Subaru :: 2003 - Intermittent Starting And Idling Failure
Nov 24, 2012
I have a '03 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport thing with the 2.5L boxer engine, standard, with 160,000 miles.There is an intermittent starting and idling failure that i thought started because of the colder weather rolling in(25 at night 35 during the day). When I turned the ignition to start it, there was a huff, it sounded like it would start, but it would simply shut down after about one second. If I depressed the throttle it would run at 1.5k rpm but only with my foot on the pedal. If i took it off it would die. Here's where it gets odd. The other night I had been getting rid of some rust on the undercarriage and so i kept the car indoors overnight. In the morning it started fine, and ran fine for an hour. I parked it and went to run an errand. 20 minutes later when i got back into my car to start it, still warm, it was 49 degrees outside, i started it and it went dead again. The same happened two days later after I had driven it out of the garage, I drove it for about 20 minutes, got out for less than five minutes, and when i got back in, it did the same thing twice. My uncle says it could be a hose leak.
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I just took my 2009 Subaru Forester (80,000 miles) in to a mechanic because it was having an intermittent power steering assist failure during low speed maneuvering (i.e., parking lot). This is always accompanied by a loud rhythmic whining form under the hood (kind of like a whaawhaawhaawhaa). By intermittent, I mean maybe 50% chance of it happening when I am maneuvering in a parking lot. By failure, I mean I can still turn the wheel but it's much harder. The mechanic diagnosed it as the following:
dry rot in drive belts, recommended replacement
leaky rack and pinion, recommended replacement
2 leaky front struts
I checked my power steering fluid before I brought it in and the level/color looks great. The mechanic said in addition to the leak that there's a little bit of a catch in the steering at a certain steering position when going faster, but I haven't noticed it myself. I have trusted this shop in the past and had good experiences, but there has been a lot of turnover lately, so I'm unsure of what to do. I went ahead and had them change the belts, but decided to wait on the rack/struts until I did more research/got a second opinion.
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'98 Subaru Legacy L, Automatic Tran., 2.2 L, ~140,000 mi. (a youngster)
My issue is with intermittent/delayed starting. What happens is that when I turn the key, the starter solenoid will click once. Eventually after several tries of turning the switch, it starts, usually with some hesitance. When I try to start, I don't hear anything laboring like the starter Bendix grinding against the flywheel, just click and nothing. I did have the CEL come on once for like 40 minutes and then go out. Once started, however, the car tends to run well and once warm starting is still hesitant, but is quicker. Did conk out on me once at an intersection, was able to restart. Luckily I can walk to school, so I have been keeping it off the road.
As far as troubleshooting goes, the car has the same difficulty starting in neutral as well as park. Within the past year I have replaced the alternator (died), timing belt (routine maint.) as well as the battery (bad). I have also reseated all the ground wires and coated them with dielectric grease. A few months ago, I took the starter out and had it bench tested as good at a "popular auto parts store" in my region - it tested good (starter readily turned over and the Bendix deployed and retracted). Funny thing, when I pulled the starter and replaced it after being checked, the car started flawlessly for a month or so, so I chocked it up to a bad connection. Guess not.
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New ghost in the machine.
Pulled out of the driveway two days ago to go trailer a wrecked car home. Got about half a mile up the road, and my electrical system started flickering. Engine died, dash went nuts, everything is clicking on and off real fast. This went on for a minute or two, then stopped. After a little internal debate, I decided to continue on.
Ran fine for another mile or so. Hitched up the trailer and checked the lights, everything A-OK. Started rolling down the lane and the truck went dark. Engine shut down, no sign of electrical power anywhere. It was as if my batteries had been suddenly abducted by aliens. Truck stayed dark for about 5 - 10 seconds, then like a switch was thrown all the electric came back on. Dropped the trailer and drove back to the house without incident. Not towing a car like this.
Checked the battery connections. Looked really good and tight. Pulled and cleaned them anyways.
Pulled the fuse box out from under the dash and looked for water damage. Absolutely no sign of moisture or corrosion anywhere on the box or anything else under the dash.
Started the truck and turned every electrical item I could think of on. Truck sat and idled for 15 minutes without a hiccup. Voltage at the batteries was normal. I wiggled wires everywhere with no effect.
Decided to quit for the night. Got into the truck to move it to it's parking spot and POOF, all went dark again. Engine died, heater blower, radio, headlights, interior lights, all dark. About 5 seconds later, everything came back online.
No CEL. No other symptoms. She was either running perfectly or had no juice at all.
I drove it last night to the mechanic I use. 7 miles, bumps, potholes, stop and go traffic, no issues.
