My Subaru 2000 Outback is dying occasionally when I come to a stop. It will stutter and die. I can restart it and everything is fine. It does not happen everytime, but happens more when I come to stop quickly, less when I come to a gradual stop. What is this?
View 3 Replies2000 Subaru Legacy Outback (or is it Outback Legacy.....I've never known)165000 milesWhite
I have this chronic and intermittent problem with my Subaru. It's been going on for years. I had it to the dealership a few time as well as other mechanics, but of course, it never misbehaves then.
Here's the problem. The car always will start when cold. Occasionally when you go somewhere, primarily short errands etc. the first stop is no problem but when you stop at the next place and come back a short while later (5-15 minutes) it will not start. It does not make a sound. Lights work. The battery is just fine. Stopping on long trips is especially problematic.
At first, it would cure itself after opening the hood, scratching your head, etc. and closing the hood. Or maybe it was slamming the door but you could depend on it starting after some hocus pocus like that. Now it seems to be getting worse. However, there is one thing that so far never fails.... you can jump it and it will fire right up. Remember, the battery is not low, but jumping works.
Actually, the battery is just about a year old. One time it died and when I couldn't get it to start after a long time I thought it was finally my chance to get a mechanic to trouble shoot it. So after towing and about $300 between troubleshooting fees and the diagnosis that the battery was shot, they were confident they had solved the problem. No such luck
I can say confidently that the battery terminal connections are clean and tight. I've checked the wire and mount on the starter too.
I have a newly purchased 2000 subaru outback automatic. I just busted my back doing new front CV Axels, Inner/Outer tie rods with boots and front tires with alignment. The other day when coming to a stop at a intersection she shut off rather abruptly. She started up again right away but its happened a few times. The general consensus is that this typically is an indication of an electrical problem but I have also heard transmission fluid issues and perhaps an air sensor. I plan to do my transmission fluid and see if that does the trick.
View 1 RepliesMy battery has been dying intermittently. Twice after a week long vacation I have come home to a dead battery. No lights were on in the car and no clear source of a leak. It charged up but would die again after 12 to 24 hours of sitting in the driveway. After the 1st episode mechanics said the alternator and all voltage testing was normal so they just replaced the battery. After the 2nd incident I took my car to a new mechanic and they are saying again the alternator is fine but noticed the battery is shorting (alternator output amperage too high and voltage too low - they put in the shop battery and all returned to normal) and they say I need ANOTHER new battery. I have a hard time believing this but no one can figure out why my car battery keeps dying????
View 8 RepliesTransmission issues...2000 Subaru Outback AWD Automatic. Decelerate to a complete stop, and it just shifts to neutral...have to give it some gas before it pops into 1st gear again. Only seeing the issue when I decelerate all the way to a complete stop, or very near a complete stop. No issues with shifting from reverse into drive. Any solution beyond the $1800 for a new transmission?
View 2 RepliesI can do all the basic car maintenance but this has me perplexed and a little frightened ...
My dependable 2001 Subaru outback has been dying after I start it up for the last couple of days. The build up to this was that the headlights have been flickering ever since I changed the fan belt a few weeks ago.
Whats strange is that the car will turn on and run fine until I turn the radio or air conditioner on. A few minutes after doing so I'll hear the weird ambient droning moaning sound start to build up in the speakers of the car - then the odometer starts to go haywire and the car will die if idling.
When I try to start it up again afterward the battery comes on fine but it wont turn over. I don't notice a clicking sound like a starter would indicate but rather an electric-ish sounding hiss. The next day it will start up again. And for what its worth the headlights no longer flicker.
So my daughter has a Subaru Outback with keyless entry and push button start, and her battery kept dying overnight. It turns out that she was keeping her second key fob within 10 feet of the car, so the car's electrical system was kept on all night (sensing that she was approaching the car) running the battery down. The lesson learned (the hard way) was to keep your key fobs far enough away from the car so the electrical system is not constantly energized.
