98 OBW Limited, 124K miles. If I need to just move the car out of the garage (so the engine only runs for about 30 seconds), and then I go to restart the engine later that day, it requires excessive cranking and "spits back" thru the intake before it finally fires up. No "check engine" lamp. Runs beautifully after it starts. And I'm over-the-top about proper maintenance and use of genuine Subaru everything. Anyone ever have symptoms like this with yours?

I have had that happen ONE time on the 00 OBW. I started it up, then for some reason shut it off after about two seconds Right after that it was hard to start, took excessive cranking, backfired smoke out through the intake and acted pretty ugly. Got it going and let it run about five minutes, after that it was all right. I got no answers as to why, just wanted to pass on a similar experience. Maybe the computer was confused - who knows?

I have had that happen ONE time on the 00 OBW. I started it up, then for some reason shut it off after about two seconds Right after that it was hard to start, took excessive cranking, backfired smoke out through the intake and acted pretty ugly. Got it going and let it run about five minutes, after that it was all right. I got no answers as to why, just wanted to pass on a similar experience. Maybe the computer was confused - who knows?

 

Yeh, it's almost as if the engine is flooded but I didn't think an engine with (what I hope is) properly functioning fuel injection could do that....

except you dont just get "fuel" from the injectors. you also get fuel from the evap system. When you first start the car, the stored fumes are released into the manifold. Maybe this is where the problem is. Your not running the car long enopugh to burn all the fumes or the evap valve is getting lazy. BUt it sure does sound like flooding. NExt time let the car run a little longer and see if the same thing happens.

 

nipper