Engine Stalls & Codes 0325 & 0440

[kopin]

Hi Everyone,

RE: '98 Subaru Forester

 

I went to a new mechanic who is a very nice guy but doesn't seem to know what he's doing. He changed my timing belt and water pump and when I went to pick-it-up he said it wouldn;t be done for a whole nother day...the reason being that he got the wrong timing belt ('99) and somehow got it on but realized it wasn;t right and was taking it off to get the right one. I'm not sure exactly what he "saw" but he was very nervous that he may have ruined my engine.

 

I'm pretty easy going guy so I said let's just drive the car and see if there are any issues. Well, in general there aren;t but for about 2 months the car would stall out once per week when you'd pull up to a stop light. I tried to figure out what was happening that was the same in each of these events but I couldn;t except that it was city driving. Somehow that issues seems to have gone away now (3rd month).

 

However, the Check Engine light is still on (since the timing belt) and the following codes appear:

 

P0325 - Knock Sensor 1, Circuit Bank 1, or Single Sensor

P0440 - Evaporative Emission System

 

2 questions:

 

- Could this be related to the work done on the timing belt/water pump?

- How serious do you think the timing belt mistake was and would you go back to that mechanic!

 

THANK YOU!:-\

[Legacy777]

First thing I would probably check is that he reinstalled all the connectors properly. He may have taken something apart and forgot to put it back together again.

 

I don't see how else the error codes could be related to the work....assuming nothing else didn't get screw up.

[porcupine73]

Those codes don't necessarily sound related to the timing belt work. The knock sensors are known to develop cracks on that era and can cause that code you are getting, but they aren't expensive and are pretty easy to replace.

 

The knock sensor could be related to your stalling issues. When the ECU detects knock sensor issue it starts retarding timing to the edge of the map, and that robs fuel economy and power and can make the vehicle pret near stall. I did some experiments on my '00obw disconnecting the knock sensor while driving and it is interesting what happens, at first it almost seems like the engine dies, then stays running but has very little power and will bog down really bad if stepping on the gas.

 

The P0440 can be a tough one to find, it can be even a little pinhole leak in the fuel tank, filler neck, etc., can cause it. Though checking the gas cap or repalcing it could be a first step since that sometimes causes it.