It's happened to a friend's car a few times now... going uphill in a 96 Legacy (150,000 miles) the car stalls out. Pull to side of road. Turn car off few minutes start and all is well.

Any suggestions?

Car has had fairly routine maintenance. Where to start?? There is a post about failing ignition relays but didn't seem isolated to uphill conditions.

There was one with a fuel pickup problem that did that a while ago.

...Pull to side of road. Turn car off few minutes start and all is well. Any suggestions?

...

Clean the PCV valve since that is very cheap. Then clean the IAC valve. If you search you will find instructions for IAC cleaning. Next consider changing the fuel filter if it hasn't been done recently.

 

Any codes?

Does it seem to happen right when you start going uphill or after you're going uphill for some period of time? Could maybe tap in a fuel pressure gauge and tape to outside of windshield to see what happens to fuel pressure going up hills?

Will Autozone free code readers work on a 96? Is this an OBDI or OBDII or an Obi-Wan Kenobi? The owner claims his light is "always" on, that he goes into the shop, they reset it and it comes back on after a while... go figure.

 

Any codes?

Will Autozone free code readers work on a 96? Is this an OBDI or OBDII or an Obi-Wan Kenobi? The owner claims his light is "always" on, that he goes into the shop, they reset it and it comes back on after a while... go figure.

Sure they will, its fully ODBII

my ASE .02 cents lean towards the fuel filter.

I agree, And yes my OBDII readers will do it autozone but only if check engine light is on

the light may "always" be on, but there is a reason for it... though it may not be the cause of the stalling problem. as stated, it defintiely sounds like a fuel delivery problem.

 

how is the performance on flat ground? any trouble hitting/maintaining interstate speeds? if not, then it may NOT be the fuel filter. more likely to be the pickup in the tank... which begs the question. exactly how steep is this hill?

A cheap actron reader from pepboys reads the codes on my '96 legacy with no problem, '96 actually has to be ODBII per federal requirements I believe. I've climbed steep winding grades with this '96 with no issues but with a full tank of gas, maybe if there's not much in the tank it can run the pickup dry?

From personal experience, if there is a scant amount of gas left in the tank, then you can stall the car going uphill on moderate grades. I made the mistake of telling my wife that there was plenty of gas in my Outback for her to run a short errand just a couple of weeks ago. Sure enough, she chose the "steep" route to the store, and stalled it out about 1/2 way there. She called me, I showed up, we pushed the car so it was facing downhill, I promptly started it up and drove home.

 

Boy, was she P.O.'ed! :-\

Jeesh, can't even push a car by herself;)

we pushed the car so it was facing downhill

 

Boy, was she P.O.'ed! :-\

With a dying filter or pump you often get it at speed all the time. If this car has dual pickups and pumps that is more to go wrong. Pickups sometimes rust off a bit high and don't get the last of the fuel on hills.