Outback out
 

2013 Outback

Running fine until it wasn't yesterday. Wife texts me midday that it's hard to start, idles rough when it does and nearly stalls when leaving from a stop. Runs fine at speed. Hard start = cranking fine, just not catching for a while. Quick internet search finds a common Subaru issue with forgetting how to idle with a 45 minute process to get it to relearn. She doesn't have time for that.

Later, check engine and other dash lights go on and car starts to run slightly better. Quick internet search says gas cap. She put gas in the previous night. She checks cap and says its fine. I tell her to disconnect battery for a few moments when she can. She does that later after getting back to the house. Next start was harder than before and she couldn't get out of the driveway without stalling.

I got home and tried to start it. Cranked fine but wouldn't catch. Almost, but not quite. Tried again and after a few seconds it sounded like it was almost catching, I gave it gas and it started. Idled rough. Shut it off and ran through the 45 minute procedure (disconnect battery for 30m, idle for 10, turn off, idle for 5 more). To get it to start, I had to give it gas. You're not supposed to touch the accelerator during the procedure, so that may have kept from being able to do its thing. :dunno: When idling, it felt like in a cammed 60s muscle car with a lopey idle with a lot of low amplitude vibrations, but unlike them, it's not supposed to do that.

Towed car to the shop that fixed the car both times it was wrecked (they do both body and service) this morning. They haven't figured it out yet (they've had it about 5 hours). They asked if we'd had any significant work done recently, which it hasn't. It's not throwing any codes. Battery's fine and it's charging okay.

This is what I'm thinking: sensor (cam, crankshaft position, etc), ECU, something in the fuel delivery system, or simply bad gas (she was 35-40 miles into the new tank of gas). Maybe some kind of blockage in air intake?

Any other thoughts?

Ugh. What a pain.

I thought Subarus were supposed to just work.

Sort of does sound like bad gas, especially given the timing. If it was a sensor, wouldn't it be throwing a code?

No chance she put diesel in the car? :ack:

Shouldnt fit

It will eventually register a misfire code if it's idling that badly. It should have stored codes in it (CEL came on) even though you disconnected the battery. I'm not understanding why it doesn't.

It sounds like a bad crank sensor to me. Bad cam sensors will usually cause hard starting but once the engine figures out where TDC is it should ignore the cam sensor for the most part.

Drive it around until it throws a code. It might take ten miles or so.

Odd similar story. When I was working on Matt's 330i, the first drive after I had done all the work on it went fairly badly. It had a bad misfire, and it wouldn't throw a code. I pulled all the plugs and they looked fine. I pulled all the coil packs and they looked fine and ohmed out okay. Eventually it threw a CEL for cylinder 4 misfiring but I had to drive it for 5-6 miles. It turned out that hole had a bad spark plug (brand new!), the ceramic insulator had a tiny hairline crack in it.

The point of taking it to shop was to get it fixed quick. If I knew they wouldn't have it diagnosed by COB, I would have kept it and bought a crank position sensor and (based on above reminding me it's time for plugs anyway,) new plugs this evening and seen if that worked. If not, tried whatever else simple I could do over weekend and tow it Monday if it still wasn't working.

Now she's getting worried about what she's going to do Monday with a bunch of places she needs to drive to. Hmm, I have the fuel pump I think the Miata needs. It's only been sitting for five years. It couldn't possibly need anything else, could it?

In two decades, subaru is the only brand we lost an engine on. At 7xxxx miles.

My aunt lost an engine in her forester. So did a co worker.

Edit for wrong thread

My Dad had his oil drain out of his old subie hatchback in the late 80s. The pressure sensor failed so he never got a warning light. The engine lasted about 15miles

So, apparently, Subaru's run great until they don't

I don't think lupinsea has posted for a while, but...

http://forums.carmudgeons.com/showthread.php?t=84200

This isn't our problem. I checked oil and it was nearly full.

I miss seeing lupinsea's posts!

Not sure it helps, but I have had all of your same symptoms/misfires on our 99 CRV. I pulled the spark plug wires and found 2-3 that were misfiring with a little oil on them... I think that's a valve cover gasket but it is running better after wiping the oil off :dunno:

It really could be bad gas too?

Yeah, I should call him or text him to say WTF. I talked to him about a year ago when I rented a mini excavator to do my own destruction, I mean landscaping at home

I was actually going to ask about Jay/Lupinsea when we talked Jeep's... Hope all is well with him.

They haven't been able to get it to throw a code. They're going to pump the gas out and put in some new gas.

I asked them to go ahead and put in a new crankshaft position sensor and plugs if replacing the gas doesn't work, but they're reluctant to throw parts without any codes at this point.

And my wife is nervously driving the Camaro around today.

She's probably having a blast blowing kisses at truckers and shit.

:bustingup

Try to get him to return, Doug.

He's probably the only member here who "gets" me, LOL.

They say it's a lot better with new gas. Guess we'll find out.

You're on a roll today... :lol:

That did the trick.

Wow.

The gas came from the Sunoco we've bought most of our gas for the last ten years. Hmm.

She is a Jersey girl at heart :dunno:

:lol: