, a little more often when the car is warmed up ... I can shift into neutral and retart, and it's continue on just fine. Sometimes, when i restart it it kind of harrumphs / coughs a bit and dies .. and it may take 5 or even 10 restarts before it catches .. when it harrumphs / coughs, it *feels* like it's realted to the fuel injection or fuel pump. And sometimes when I restart it and then shift into Drive, it's just as I apply pressure to the gas pedal that it dies, which makes me think it is related to the fuel pump or fuel injection.

 

The car runs fine, but this unpredictable shutting down happens quite regularly .. I'd say once or twice in every 3 to 5 mile trip *I don't drive the car further than that, really ,,, mainly because I don't want to get stranded anywhere.

 

I've had it into the garage, and they connected it to the computer and no problems showed up .. and one other time left it running outside a mechanics garage for about an hour .. tends to run just fine while idling.

 

I suppose it may be some electrical thing, with maybe an exposed wired touching something that would cause the shut-down while driving, but that wouldn't really explaining the coughing, as if the fuel pump or line were clogged, when restarting it.

 

Any ideas, or suggestions as to where to look ?

First thing I'd do is replace the fuel filter. See how that acts after that.

First thing I'd do is replace the fuel filter. See how that acts after that.

 

 

Thank you .. I'll try that ...

If your car has a coil pact I think I would check that. The haynes manuel tells how to check it.

Does it seem to happen at a specific throttle position? Maybe a TPS issue? I dunno, never heard of that shutting a car off. What about power going up hills after car is warm? OK there? Sometimes I think crank sensors can begin failing this way too. Any codes stored?

 

I dunno - just some guesses.

 

Carl

I had a similar issue with my legacy. Turned out to be the MAF sensor. The car would just lose power. If rpms were low, it would just die. If rpms were high, I could usually coax it back to life.

Once it's up and running try grabbing the key and jiggling it in the ignition. I've had a few cars where the problem was the electrical conection wearing out in the ignition itself.

 

Keith

Does this car have a distrubuter or a coil pack?

 

It sounds like what ever controls the coil, si on its way out. I had this issue for about a month, it drove me up the wall, and there was no rhyme or reason to it. Finally the pickup in the dist quit, and that was it. Fuel starvation tends to sputter to a stall from starvation, but this sounds like the spark just dies.

 

 

nipper

Many thanks to all who have responded ... it's much appreciated. My mechanic says he will investigate the coil pack / distributor issue, as this seems most likely given the weird symptoms.

 

Oh, and by the way, I love my SVX !

Second on the coil/coilpack issue. My old Sentra did something very similar. Turned out to be a bad coil.

try your fuel pressure regulator as well they can cause the same type of failure

 

regards camo

I am thinking fuel pump related also, though the other suggestions are a good possibility. The fuel pump relay is my vote.