car suddenly died

[Phillip J. Fry]

was on my way to PIA for new fuel pump. car was quiet amd no signs of anything. put in 4 gallons of gas to make the trip.

 

was on I5 cruising in the car pool when i changed lanes to pass a 55mph traffic when it started bucking.

 

long story short i immediately pulled off the next exit onto the shoulder as it died. it starts but doesnt want a load. it got me to carter subaru. i checked codes amd its misfire c1, c2, c3.

 

i had to keep it in second over 4krpm to drive up a hill. idles in neutral ok. will coast on D. but dosnt like a low rpm load.

 

i had 0 signs of anything. was sudden. i was getting the dw65 pump as a prepare action for a vf52 and a rebuild in july. no signs existing pump has issues. only change was a tank of gas at chevron. the same station i got dyno tuned on.

[sunny5280]

I'm sure others will have more helpful information but here are a couple of things to consider:

 

Fuel Pump: They can die without warning. Happened to me on my 1997 Outback. Was making my morning coffee run and when I came out of the store the car refused to start despite the fact I let it idle for 20 minutes beforehand (cold out) and it drove there without any symptoms.

 

Possibly bad gas: Since you recently added fuel perhaps you got some bad gas.

 

That's all I got. Good luck.

[Phillip J. Fry]

I'm sure others will have more helpful information but here are a couple of things to consider:

 

Fuel Pump: They can die without warning. Happened to me on my 1997 Outback. Was making my morning coffee run and when I came out of the store the car refused to start despite the fact I let it idle for 20 minutes beforehand (cold out) and it drove there without any symptoms.

 

Possibly bad gas: Since you recently added fuel perhaps you got some bad gas.

 

That's all I got. Good luck.

 

thank you.

 

the fp did come to mind. similar situation to the 335i on youtube that suddenly died. what are the odds though that i had 0 warning and it goes out on the way to get a higher flow pump installed?

 

yeah. the car drove fine. merged onto the i5 with some boost etc. car felt good. then went around a batch of cars doing55 and it started bucking. cruising felr fine under load was not. well, until 4k rpms then it stayed alive.

 

its at carter now. was difficult getting it there fighting the stalling. revving in neutral to keep it alive then put in D when rpms hit 1500.

 

carter is booked for a week. PIA is booked up too. im home now with a rental and an XT as a second car. hehe. prius is umm a very strange car.

 

im curious about a seized turbo as well. but i kinda felt the torque when in second going up the hill at 4k rpm. it was bucking a little less at that engine speed. was mostly at off-throttle until 4k or so.

 

DAM was still at 1.0 even in limp mode. no cylinder roughness on any cylinder even with revs. afr was at 14.1 at idle and lowered as i revved it. the only thing i saw in the AP was throttle duty%. was at ~20. throttle voltage and position was normal though. maf voltage seemed fine. iat sensor was fine. coolant temp at long time idle was 203f. fans kicked on as it should.

 

all the normal click clacks were there. it did try to die when i blipped the throttle. that was intermittent though.

 

im gonna do a LOT of googling.

 

thanks for your help and will keep this updated when i know whats up.

[Phillip J. Fry]

its acting just like this..

 

[BrianEarlSpilner]

The infamous blue tee vac line could have popped off the intake manifold. It would cause idle problems but will dissipate as rpm increases. Just throwing it out there hoping it's something simple.

[Phillip J. Fry]

The infamous blue tee vac line could have popped off the intake manifold. It would cause idle problems but will dissipate as rpm increases. Just throwing it out there hoping it's something simple.

 

thanks, afaik the 07 doesnt have that. in the 9 years ive had this ive never popped a hose off before. when i got the aftermarket IC installed i asked them to make sure everything was tight. was fine in steady cruising. would be nice if you are right and its just a hose somewhere.

 

if i held the gas down i can keep it running.

 

its acting a lot like the bmw hpfp failure.

[JmP6889928]

My guess would be fuel pump. Lived it several times over the years and your description is what happens. Check fuel pressure-need at least 50+ psi

[Phillip J. Fry]

My guess would be fuel pump. Lived it several times over the years and your description is what happens. Check fuel pressure-need at least 50+ psi

 

thanks for the input.

 

its currently sitting at the dealers lot waiting to be looked at.

