Stalling SVX...
 

My SVX has been stumbling and stalling lately.

It has a Legacy trans swap by budfreak, and I've already had to go back and replace the radiator hoses and some other incidentals since then. The radiator was found to be cracked once the car was in Ohio and he replaced it, but neglected to even check the hoses, so the upper blew after rubbing on the power steering pump hose for just a few days. I don't know how many miles, because he also neglected to do the speedo gear, so I'm reading 30mph at 25mph. (That's good for the odometer reading, lol!)

The plug wires were not put back in the looms and are resting/rubbing on the frame rails (like the radiator hose was on the power steering pump hose) and I need to re-loom them and see if they've rubbed through and are shorting out. I hope they are fine and just need re-loomed.

(Jason if you're reading this, I haven't sent you a total of what you still owe me, because I'm still finding stuff you missed or did improperly. I should have a total for you soon.)

It was run a bit low before its last fueling, could junk in the tank just have gotten into the filter/pump? I've run a tank of Silver through it with some concentrated injector cleaner, but it doesn't seem to be helping yet. Where are the fuel filter(s) and pump in these cars?

This was supposed to be my daily driver after the $2K++ service in Ohio and it's been continuing to give me minor troubles. I start a job 40+ miles away in 1 week and have to have this sorted out by then.

THANK YOU for ANY help you can provide.

If I can't get this sorted out there will be 1 swapped, white '92 LS-L for sale very soon. I have to have a daily driver and if the SVX can't handle that I need to replace it with something that will.

When does it stumble/stall??

Idle?
Acceleration?
Braking?

Have you checked for codes?
What all services were done?

Given that the trans was pulled, I'd check all of the hoses hooked into the airbox that mounts to the throttle body. You'll also want to make sure that the airbox is mounted back on the throttle body correctly. I'd also suggest you go back and check all of the vacuum lines to see if any cracked during the work that was done on the car.
-Bill

It seems to do it after being run, stopped for up to an hour or so, and restarted...And then, mostly during braking or when the trans shifts, and always at low speeds. A little throttle seems to keep it running, if I catch it in time.

I'll check all the vacuum lines, etc, and the airbox. It hasn't been scanned, but there is no check engine light.

Thanks!

Might be MAF troubles...

Fuel filter is in the engine bay on the drivers side near the front of the strut tower. Very easy to access and replace. I replace mine annually as insurance.

Good luck with the diagnostics but sound like a vacuum leak to me.

Todd

the 5mt stall is caused by a properly sealed engine under circumstances that the ECU was not programmed to read. It sounds like your car is suffered from circumstances that the ECU was not programmed for. Thus the high rate of people saying its probobly a vaccum leak... Does you car hunt for an idle?? (rev up and down). This is a key indicator of a vaccum leak. Also, the MAF could be faulty and may simply need to be cleaned or replaced... Clean it first. Check the pass side rear of the intake manifold and be sure the ground there is getting good contact and that it is tight as well.

Good luck, sorry to hear about all the troubles... How are my rear diff mounts doing?;)

Tom

You said you ran a tank of silver through? Is that mid grade? Does that mean you normally run 87 octane? That would point towards your problem if that's the case. The SVX is designed to run exclusively on premium, i only put in Shell 94 octane fuel into my car. If that's the case, i would get some premium gas into it asap. I once had another car that had to have premium only, and once in NJ, some fool put in regular when i told him premium. Just that one tank and it was running like crap.

Hey Tom and Jay, thanks for the help!

Tom, it's an auto swap, and it idles like a kitten. Purrrrrrr. :)
I'll clean the MAF and check that ground. Your mounts are heavenly. :)
Very solid back there, the few hundred miles I've been able to put on her since she's been back. Thanks again for your help in the middle of all this.

Jay, I usually run premium only, but thought if I had junk in the tank get into the system that Silver was still high enough octane (particularly with the concentrated injector cleaner added) that it wouldn't pose a problem, and its advertised cleaning abilities could aid the injector cleaner. I'll be returning to the usual high test next tank.

You do bring up an interesting point though, it was shortly after filling up (from WAY too close to empty - that's why I was thinking junk in the system) that it started acting up...I wonder if the pumps could have been wrong, or if the station got a bad shipment or something...It's rare, but it does happen, and it's only a car that requires premium that's going to notice.

If that's the case, then the rest of this will just be nice maintenance and this issue will sort itself out in a couple tanks of the good stuff.

Thanks again, all!

Now, on to my speedo-odo being off by 5mph at 25mph...Ugh...
How hard is the speedo gear to get to again? It was supposed to be swapped out with the trans, but apparently he forgot that, too.

Hopefully it is bad gas. I had a similar issue some time ago, the dealership diagnosed bad MAF, I replaced it with no luck. I replaced the o2 sensors next - no change.
The problem eventually (mysteriously) worked itself out - coincidentally with a couple fillups of gas from trusted sources.

If you really think the gas could be the culprit you should top-off again with fuel from another source and see if things improve. "Bad" gas happens, I suppose, but I can tell you from daily experience that an SVX will run just fine without a steady diet of premium. I doubt your problem is fuel-related.

dcb

i gotta be honest... The whole bottom of the tank... sucked up some **** theory is bogus... The screen on the fuel pump will sift out almost anything that could cause a blockage in the injectors. This theory is almost as hilarious as a rubber line under pressure could collapse inward and cause your brakes to drag:rolleyes: (Not that physics points the other way... but...) At this point I would say its a possibility that you coils need to be resealed at the boots or one of your coil wires is touching a ground breifly and shorting out. Not simple to get to but you need to take a look

Tom

You need an SVX speed sensor in there not the speedo gear. I have never heard of a 4.44 swap in which the speedo gears in the diff needed to be changed. The sensor is probobly your culprit. Otherwise... out comes the tranny to change the speedo gear(AKA not worth it

Tom

Re: grounding out, well, I know the lines are resting on the frame rails, since they weren't put in the looms when he changed the plugs. I'm going to loom them and look for rubbing damage.

Re: Speed sensor...Where is this and how difficult is it to change? Why would it not have been changed during the swap if it's an issue?

Thanks!

svxfiles,

"The Outback sensor has TWO wires, so unless they re-engineered it they HAD to use the three wire sensor"

http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...ht=4.44+speedo

i would believe if the speed sensor from the svx tranny wasnt installed then yur speedo will not work and youll have a check engine light.