jeryst Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Okay. A while back, I put my 90 Loyale Turbo Wagon up for sale because I though it had broken its new timing belt and I couldnt afford to fix it. Well, it turns out I was wrong. I found a local guy who used to work as a Subaru mechanic, so I asked him if he would take a look at it. Which he did. The car would not start, and turned over very quickly, but when he checked a few things out, he was convinced that a belt had not broken, so he did som more tests. He found that fuel was getting up to the injectors, the injectors were firing, and that the plugs were getting spark, but that the plugs themselves were dry. He got busy on some other jobs, so he let the car sit for a couple of weeks in the back of his heated garage. Every once in a while he would try something, but it would still not start. One day, just for the heck of it, he put some dry gas in the tank, rocked the car to mix it up, and let it sit for another few days. Now, when the car had initially stopped running I put injector cleaner and dry gas in it, thinking that maybe I had gotten some bad gas or condensation. After a few days, he tried to start the car. It turned over for a while, then suddenly roared to life, and has been running fine ever since. So I need a detective to give me an idea of what had actually happened. The mechanic seems to think that maybe there was some water in the gas, and that since it was cold out, perhaps the injector nozzles froze over. By him putting in the dry gas, it worked its way through the system and eventually thawed the injectors. I find it hard to believe that all of the injector nozzles could have frozen over at the same time. And I had already put the same thing in the tank weeks before, so it should have had plenty of time to work. I'm thinking that it had something to do with the car being in a heated building for several weeks, or him poking around, unplugging and replugging things as he checked things out. Also, I still have an issue of the cars idle dropping and jumping once it warms up, so maybe that has something to do with it as well. The biggest clue, is that the car had spark at the plugs, and fuel up to the injectors, but the plugs were dry. This tells me that something was blocking the fuel between the injectors and the cylinders. Would anyone car to offer an explanation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Perhaps a bad connection at the coolant temp sensor. ECU thinks the car is warm and isn't fireing the injectors long enough to do any good on a cold start. In other words - no cold enrichment taking place. Plugging and unplugging that connector or just being in a warm dry environment might have helped.... etc. Hard to say for sure. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I would suspect the trouble was with the fuel pump or something with the fuel pressure if you are sure the injectors were really working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeryst Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 (edited) I would suspect the trouble was with the fuel pump or something with the fuel pressure if you are sure the injectors were really working. I thought that too, but the fuel pump was always working, the pressure was good, the fuel was getting to the injectors, and the injectors were firing. He said that he was totally stumped, and just put the dry gas in because he was out of ideas. He said that by all accounts, the car should have started and run, and he just couldnt figure it out. He also said that he did nothing else, touched nothing else, except for putting in the dry gas and rocking the car back and forth to mix it up a little. The next time he tried to start it, it started after cranking over a few times. I'm going to be using the car as my main driver and I'd like to come up with some plausible explanation before I start depending on it totally, because I dont want it to leave me stranded far from home. Edited February 6, 2012 by jeryst Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robm Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 GD's idea has a lot of merit (as usual). The water idea also could be part of this. Multifactorial failures are the worst kind. It is so easy to check the CTS, it is worth doing. Bad idle is another sign that this could be still a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I have to question the fact about the injectors really opening if fuel was getting to them under normal pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeryst Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 I have to question the fact about the injectors really opening if fuel was getting to them under normal pressure. Yes, I agree. But the guy worked as a Subaru mechanic for over 10 years, has his own business, works on a lot of Subarus, and is well respected, so I have to give him the benefit of the doubt when he tells me something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Yes, I understand what you say. I just think he missed something when he checked the operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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