 

side note...you are the one who does the modded vf52's? i may be in the market for a vf52 come july during engine rebuild. what are my options?

[sunny5280]

thank you.

 

the fp did come to mind. similar situation to the 335i on youtube that suddenly died. what are the odds though that i had 0 warning and it goes out on the way to get a higher flow pump installed?

 

yeah. the car drove fine. merged onto the i5 with some boost etc. car felt good. then went around a batch of cars doing55 and it started bucking. cruising felr fine under load was not. well, until 4k rpms then it stayed alive.

 

its at carter now. was difficult getting it there fighting the stalling. revving in neutral to keep it alive then put in D when rpms hit 1500.

 

carter is booked for a week. PIA is booked up too. im home now with a rental and an XT as a second car. hehe. prius is umm a very strange car.

 

im curious about a seized turbo as well. but i kinda felt the torque when in second going up the hill at 4k rpm. it was bucking a little less at that engine speed. was mostly at off-throttle until 4k or so.

 

DAM was still at 1.0 even in limp mode. no cylinder roughness on any cylinder even with revs. afr was at 14.1 at idle and lowered as i revved it. the only thing i saw in the AP was throttle duty%. was at ~20. throttle voltage and position was normal though. maf voltage seemed fine. iat sensor was fine. coolant temp at long time idle was 203f. fans kicked on as it should.

 

all the normal click clacks were there. it did try to die when i blipped the throttle. that was intermittent though.

 

im gonna do a LOT of googling.

 

thanks for your help and will keep this updated when i know whats up.

 

Let us know what you find.

 

As for the Prius my friend and brother own them. Pretty cool cars. Not for everyone but I have an appreciation for them after having driven each one (my friend has a gen 2, my brother a gen 3). If I had a long commute I'd definitely consider buying one. In fact my brother probably covers his car payment with the gas savings (he has a Dodge 1500 which, on a good day, might get 17 MPG on the highway).

[JmP6889928]

thanks for the input.

 

its currently sitting at the dealers lot waiting to be looked at.

 

side note...you are the one who does the modded vf52's? i may be in the market for a vf52 come july during engine rebuild. what are my options?

 

Check your PM

[Phillip J. Fry]

Carter says MAF sensor. they said misfire on all 4 cylinders.

 

i have the other one from the amazon order for a XT that worked fine in the past but i will purchase a new one from the dealer to see what happens.

 

i rescheduled fuel pump and filter at pia for this saturdy. this should give me a few days to make sure everything checks out ok.

 

the car will be picked up tomorrow and the sensor installed myself.

[Phillip J. Fry]

long story short...

 

got the new maf sensor. reset the ecu. car drove home just as fine as it did when i left until it gave problems.

 

as of right now all is normal.

 

im not convinced this was totally the problem. will find out the next few days. see how it drives.

 

dealerships dont seem that forthcoming with details. worksheet says -25 for stft. i pulled the maf cable when i was there to drop it off. of course there was a code for that. tech says they cleaned it. but it was already clean. and then it states stft are 0.

 

this is why im not convinced.

 

either way. i have a new one installed. an appt with PIA for pump and filter on saturday for prep for vf52. hope it makes it there this time.

 

i do have a theory if its not the maf and is the fuel pump. it gets warmed up after some miles and it kicked out. when it cools it functions normal. time will tell.

[sunny5280]

MAF seems like a reasonable cause given the symptoms you described. In fact when I read about their diagnosis of a bad MAF I said to myself that makes a lot of sense. I haven't experienced a bad MAF with my Outback but have with my BMW X5. The symptoms of the X5 match what you described.

[Phillip J. Fry]

MAF seems like a reasonable cause given the symptoms you described. In fact when I read about their diagnosis of a bad MAF I said to myself that makes a lot of sense. I haven't experienced a bad MAF with my Outback but have with my BMW X5. The symptoms of the X5 match what you described.

 

car is feeling very good. like dyno day good. been a while since i felt it pull from 60-70 like that. usually its drags. ecu isnt even finished learning yet.

 

i must say...as of this moment the dealer is correct. i just didnt expect a sudden outage.

 

i was thinking i had a turbo leak or something somewhere or the engine was getting tired. its pulling smooth and strong now.

