Subaru dies in parking lot.

[LarryNH914]

Hi,

 

My Girlfriend's Subaru (97 Legacy, 2.2 engine) died in the supermarket parking lot the other day.

 

Wonder if anyone has an insight to what might be wrong.

 

She started it up, went a short distance and it just stopped, no sputtering etc.

 

I got a loaner computer, hooked it up, and the only code was something about a "High fuel sensor circuit", which I had seen before and did not seem to affect the car running.

 

The engine turns over, but not as fast as if the timing belt broke. It does not sputter or spark or anything at all, but is too "smooth", like there is no compression (or at least spark) going on.

 

Her mechanic (I do all my own work, but not in a cold Maine garage for anyone), who replaced the timing belt last year, has started to look at it, and initially said the timing belt has slipped.

 

Now story is that it might be a camshaft sensor (which would make sense to me, the very first thing I would check would be for spark, I would hope he did not take off the front cover to look at the timing belt before testing 1. Spark, 2. Compression, 3. Fuel )

 

Being that it was a windy 10 degrees in the parking lot, I did not check the spark because I thought the computer would have told me if it was a spark problem and I was too damn cold!

 

Anyon have any ideas how a Subie dies in this manner without computer codes, or is that code I got (only one code in the computer) that important.

 

 

Thanks for any suggestions,

Larry

[LarryNH914]

The only code was P0463 (Fuel Level Sensor Circuit High Input)

[LarryNH914]

OK, now it seems to be a siezed camshaft.... That makes sense to me. Never heard of something like this before!

 

With 150,000 and a suggested new engine, it might not be worth it? (geeeze, my hyundai excel went further than this!)

 

Edmunds comes up with $2200 or so.

[ShawnW]

Im not really too surprised by the lack of codes. The codes are more for emissions usually, and are checks of the engine while it is running.

I think the code you got is merely a symptom of a much larger problem but the thing is you need a compression test and a spark test before you can go much further.

[meep]

siezed cam makes sense, esp with the way you describe the sound of cranking. Hard to visualize, tho--- since the 97 2.2 uses roller bearings on the cam followers it really sounds like a camshaft bearing problem, maybe from oil starvation. To my knowledge, I've never heard of a sube doing this...

 

Junk yard motor, or at least junk yard heads.

 

Mike

[LarryNH914]

Oh Well, she does not want to fix it.... I live an hour away, and she has lost all faith in the car.... She had a perfect Subaru Loyale in the past.

 

I am thinking a Corolla (or identical Prizm) might be best for reliability for her.

 

If the paint job were not chipped a bit, I might consider fixing it, but I don't really have the time.

 

Anyhow, anyone in Maine interested in the car? Looks like it may be donated for tax purposes...

 

Yeah, I suspect oil starvation if this is the case.... But there were no noises...

 

I use synthetic, and will continue to in my Subaru winter beater (99 Imprezza, 170,000 miles and still peppy) as well as my good car (03 Infiniti G35).

 

I have never had envine trouble like this, perhaps because I am anal when it comes to car fluids...

 

Larry

[boxerhummfetish]

God no, don't donate this car away! Let it sit till the late spring, go to a junkyard, and hire somebody to swap the engine. There must be a bazillion rusted out soobs with good engines in Maine. It's a '97 man, awd, ac, dual airbags (i.e., a very nice maine car), that's barely 7 years! You've got to be kidding, this is almost criminal (and look at how much trouble martha stewart got herself into with borderline crime). At least put it up for sale in Uncle Henry's; somebody with a little bit time can turn this into a very nice car, if you don't have the time.