One of these should do well

Bill, might well do that should the car run well for the next week.

J

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Well, I suggested the Soob, and I can't have these things
making me look bad....

Been 3 days now.....???

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THANKS ALOT!!!!!!!!

Now I've got that "Holiday Road" song stuck in my head.

Big grin.....notnew....

Problem is not solved. Here's a recap I wrote for a subaru forum:

Hello all!

A month ago, I purchased a used 02 Outback wagon with 160,000 miles on it from a local used vehicle dealer. 2.5L, 4spd auto.

Shortly after buying it, we began to notice occasional hesitation and "misfiring", especially under moderate load climbing hills. Scanned for codes, none, none pending.

Checked the plugs (NGK Platinums, installed about 60K miles ago, new Bosch wires then too) and wires. Did water spray test, no arcing or missing noted during test. Pulled plug wires, both ends look very good, no leaking oil, no tracking, no corrosion.

When gas was at half tank, added a can of Seafoam to the tank to see if that would help. Nope. Still no codes, no CEL.

Next tank was Midgrade to see.... Nope. Problem has worsened over time. Now misfiring heavily on some hillclimbs. Tach is observed to "bounce" 200-300rpm when this happens, generally in the 2000-3000rpm band.

I took the car in to my local Subaru dealer who charged me 100 for no diagnosis. They suggested having the used vehicle dealer mech check timing, service fuel filter, and drop exhaust to check valve guides.

Used vehicle dealer took the car for a weekend for their mech to check out. He checked the timing (all is well, belt 60K miles old), checked plugs'n'wires. He changed fuel filter. He drained the gas tank, finding some water/sludge. He did not check exhaust guides. When I picked the vehicle up, it seemed to be significantly improved, though it still hesitated off-idle when launching on occasion.

We filled up with fresh gas again, adding gas dry to ensure any remaining water was taken care of, drove it that week. On the weekend, we took a camping vacation, about 100m each way. By the return trip, the misfire had returned. Filled up with supreme 3 days ago, continuing to add gas dry.

This week, the problem has worsened again, still no codes with none pending. On 15 mile drive home today, the car must have misfired 500 times.

I'm bringing the car back to the dealer again tomorrow. Except for having sold me this car, I cannot fault them, they have tried, but seem as stumped as I am. Any thoughts? We've put about 1500 miles on the car over the last month, and its generated NO codes, with NONE pending. HOW is this possible?

Thanks for looking.

J

You also stated.....




Using the term "misfire" is getting me off the track here
So,.... I still don't see a "Misfire", since it would cause a code...

One question = IMMEDIATELY upon starting in the AM,
does it run decently for about 2 - 4 minutes??
In other words, before the emissions get the time to go into
'closed loop'...????


What I'm getting at here, is that running cold will be using
more fuel and after coming up to temperature, that excess
fuel is now causing stumbling, and the condition you describe
as ...."adding more throttle...nothing...then Vroom..."

At that point, the throttle is open enough to admit sufficient
air to overcome stumbling from rich mixture.

If all this makes sense,

Replace the front O2 sensor.......




and if it doesn't look like either has been replaced
for the life of the car, replace both!


The 02 sensor causing rich mixture will give you
that 'sensation', and NOT cause a CEL


my .02$ from here

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..............

Upon starting cold, it will generally stumble/lope at idle. I start it, RPM's flare into the 1400rpm range, and slowly drift down over 5-10 seconds, towards maybe 11-1200. On occasion (say 1 in 3 starts), it will stumble hard, dropping to 800 or so, before recovering back to the normal fast/cold idle.

It will often stumble climbing the hill from my driveway... However, the problem does seem to worsen as I go, being worst about 5 minutes from home. It bucked violently today at the 5km mark.

I do know that the front O2 sensor was replaced within the last 100,000km. I don't recall the actual mileage at the time.

dunno.

J

The fact that the car ran better (not perfect, but markedly improved) after the last visit to the mech puzzles me some.

I wonder if it's simply down to the battery having been unhooked for some time, and the computer then slowly learning, over the next tank of gas, how to do it "wrong" again.

J

If the dealer would be willing to give you the name and contact information for the previous owner, he might be able to provide some answers.