 

fwiw that amazon link to the forester maf...i used it and it shouldnt be used on the legacy. i def have more pull with the legacy specific subaru supplied one. i should have learned from the cobb upipe fiasco not to trust the parts purchase from here. haha. (both cobb upipes i tried suffered from leaks. have a grimmspeed ceramic flex joint one now)

 

seems all is well at the moment.

 

how did your x5 behave when the maf went out?

[sunny5280]

car is feeling very good. like dyno day good. been a while since i felt it pull from 60-70 like that. usually its drags. ecu isnt even finished learning yet.

 

i must say...as of this moment the dealer is correct. i just didnt expect a sudden outage.

 

i was thinking i had a turbo leak or something somewhere or the engine was getting tired. its pulling smooth and strong now.

 

fwiw that amazon link to the forester maf...i used it and it shouldnt be used on the legacy. i def have more pull with the legacy specific subaru supplied one. i should have learned from the cobb upipe fiasco not to trust the parts purchase from here. haha. (both cobb upipes i tried suffered from leaks. have a grimmspeed ceramic flex joint one now)

 

seems all is well at the moment.

 

how did your x5 behave when the maf went out?

The original behavior was merely setting the CEL. There were no issues with the way it was performing...just the illuminated CEL. As the MAF was $350 from the dealer I decided to buy a less expensive one from elsewhere. After installing the replacement MAF the CEL was extinguished and I thought all was good.

 

That's when the performance issues began. The vehicle would idle OK however occasionally when I would step on the throttle (for example starting from a stop) it would hesitate and run rough until the RPMs increased. Not as bad as the symptoms you described but definitely hesitation issues. I ended up obtaining an OEM MAF from my indy and everything was smooth sailing after that.

[Phillip J. Fry]

behaving very strange. intermittently the off idle is acting wonky.

 

i started the car today and it was fighting idle at 500. shaking etc. then it raised to 1100-1200 then settled back to 750.

 

in the 9.5 years ive owned this car its NEVER once done this. has never died on me.

 

im gonna put more gas in tonight and change to stock BPV. see how it idles then. have a cobb xle at the moment and i think it maybe sticking but i just lubed it and i dont think it would do this trouble.

 

i have an appt tomorrow at PIA. hope this gets sorted out.

[sunny5280]

Sorry to hear you're still experiencing problems. The MAF sounded like the correct repair for the symptoms you described. Keep us informed of what you find.

[Phillip J. Fry]

Sorry to hear you're still experiencing problems. The MAF sounded like the correct repair for the symptoms you described. Keep us informed of what you find.

 

made it to PIA and back. fuel filter was black. car is getting very strong now.

 

i think its the the throttle.

 

steady cruising yields fluctuations. makes sense since i saw the throttle duty the day of cut off fluctuating from -** to +**.

 

i can feel the car "missing" when it happens and the rpms move around. its only at steady cruise and only at the edge of enough throttle to keep the car moving.

 

when i revved it at 6500 for a few seconds and let off it started to clear up.

 

so...i think my throttle body may need a cleaning or replacing.

[Phillip J. Fry]

car is at another shop. the dealer seemed lazy.

 

the other shop said no problems but i persisted. they drove it out a second time and it died on them 2 times or so at around 7-10mph.

 

i saw the datalog they took. stft jumps to 25 then it dies. next moment its fine.

 

they want more time with it.

 

its got a brand new maf. old maf was same problem. dealer was lazy with this...new 02 sensor about 2k miles ago but to me its seemingly with error but cant really say yet. new plugs when i got the 02 sensor. they said 1,3,4 had counts up to 2 but cyl 2 was at 0. so its running ok.

 

vac was steady. the tech thinks leak down etc may be fine.

 

they suspect fuel injectors but why intermittent is unknown. they havent checked the 02 sensor yet.

 

waiting until monday. yes, this really sucks as its never done this before.

[Phillip J. Fry]

are there any reputable shops near Mukilteo?

 

based on the poor repair quality around here i cant recommend subaru to anyone. its down right pathetic. even carter subaru lies and doesnt know arm from leg and i have their errors in writing. flex joint in downpipe leaking? really carter? you cleaned a clean maf sensor and the stft are fine suddenly? really? it was spotless 2 days before you "cleaned" it. and it still had issues.

