TheBush Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 I feel like an idiot. lol. 1991 Subaru Loyale 4WD Wagon. Took it to a local shop. First they said the distibutor cap was loose, spark plug wires loose, and spark plugs fouled out. They said thats why it wouldn't start. Well, okay, cool. So as I was driving it away, it died. About a block away. All dash lights came on, car dies. About two mins later, starts up. As I go around a corner, dies again. I coast into a parking lot, and park it. The automotive shop towed it back to their place. Now they say the computer is shorted out. They order a new one, and replace it, and say its fixed. I go down to pick it up. When I get there, they say he just took it for another test drive, and it died again. Im like WTF? But he says, when he was driving it, if he wiggled the wires down by the clutch/firewall and stuff, below the fuse box, it would start back up. Well, my dad drove it home. Drove Fine. Didn't die once. I've been driving it since Tuesday. It has died on me a few times. One time on the free way, just died, but I wiggled the wires, and the thing started back up. Also, whenever I start it up, I have to hold the gas in for about 1 minute or two. It usually dies right away when starting up, until I can get the thing going for a little bit. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 It sounds to me like what I call "magic wire syndrome." Somewhere, there is a wire being shorted out causing your problem. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/search.php?searchid=375884 That is a link to a search on my user name, and the term "magic wire." It may not be of much help finding your specific magic wire, but most of the threads should provide some idea on how to trace them down. First off, try to find a Harbor Freight tools store near you. If you can, go there and buy a cheap multimeter. They cost as little as five bucks or less sometimes, rarely over ten. If there are no harbor freight stores near you, go to home depot or maybe a good parts store and see if they have any cheapies. A multimeter of SOME sort is a MUST HAVE tool for tracing something like this. These wires can be hard to find, and they can be easy. Usually they are obscure, BUT you already have a good idea what general area to be looking in. While you look through the threads that my (brief and lazy) search turned up, make sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page in each thread, and look at the "Similar Threads" feature. those threads often turn out to be more helpful than the ones the search shows up. Hopefully someone has had issues similar, and can chime in and help you. However, with all the wires on a car, the odds are fairly decent that you are the first person to experience this particular wire, going bad and being your problem. The GOOD news is, finding it is the hard part. replacing it is simple as pie. And I still want to get your godforsaken turn signals working. How big a guy are you?? you got any friends that are like, 5'8"??? I would suggest you buy them dinner or a six pack or something (cough cough, what are MY bad habits?) and see if you can enlist some smaller hands to help you with that one :- ) I swear, the blinker is up there. Go buy a new one so you have it in hand to give you an idea what the old one is shaped like, close your eyes and feel the new one. pretend you are blind and feel every detail you can feel. keep in mind the bottom will be attached to a plug, so it will feel different. Anyhow, good luck on the magic wire. Now your thread will pop up on the search, too! Oh, and edit your original post to fix the typo in the subject line. "starting and dieing?" will make more relevant threads appear, under "Similar Threads," on YOUR thread. People can recognize a typo like that, but computers won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Well - required wiggling of wires indicates a short - so start looking for a short or connector corrosion. Any evidence of windshield leakage? I've had water kill stuff under the dash before - killed a flasher module in my Brat..... Hope you didn't have to pay for the retards mistake in replacing your ECU. Those basically never fail. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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