Just spoke with the mechanic. They can't reproduce the problem. I told him I can't reproduce it on demand either. I asked that they put it up on the rack and check all the ground points.
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I have a Ford F150, 2003. I replaced the switch above the master brake cylinder just a few months ago soon after I bought the truck. I put 17" rims and new tires on my truck and now my cruise control works intermittently. It worked fine before then.
Can there be a connection between the intermittent failure of the Cruise and the larger rims and tires? I know my speedometer is off by about 4 MPH at 55 but I expected that.
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I have a 2003 Subaru Forester. It will cool just fine while not moving. It will also cool just fine if I'm coasting down a hill with my foot off the gas. However, on the highway I have intermittent cooling. It cools for 10-15 seconds and then it blows what feels like straight vent for 10-15 seconds. It has a new compressor, receiver/dryer, and expansion valve and is fully charged.
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Have an '03 Subaru Outback Ltd. 184k miles. Great car all in all. Has been burning 3-4 qts oil between changes every 3-4k miles. Stated idling rough after warms up [intermittently], slight 'shimmy' at stoplights. Check engine light on always, flashes at times when warms up but even then doesn't flash all the time. Took it to dealer for upcoming smog check, have a bad oxygen censor and possibly bad catalytic converter, but also said low compression no.2 cylinder--which is what I'm wondering about.
Without further diagnostics they're talking about perhaps new pistons, and/or valve job and/or short block rebuild. My questions are 1-is there any more diagnostics possible to narrow it down without pulling it apart? and 2-is it worth a rebuild or should I sell? Great car otherwise, they're talking 3-5k range for repairs, blue book on the car is 4-6k rough estimate? Been a great car all in all, aside from clutch replacement this is the first major repair issue.
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My 2003 Chevy Malibu recently, out of nowhere, starting idling really hard. It shakes and jumps quite a bit when it idles, much like a car creeps when it's about to run out of gas. It drives fine at speeds over about 10-15 mph, but then when it slows down it gets shaky and bumpy.
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I have a 2003 Impala 3.4 with an intermittent starting issue. It starts perfectly every morning but after it is hot and I park it over 15 minutes or so it will sometimes not start. All the regular dash lights come on as normal but when the key is turned it does not even try to turn over, it is just silence, To get it started I have to hit the column shift lever upward several times and then it will kick right off with no hesitation. Sometimes I have to turn the key 10-20 times to get it started also. I had the battery, starter and alternator tested under load and they are all fine. It is not the security problem either that many impalas have. The only code I have is a PO 336 for crankshaft position sensors. Is there some kind of linkage in the column that could be worn that could cause this?
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2001 F150 ... I'm having trouble with my truck starting after its been running for awhile and then I shut it off.... I have to let it sit for a few min. Before I can crank it again and it will start. I was driving down the road and it just died on me the other day that's what started all this...
The fuel pump and filter was already replaced and I just replaced the cam and crank sensors ... but its still acting up...... I'm not sure where to turn next... No check engine light ..... I have a scan tool and checked for soft codes but nothing.
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2002 7.3 PS TD.
Lately sometimes when I get in and start the truck all is well. Then the next time it will spin like a top, but not fire. New batteries. Then it will fire right up. It may go a few weeks, or days, then it happens again. Temperature does not seem to be a factor. It also doesn't matter if the engine is hot or cold. Once when rounding a corner at low speed, it just died, then started right up.
I recently changed the fuel and air filters. I think the glow plugs are getting old. In cool weather I turn the key on for about 1 min. before cranking. I have 110,000 on the engine with all original parts.
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My 02 f250 w/ 7.3 won't start. Cranks and nothing. No smoke or anything. For the last year It has had a intermittent starting problem, where I would drive it for 15-20 mins. If I shut it off like I would if I was at the fuel pump and then restart it, it wouldn't. I'd have to wait 30 minutes with a hood open and then it may start. Other times I would have to wait hours.
I tried replacing the crank position sensor, the fuel pump and filter.I did all this in the Last 300 mile . There's No change. After a week or two of sitting it won't start. What can I check and what can I try.
To add more info. Since I am not the original owner I pulled the computer that is located behind the ebrake to see if someone else had installed a chip, as I've heard that if that chip goes bad then the truck won't start. I disconnected that battery and pulled it. Negative on any chip. Put it all back together and tried again. No start. I borrowed a code reader tonight and pulled a P1280 code. I'm back to square one.
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For the past 4 mornings when leaving for work my compass (not satnav) in the MFD has been wrong. It has only said N or NE regardless of which way I am traveling.