 

smart service? mukilteo and today shorline. both make errors.

 

all wheel drive auto? the front guy is no where near knowledgeable. he tried to argue me that the upipe doesnt have a flex joint. its funny because i have a stock split flex joint upipe in my garage. they are 1/2 and 1/2. iffy. they found my uppipe leak issue that smart service mukilteo said was my "turbo bearings". no awd auto front guy. my stock bpv is not "warped". nice lie though.

 

SS shoreline tried to charge me for break diagnositcs but i got nothing beyond what would be done with a free inspection. yes i know it has shakes. find out why as ive already been through a set of rotors and pads for the same issue. i told them it has shakes and knocks out the front left and right rear wheel balance. they can see misfires and they think my issue would be injectors. but the car pulled hard. its only issue is at finite throttle app but they said small misfire count around 1200 rpm. i think i may have gotten and very bad tank of gas from chevron.

 

i paid for hefty diagnostics and i asked fro the official subaru 02 sensor to be installed. $850 from shoreline is what i ended up paying and i dont know much more than before i even went.

 

yes. they are that bad.

 

seems im gonna have to drive to PIA for even a simple oil change.

 

oh. shoreline used all my gas and i got back in with the light on saying 30 miles to go. really??? you cant drop $5 and put in 2 gallons for gas when i spent 850??? it was 3/8 when i took it in.

 

im gonna stop for the night. its down right stupid how these service shops are.

[Max Capacity]

So please tell us where you live, or did I miss that ?

[DavidInSeattle]

So please tell us where you live, or did I miss that ?

 

It's in there. He said near Mukilteo, which is north of Seattle. It's a PITA to get to Pacific Import Auto from there, but it sounds like the OP is going to need to do that.

 

I have a mechanic in West Seattle that does the routine maintenance like clutches, timing belts, etc. He's really good, but not a whole lot more convenient for the OP. But, I will offer Cohesive Garage as a suggestion. He's pretty much a one man/one bay shop, but Noah will shoot you straight.

[Max Capacity]

It's in there. He said near Mukilteo, which is north of Seattle. It's a PITA to get to Pacific Import Auto from there, but it sounds like the OP is going to need to do that.

 

I have a mechanic in West Seattle that does the routine maintenance like clutches, timing belts, etc. He's really good, but not a whole lot more convenient for the OP. But, I will offer Cohesive Garage as a suggestion. He's pretty much a one man/one bay shop, but Noah will shoot you straight.

 

Oh Mukilteo...ya everyone knows where that is...a lot of us put our location in our profiles so people understand where we're talking about.

[Phillip J. Fry]

sorry about the location thing. i kind of added shop complaint to a post onto why the car died...which i still dont know. carter subaru nor smart service shoreline can give definitive answers.

 

Mukilteo WA. 18 miles north of seattle. borders everett.

 

ive since posted this in the NW sub-forum.

 

at this point i hope its bad gas. but the shop installed an after market 02 sensor. i paid full price again to get factory installed. not sure if i should fight this but i cant tell if the 02 was a problem or not. not yet anyways. i will say this. shops are out for your money not to fix the car. i got the 02 sensor done as a preventative and i didnt think they would use a different part.

 

carter subaru charged 250 for diag and lied about my maf sensor being dirty. it actually says on the papwork work they "cleaned" it and stft went back to normal. haha.

 

smart service shoreline got it to die on them but they may suspect injectors. they charged me 500 for their diagnostics. yeah. ive yet to find a 100% honest shop. was so very sudden after some gas added. so i think it may just be very bad quality gas. but ive never had the car stall and die in 9.5 years so it freaked me out. i was hoping they could tell me more than i already knew. but 1000 dollars later i am just as ignorant.

 

i did buy a maf sensor i may not have needed and an 02 sensor. at least those are good for another 100k.

 

i just got it back yesterday. cleared the ecu at the shop and put in 2 cans of berryman b12 with full tank of fresh gas. only drove it home into the garage. no real seat time yet.

[Phillip J. Fry]

Oh Mukilteo...ya everyone knows where that is...a lot of us put our location in our profiles so people understand where we're talking about.

 

its been in the list of the top 10 best small towns in the usa around 2 times now. hehe.

 

and location has been added