View 7 RepliesIntermittent problem: put car in park and key will turn to off position but not "lock" and therefore cannot be removed. Subaru specialist could not replicate problem, Theories include need a new factory cut key, dirty console, cylinder/steering column tumbler, solenoid, switch , but we think it is some connection between the shifting into Park. Speedometer was replaced about 2 years ago--possibly jumbled something ??
View 2 RepliesI have a 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback that has been having a sporadic starting problem for almost two years. Occasionally and mostly when it's cold, but not always, the car will sound like it's going to start for a second and then go dead. I will have to turn the key over and over, sometimes many times until it "catches". And so far it's always started, eventually. I have a new alternator and battery, the belts are newer, a rebuilt engine with about 50,000 miles and have had the starter and relay system checked, which was okay. My mechanic, who's been working on Subarus for years, is stumped. He says to wait until it happens again and have it towed in so he can look at the car while it's acting up.
View 6 RepliesMy 2016 Outback, 10K miles, occasionally does a weird thing. The dealer is far from us, so I'm putting off taking it in, especially since they will be unable to reproduce this. Every now and then when I try to start it, it does not crank. The dash lights all come on, and dim when I turn it to the start position. But instead of cranking, it just does a soft stuttering click, exactly as if the battery were nearly dead. But if I try a few times, suddenly it cranks perfectly and starts right up.
View 15 RepliesI believe that I have a leaking CV joint boot in my 2006 Outback. Occasionally smell something burning. Lifted hood and had some smoke. Saw leak and a friend stuck a finger into a hole in the boot.
View 9 RepliesI have a 2000 Subaru Outback with a little over 162,000 miles. About 3 years ago I had the head gaskets replaced. This past March the car started over heating while on the highway driving back to Boston from New Jersey. It has been doing this intermittently since then, and I have had two mechanics look at it.
The first mechanic, who is my beloved mechanic in Maine (where I am originally from), checked the sensors and relays. He even replaced the relays for free, and it still overheated on the way back from Maine to Boston. Needless to say I did not give him enough time to really look at my car to figure out the problem.
I then went to my back up mechanic in Boston, who kept the car for about 4 days. He said there are no leaks and the car did not actually over heat while with him. He had one of his guys drive the car home at night and back to the shop in traffic in the AM, and had it run for hours while on a lift, and on the ground. Still no overheating. However, he did say that the car was eating up coolant, which indicated to him that there might be a head gasket problem.
I was a little upset by this diagnosis because I had them replaced already, and also because I am getting married this summer so this obviously is not the right time to be buying a new car. I should mention that both mechanics looked at my car at the end of August. I have still been driving and watching the coolant.
The car is still randomly overheating but i tend to notice it happen more while in stop and go traffic and when I accelerate. The needle will go all the way up to red, stay there for a few seconds and then slowly creep down. This happened this morning, and I had checked the coolant yesterday and it was full! I checked it again at lunch time to see if it had used all the coolant during rush hour and it was still full. This chain of events seems to keep happening and I constantly check the coolant. Since August I have only had to fill it once. I have also noticed that when I open the radiator cap the coolant is not sitting level like I've been told it should. I've put a decent amount of work into the car and everything else runs perfectly.
Is it possible that this is a pumping or air bubble problem, and not a head gasket?
I went to start my 07 Subaru Outback 2.5i yesterday morning with both kiddos in the car and it seemed to begin to start and then just seemed to stop the starting sequence. When the key was in the ignition in the on position, the lights work, the radio works, everything thing besides the engine seems to work, BUT above the odometer there was an error reading "Er HC', and the temp gauge was as high as it would go on H but the car had not been run for over 24 hours at that point. The fan to the engine seems to be running also when in the on position which I do not remember happening normally, maybe it is always on when the engine is on but b/c the engine is not on I can now hear the fan?
Tried over and over again to start it but the engine never made another sound and every time the lights would turn on and the error message would appear over the odometer.I ran a scan for any engine problem codes but it said it was clear. We tried jumping the car, but the battery is fine (all lights come on, radio works etc). The car has never missed any maintenance and has always had its oil changed every 3000 to 3500 miles. The car has 62000 on it and just (in the last 1500 miles) had its 60000 mile tune up at the dealership.
