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  #1  
Old 09-03-2003, 10:46 AM
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WestCoastSVX WestCoastSVX is offline
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Unhappy Help! My SVX is dying!

The symptoms are pretty hard to describe so I'll just tell the story as it happened. Maybe this turn of events will give some hints as to what the problem may be.

We were heading out of town Saturday. As I backed out of my driveway, there was a quick hesitation in reverse. Just a little pause in the engine for a split second. Never had happened before. While still in town at low speeds, the same hesitation happened while turning a corner. Very brief, but noticable.

About 15 minutes later, while on the freeway at about 70 mph (and doing that speed for several miles), suddenly the hesitation returned. This time slightly more pronounced, to the point where the engine nearly stalls, then kicks back in kind of harshly. Starting to feel more like the tranny slipping gears and then slamming back in to gear. The next 5 miles it happend once every mile. oh oh

Pulled off the freeway onto city streets so I could bail off the road in town if needed. Drove 10 miles on city streets 25-40mph with many stops at lights, never another problem.

Made it to my parents' house and decided to take dad's truck on our camping trip to still enjoy the weekend. Worry about the SVX on Tuesday.

Tuesday. Drove up to my parents' in the truck and then took the SVX to a nearby tranny shop. No incident on the 1 mile drive. An hour later, the tranny guy called. Took the SVX for a test drive and nothing was wrong at all. I told him to take it on the freeway, where the problem seemed more pronounced. He called back in another hour, saying the SVX still seemed perfect. Told them to do a tranny service since it was about time and that way they'd drop the pan and inspect a little.

Picked up my A-OK tranny SVX with some excitement. Tranny guy told me the symptoms could be an engine problem or something in that area, but it had never happened while they drove it. I got on the freeway and headed home. About 5 miles into my drive, the hesitations started again. This time way worse than on Saturday. The delays were 5 seconds, maybe longer, the car would coast on the freeway, but pushing on the gas had no effect at all during the stall time. RPMs would not move when I hit the pedal. Then, after the delay, it would suddenly kick back in with a harsh jolt and continue on. But this time, only for about 30 seconds before another long hesitation. So I'm going along in heavy 70mph traffic with the car pausing and jolting along. Started to make my way over to the shoulder, and just in time as it finally stalled completely. Coasted along the shoulder, by coincidence the only Subaru dealer in the county is just up the road a mile and right off the freeway. Coming up on a short bridge with no shoulder, had to stop the shoulder coasting. Restarted the car and pulled into an open spot in traffic. Drove fine just enough to clear the bridge than stalled completely again. Restarted and made it off the freeway. This stall/restart process got me quite a ways without having to call a tow truck. Then, as I neared the last couple lights to the dealer with cautions flashing, the car suddenly decided to work again. The last mile the car acted as though nothing was wrong at all. Told the service guy to make darn sure they take it on several test drives if they don't see a problem at first!

So my SVX sits at the busy dealer now, they have no openings until Friday unless there is a cancellation.

So is that enough info to give anyone an idea as to where the problem lies? It probably wouldn't hurt to give them an idea of where to start looking since they were pretty baffled by my story. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but the service manager gave the SVX a lot of praise for being a nearly fault free car and he was very surprised I had such a problem. So does that mean they know the SVX there or not?
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I don't care, I'm still free, You can't take the sky from me...
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  #2  
Old 09-03-2003, 10:52 AM
lee lee is offline
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intermittent problems are the worst

If they don't find it, I think I'd clean all the battery and ground points off, then check all the computer connections to see if they were loose or???, i.e., TCU, ECU, etc. Then if you have the means, maybe fuel flow.
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  #3  
Old 09-03-2003, 11:30 AM
JLittell
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Fuel system?? Mine does that when I back down hills only. Maybe it is fuel related. Don't think it's your tranny..How's your gas cap??
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  #4  
Old 09-03-2003, 12:42 PM
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Could be the MAF sensor, or, a crack in the plastic housing or hose. I thought my last incident was fuel related, but it turned out to be the MAF sensor. G'luck.
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  #5  
Old 09-03-2003, 03:50 PM
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My vote is for something related to engine management. MAF sounds like a good bet. Maybe its something as simple as the MAF wiring plug coming loose?
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  #6  
Old 09-03-2003, 04:17 PM
gl1674 gl1674 is offline
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MAF may be not so good bet. It will stall without working MAF on idle, but it will still drive on freeway with rpms above 2000. It will be less willing to accelerate and require more throttle to maintain the speed, it will jerk forth and back a little bit (but not harsh, just pulling unevenly).
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  #7  
Old 09-03-2003, 04:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by gl1674
MAF may be not so good bet. It will stall without working MAF on idle, but it will still drive on freeway with rpms above 2000. It will be less willing to accelerate and require more throttle to maintain the speed, it will jerk forth and back a little bit (but not harsh, just pulling unevenly).
That was not my experience. When mine went out, it was sputtering and spitting at all RPM's. Of course it hadn't gone "out" per se. It had a dime sized hole in the casing. The previous owner had slapped the chip of plastic back into place and wrapped it with electrical tape. The tape had finally given up and allowed the chip of plastic to slide off the hole. Luckily this was AFTER I'd come off the road from an 8 hour drive.