I have about an hour-long trip to work. The car sits for about 4 hours then for lunch IT WORKS. For the trip home IT WORKS. Then the next morning... CRAP. I've tried shutting off the car and restarting first thing and half way through the trip. I've also tried stopping for 20 minutes on the way in.
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I have a 2013 prius v 5. I bought it new from the dealer, and it has now 40,000 miles.
Lately, I've been having intermittent power failure problems.
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The A/C on my 2009 Honda CRV fail intermittently. I've had the system recharged, checked for leaks, and a relay replaced. Here's what's been happening... only during really warm weather sometimes the A/C just starts blowing hot air. Normally when this happens it resumes working the next day. One time I engaged the defrost and cold air blew out the windshield vents, when I then pushed the a/c button cold air came out the face vents. I was never able to reproduce this though. Also, a few days ago when the a/c failed I deselected the a/c control button and suddenly the air went from hot to ice cold - with the a/c off!
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I'll be driving the car fine, but after driving for maybe 10+ minutes and then stopping for 20-30 minutes, my manual 2002 Mazda Tribute DX (about 126K miles) won't start. It doesn't act flooded at all, all I hear is a click. The lights and radio and air conditioning and everything come on perfectly, but it won't start. About half of the time, it won't work at all with repeated attempts but after about 5 min. it'll just start normally. I've towed it to a shop 3 times now, on the first the alternator was replaced, and after about a week the same problem occurred, etc.
My mechanic then thought I might not be pressing the clutch all the way down since it worked right after towing but after about a week (I removed the floor mat and even made a video of me, a relatively large male, pressing as hard as safely possible on the clutch) but it still wouldn't start. It was towed, and now the car is at the shop again but the mechanic can't reproduce the problem yet again. Its battery and clutch were just replaced about a year ago, the connections don't look corroded, and my mechanic's tests on the alternator seem fine. Steering wheel isn't locked, and (supposedly) the shop's tried looking at the starter.
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I have had a problem compounding for about 6 months. The car will not even try to turn over. One day she works perfect, the next day the starter won't even try to turn over. Recently it has been getting worse, I continued to roll start when it wouldn't start and kept driving... but now it will not even try to start at all.
I thought perhaps it was the starter solenoid failing, but when I took it to advance auto parts they tested it and it was functioning just as it should. I then figured it could be the relay, but I can hear it clicking on. What else could it be? I know that the spark plug wires and distributor are all good because I have personally replaced them in the last 6 months. I found some things on the internet referring to a clutch pedal ignition lock switch. Any good way to test it?
[URL] .....
This would appear to be the switch that I have heard of. Can it cause a complete breach of power from the ignition switch to the starter when failing? I will check to make sure that power is not making it to the starter tomorrow... I'm just not that familiar with the circuit.
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My friend's 2012 Elantra's driver's door lock has started acting up intermittently. Sometimes the door locks, sometimes it doesn't. It won't do it on command so it can't be taken to the dealer to be looked at. Has this problem been cropping up on the 2012 models? He has had it for almost 2 years and has about 22000 miles.
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Our 3 day old outback had a failure in the instrument cluster. Dealer will fix it of course, but now it looks like there may be a sticker that has to be added to the car alerting a odometer repair was done. Also not certain if the mileage will be back at 0 or at the <300 we had on there.
What is the hit on value because of this type of repair and the sticker required? I for one am having a hard time coming to grips that there wouldn't be a very negative impact to the value of the car.
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We began to get an intermittent cruise control failure (big exclamation point in the lower left of the MFD and no green "cruise" when the lever was clicked to "on") in my wife's 2007 2.0T Passat several months ago. During the same period she told me that the car occasionally didn't want to crank...although it always started on a second try. Well, to make a long story short, I had the battery replaced at the 60K service a couple weeks ago and the cruise has worked flawlessly ever since.
I put two and two together just before I took it in for service when the car showed failure of the antiskid system in addition to the cruise following a particularly difficult start. Sure enough, the new battery fixed it. Apparently some of the accessory systems go into a failure mode when they don't get enough current on startup.
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I have a 1999 VW Passat that has a problem with its cruise control that two dealers have not been able to solve. Most of the time I cannot engage the cruise control. Other times it will work properly for 30 minutes. On a rare occasion, it will work properly for several hours. It does not seem to matter what type of road I am driving on. On the rare occasions when it works properly, it does not seem to matter if I stop the care and shut off the engine.
It appears is is there are times when it stops working that stopping the care and shutting off the engine is useful when I begin driving again. However, there is nothing consistent about when it fails, and when it again functions. The dealers have said little more than the cruise control is not working. One dealer installed a new break pedal sensor which did not resolve the problem.
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