Engine Failure ALREADY!

[Ben]

Hi guys,

Bit dissapointed. 2000km's down the road from purchasing my first turbo subaru i have my first engine problem.

80km's in 3rd gear joining motorway i lose all acceleration / rev's fluctuate all over the place / engine dies and have to resort to a rolling stop followed by engine check lights etc.

Call the AA out, cant fix the problem. Engine turns over fine and compression in all cylinder's but wont start - Checked all fuses / gave fuel pump a slap / tried putting some starter additive into the engine all with no luck.

So after 2000kms its already in with Subaru who plan to check it out on Monday. Hopefully it's nothing major but i am sceptical.

NOT happy :-[

[Joker]

unfortunately that happens more often than not to new Subaru owners

2nd hand is buying an un-known quantity of possible FAIL

[mazdahard]

hasnt happened to me luckily but have you checked what code the CEL is throwing?

[sickmatesick]

i bought my car from a dealer in chch and it did a thing similar about 20mins into the 8 hour drive home to invers. after aa arrived it started again and i made it all the way home before it died again.

the fuel pump wiring under the back seat had burned out cutting power to the fuel pump whenever it felt like it

[DRFVDR]

+1 fuel pump

[Ben]

Yeah the AA guy mentioned a possible burnt out electrical wire to the fuel pump. Didn't get time to check the codes being thrown out - Even if i did i would probably be sending it to get fixed any way (my time is limited these days).

[ReubenH]

Check the CEL mate, more often than not it's just some trivial little sensor having a mental break down.

[suubyduuby]

 Ben said:

Hi guys,

Bit dissapointed. 2000km's down the road from purchasing my first turbo subaru i have my first engine problem.

80km's in 3rd gear joining motorway i lose all acceleration / rev's fluctuate all over the place / engine dies and have to resort to a rolling stop followed by engine check lights etc.

Call the AA out, cant fix the problem. Engine turns over fine and compression in all cylinder's but wont start - Checked all fuses / gave fuel pump a slap / tried putting some starter additive into the engine all with no luck.

So after 2000kms its already in with Subaru who plan to check it out on Monday. Hopefully it's nothing major but i am sceptical.

NOT happy :-[

What year? Car/model?

[Ben]

Sorry. It's a 1999 Subaru B4 MAN. Just ticked over 138km's now. Stock standard engine wise.

[Guest boostin]

Its not often that fuel pumps die on those. Could be a cam or crank angle sensor too.

Check your fault codes. No codes would point at fuel pump.

[Swindog]

 Ben said:

Hi guys,

Bit dissapointed. 2000km's down the road from purchasing my first turbo subaru i have my first engine problem.

80km's in 3rd gear joining motorway i lose all acceleration / rev's fluctuate all over the place / engine dies and have to resort to a rolling stop followed by engine check lights etc.

Call the AA out, cant fix the problem. Engine turns over fine and compression in all cylinder's but wont start - Checked all fuses / gave fuel pump a slap / tried putting some starter additive into the engine all with no luck.

So after 2000kms its already in with Subaru who plan to check it out on Monday. Hopefully it's nothing major but i am sceptical.

NOT happy :-[

Mine did this once but i had blowen the afm.

Exact same symptoms.

[Guest boostin]

A dead AFM should still let it fire up but then die straight away.

[Guest keltik]

Easy test would be to unplug AFM and see if it runs. I know the earlier ones up to 96 would run fine without a AFM

[Ben]

Ok guys. Got car back from subaru last night, running great again.

Just FYI, below show's the service invoice:

check vehicle for not starting

carry out diag tests

code 13 camshaft pos sensor fault in memory

code 24 idle speed control valve (stuck)

supply and fit new cam pos sensor - still no good

follow test proceedures

check cam sensor input signal at ECU with osilloscope - no good

check input signal of cam sensor wire - OK

carry out continuity test from sensor to ECU - 1 wire ok, 1 wire open circut

trace fault back to engine room harness not properly plugged in

re plug in - all OK , clear memory and road test - positive result

NOTE

if vehicle developes idling problems, recommend replacing - idle speed control valve [in memory old fault]

[KwS]

lol, suck. how much did that cost? all that, and all they really ended up doing was jamming one of the ecu plugs in harder.

[Ben]

Yeah pretty much. Uhh $434.26 all up. At least it run's again!

[sickmatesick]

ouch!!

[Guest dynofiend]

$434 for labour only. Cripes.

[Treecrusher]

 Ben said:

Yeah pretty much. Uhh $434.26 all up. At least it run's again!

$434 to basically wiggle the connections. That is highway robbery

[Guest boostin]

Next time you get a wiring issue, try and fix it yourself. See how many hours it takes you.

[DRFVDR]

U read it wrong

it was $34 to wiggle the wire

$400 to know which wire to wiggle

[Guest dynofiend]

Reading fault codes should not be the soul preserve of the dealer. Neither should using a multitester on the wiring. Mind you, I have to admire the sheer logic of the fault finding process in this case.

[Swindog]

 DRFVDR said:

U read it wrong

it was $34 to wiggle the wire

$400 to know which wire to wiggle

Lol

[Guest 1990_RS]

 DRFVDR said:

U read it wrong

it was $34 to wiggle the wire

$400 to know which wire to wiggle

Haha sounds about right with mechanics these days.

[DRFVDR]

That how I charge

the work I do may not be that hard

but it is my 20 years of knowledge that u pay for