The first clue was a quick "hiccup" then absolutely no problem. So, it could be a crack in the casing or the intake tubing somewhere. Check the clamps on the T-body.
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  #8  
Old 09-03-2003, 04:46 PM
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The verdict is in...

Well, they had time to look at it today already, and they have determined it is the MAF sensor. 10 points to those of you that guessed that!

Too bad it took them $150 worth of diagnostics to find that out, but guess I didn't really have much choice considering where she broke down. Still, thanks for the replies, this place is great!

I actually just got a message from the service manager saying this, so I haven't talked to him yet. He wants me to call asap because the part has to be ordered and the $ amount is over what I signed for. $468 for a MAF sensor. So right now I'm stalling on calling back while I try to track down a used one real quick. Earl is on the case too.

Anyone else that wants to join in the hunt or offer some further advice on this, feel free. Should I be able to call him and say thannks for the diagnostic, now please park my car and let me fix it myself? I'm not legally entitled to have them go any further once I pay them for labor spent, right?
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1992 SVX LSL "Serenity" 250,000 miles!

I don't care, I'm still free, You can't take the sky from me...
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  #9  
Old 09-03-2003, 04:51 PM
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You don't have to let them fix it. Get a used one and smile nicely as you install it in their lot.
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  #10  
Old 09-04-2003, 08:54 AM
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WestCoastSVX WestCoastSVX is offline
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Yep, they had no problem with me taking over from here on the work. I'm supposed to pick it up by the weekend, but still madly trying to find a MAF I can use.
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Troy

1992 SVX LSL "Serenity" 250,000 miles!

I don't care, I'm still free, You can't take the sky from me...
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  #11  
Old 09-04-2003, 03:33 PM
JLittell
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Troy, Check http://www.car-part.com/ . Someone might have a MAF there.
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  #12  
Old 09-04-2003, 03:49 PM
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WestCoastSVX WestCoastSVX is offline
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Thumbs up Problem solved!

Well I made some calls and tracked down a Subaru only wrecking yard in Seattle that had SVX MAF's in abundance (in SVX terms that means they had 2 or more ). I drove down, picked one up, and then drove up to where the SVX was. Paid the $70 diagnostics bill (now that I think about it I could have run the trouble codes myself, right? ), and then walked out and spent 5 minutes switching them out. Just got home from about a 40 mile drive, mostly high speeds, with no problems at all. Yay!!!
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Troy

1992 SVX LSL "Serenity" 250,000 miles!

I don't care, I'm still free, You can't take the sky from me...
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  #13  
Old 09-04-2003, 03:53 PM
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Glad your car sounds better.

Which wrecking yard in seattle?
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  #14  
Old 09-04-2003, 08:11 PM
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WestCoastSVX WestCoastSVX is offline
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Aaron's Auto Wrecking or something like that. Everyone calls it "Aaron's". They only do Subaru stuff there, kinda like the wrecking yard version of Smart Service. (man, am I getting paid for all these plugs? )

It was the first time I'd been there, and I didn't have time to go out back and look at the SVXes themselves to see what they all had available. But I've heard about this place for years so I think he tends to get as many Subies as he can. The walls inside the waiting area were plastered with all kinds of vintage Subaru ads from the 70's on up to the present, pretty cool.

It's located in White Center, south south south Seattle. Kind of a strange place for a Subaru only thing IMO. I found their number in the phone book, the actual heavy paper book type thing.
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Troy

1992 SVX LSL "Serenity" 250,000 miles!

I don't care, I'm still free, You can't take the sky from me...
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