gandalfthew1te

We finally fixed the stalling problem. Long story short, it was a really grimy IAC! In my researching of the problem I had finally found another thread online with the same sort of stalling symptoms where it had been an IAC. So the next time I had some work done on the car, I asked my mechanic to look at the IAC. He said it was really dirty, and he gave it a thorough cleaning. I can't say that the car doesn't hesitate when the heater is turned on, but it doesn't stall out anymore, so I'm happy. I gather that the reason that it only has that problem when the temp is around freezing is because the A/C comes on when the defrost is engaged up to freezing temps but not below. So when I'm driving around the temperature fluctuates right around the temp point when the A/C engages, so it seemingly randomly engages while I'm driving and the temp rises above freezing, and this in turn puts extra strain on the electrical system. When driving this would cause the car to hesitate for an instant, but not stall out because it still had enough power. When idling at an intersection, the IAC and not my foot on the accelerator was controlling the rate of fuel flow, so the IAC couldn't react fast enough to deal with the extra load on the alternator and the car died. Does this sound plausible, or am I way off base with my deduction?

Next time I'm in a (warm) shop/garage I'll have to do that. This morning the temp was -20. Right now there is a slough of other problems that I should probably address before I can get any sort of accurate diagnostic. First the AWD needs to be up and working again, and solenoid replaced so I don't have to push the release button to shift out of park. Come to think of it though, on my other Subie, the check engine light would not stay on, and when I took it to the shop all they came up with was 32 and 23. They confirmed that the MAF was bad. Here is when I found out that their rates are insanely unjustifyable. For MAF installation they quoted me $145.50. I bought a new MAF and installed it in 10 minutes using whatever tools I had in the car! So their hourly rate is what, $873/hr?? I'm still peeved over that.

I don't lose power to the headlights, but I know the blower turns off - what other power is there that could turn off? The check engine light was on at those times.

Thank. Yes, after studying the manual I see the A/C relay. Is it possible that this relay would cause the issues even though I'm not using the A/C at all? This is the diagram of the relay:

I have 1992 Subaru Legacy Wagon (well actually two of them but the other one had a head gasket blow out @ 145,000 a couple weeks back) which has a really intermittent problem. Actually, it was a bit of dejavu when this 'new' 167k Subie did exactly what my other Subie had a tendency to do once in a while. What happens is that randomly I will hear clicking in rapid succession from what I presume must be some sort of relay. The sound seems to emanate from under the dash on the passenger side of the car. When the clicking starts, the engine sputters, and in the worst cases it will cut out altogether. I had a theory that the 'clicking' was somehow connected with the air blower, since the the air blower would also stumble when the relay clicked, but perhaps it is the other way around, that all electrical systems (though lights seem unaffected) cut out when this happens. Unfortunately this is completely random and will go away for months on end, so that it can't be reproduced in the shop. However, driving in traffic with the engine cutting out no matter how infrequent remains one of my least favorite past-times. The engine starts right up again, but this last time as soon as the car was started the relay would click and kill my engine again. This happened several times the last 1/4 mile home. The next morning the problem had vanished again. Any ideas as to what could be the cause? I'm guessing it has to be a problem specific to this year and model since I've no experienced it in two different vehicles, but I can't find anything like it on internet searches.