February 13, 200818 yr ok, this is in regards to my 90 Legacy LS...the one that got the engine buried in snow...please bear with me - this might get long... got most of the snow cleaned out the other day - still semi frozen from that adventure! checked all wires, connectors, oil, air filter, etc before trying to start again. everything checked out good - didnt look like I had knocked anything loose other than snow. turned the key and she fired right up! yeah! pulled her out of the garage to clean up the mess and left her running while i tackled that job (check engine light was on, but not overly concerned - kind of expected it after all that snow, and she seemed to be running nice and smooth) figuring i would take her for a run when i finished cleaning up to really dry things out. several minutes go by, just about have all the snow and ice cleaned up and i hear the one thing i didnt want to hear - the car died - no stumble, no cough, just quit like the key had been turned off. so I pop the hood again, grab the air compressor blow gun and try blowing out moisture from the top the block, around spark plugs, wire connectors, etc - easier to remove water than ice... Still no start at this point, but I am confident that she will start again once she cools down. My question is this - do you Subaru gurus think that if I take her out immediatly after restarting that I will have a better chance of keeping her running (ie: rpms up and getting up to full operating temp) or should i be worried about her stalling out on me going down the road??? we are expecting another snow storm late tonight/tomorrow and she might very well be needed in the am (only one with AWD at the moment) so the other half can get to work/home again....Really need her to be running reliably again...
February 13, 200818 yr I know ya checked the distributer inside and out...? If it was me, I'd only take it out if I had a recovery vehicle ready for action, being snow is on the way.
February 13, 200818 yr Author sorry evil - no disty on these cars...but if it did have one,yeah, it would have been checked...
February 14, 200818 yr Author no, havent checked the code - honest truth, not even sure where the plugs are in this car! somewhere under the dash is all I know... have only had this one since last May and havent had any real problems with it till now... so what is a code 23 anyway? oh wait - just got some FSM's the other day - gonna go see if I can find out myself!
February 14, 200818 yr As I recall, code 23 is the MAF. Which is what I think you're having problems with. My car, when the MAF was bad, would run okay when cold then as it got warmer, would start to run worse until it eventually would die on me.
February 14, 200818 yr Author well, not real sure if that is the problem or not - air intake doesnt seem to have gotten stuffed full of snow - and prior to the snow pack it ran fine...(please see the "why I love my Subaru...snow carnage" thread for background info) not to completely discount your theory, but more inclined to think that things are still iced/damp where they shouldnt be - ie: thawing out and getting wet - which leads me back to my original question... My question is this - do you Subaru gurus think that if I take her out immediatly after restarting that I will have a better chance of keeping her running (ie: rpms up and getting up to full operating temp) or should i be worried about her stalling out on me going down the road???
February 14, 200818 yr maybe water got into the tank? Check for basics like spark, and fuel. Stupid question is there gas in the tank?? Could also be water in the tank. You will also notice if you unplug the MAF while the engine is running it will instantly die.
February 14, 200818 yr Unplug the intake connnectors by the battery and take compressed air to the pins and get all the moisture out. Otherwise whatever it is, something warmed up with the block....the snow turned to water and created a water connection electronically that wasnt there when the snow was still frozen. Could be knock sensor too, its right on top of the block and would melt fast...possibly retard/advance timing WAY far and then the engine wont restart cuz its trying to set timing where it last ran at?
February 14, 200818 yr Author thanks for the suggestions so far guys. will be trying to get her back into the garage here in a little bit (if she will start this morning), pull the code(s) to see what it is thinking and go from there...will update later.
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