We had the front two control arm bushings replaced at Les Schwab (b/c it was less then 1/2 the price of the dealer), they were cracked, but all the other stuff was normal and really they were changing fluids etc. at the dealer and didn't replace anything. Our car has never had any problems besides the control arm bushings just being replaced and now this. We had to have it towed to the dealership and it has been there now for over 24 hours and they have told us 'we have never seen this problem.
Over the last several months, the frequency with which my 2007 Subaru Outback is "shuddering" when I accelerate from a stop has been increasing. It feels like driving over a cattle grate -- a vibration that lasts for just a few seconds, and occurs in the 35-45 mph range. Now is happening on a daily basis, a couple of times per day. Based on some internet searchers, I concluded this might be a torque converter problem. Took it to the mechanic today and, of course, couldn't reproduce the problem with them present. They replaced the transmission fluid with a synthetic fluid and replaced the transmission filter.
View 8 RepliesMy Subaru Outback is dying on me when I come to a stop and has happened when just idling. I have been told it is the torque converter and replacement is 2 thousand.
View 7 RepliesMy 2000 outback wagon has only 67k miles. About a month ago, the check engine light came on. I took it to an Auto Zone and although unfortunately I didn't write down the code, the person who checked the car seemed to think it was probably just a bad tank of gas. I ran through that tank of gas and filled up with premium gas. Light didn't go off until THAT tank was near empty. Filled up a third time and light remained off until tank was near empty and it came on again. It has not yet gone off. I'm not sure how many more tanks of gas I should run through! The car isn't running poorly so I thought the bad gas was a good explanation.
A side note: about 6 months ago I had to have the head gasket replaced. I argued with Subaru and got some extra work done in exchange for the head gasket payment since my car missed the recall by a few digits but I was obviously stuck with an inferior product. I'm hoping they didn't do an inferior job. Even though it was 6 months ago, it wasn't that many miles ago - you can see my the year/mileage on my car that I don't drive a lot. Does that gas explanation sound reasonable? Anything about a head gasket related?
I have a 2001 Subaru outback. Recently I've noticed a rattle when I accelerate, especially when I take off from a dead stop. I sounds like it's coming from the front wheel area. It also occurs sometimes when making a turn and then accelerate. It almost sounds like an object in a box and someone is shaking the box-very noticeable.
View 3 RepliesMy husband I purchased a 2012 Subaru Outback May 2012, we notice a hesitation when we first drove it and couple weeks later it started stalling out, now it stalls about every other day, we have noticed that ours is after a 15 to 20 minute stop and go traffic and then when your able to drive at normal speeds without stopping, and then stop it stalls out, we have rough idle and transmission acts like it is trying to shift but I know this isnt possible with a CVT transmission.
View 5 RepliesWhy when I come to a stop with the heater on, the car smells like exhaust? I took in into our local Subaru shop and they couldn't find anything wrong. When I'm driving it's fine, but in town or in traffic, I have to keep shutting off the heater. If I forget, the car fills up fumes and I have to drive with the windows down or my daughter's asthma flares up.
View 14 RepliesWhenever the temperature is below 20 degrees F and am idling at a stop light, if I have the heater fan running I get a horrible exhaust smell inside my car. I have discovered that I can lessen the bad smell by turning off the fans when the car is idling and then turning it back on when I start to drive.
View 3 RepliesWhile driving my 2000 Subaru Outback (197,000 miles) the speedometer, tachometer stopped working but the fuel and temp gauges were working fine. The transmission felt like it was slipping. When I used the brakes they were grabby, jerky and made a loud clunk. The engine began sputtering and I was barely able to keep it going as I tried to get home. At stop lights I had to put the car in neutral and rev the engine. We also noticed that while the engine was running the power windows were very slow to open and close and the turn signals and emergency flashers did not work at all. Now the car is in the driveway dead as a doornail and the key stuck in the ignition.
The battery is one year old and the alternator is the original. The fuel tank is 3/4 full. I bought the car new in 2000. What the problem could be?