Stalling on quick stops (bonus: broken exterior door handle)

[trivalence]

First Item:

 

My 1995 Legacy LS AWD wagon (automatic) does this somewhat unpredictable thing where if I come to a quick (or fairly quick) stop, the car dies. I don't mean slam-on-the-brakes kind of situation, but not a slow, gradual stop, either.

 

I can sometimes guess when it'll happen, and sometimes it stutters a little before stalling out, but other times it just shuts off. It's only ever happened while stopping, and has never shown any signs of it happening under load. I don't recally 100%, but I'm pretty sure sure that most of the time it only does it when it's not cold or cold-ish. In other words, on the school run in the morning it's more likely to do it than later in the day when I pick the boy up ... though now that I think of it I'm pretty sure it's done it then once or twice, too.

 

I do have a check engine light on, which FairTax says was due to a simple piece of hose and t-fitting missing (which I have yet to replace). Maybe related?

 

Second item:

 

Just this morning it appears my front passenger exterior door handle ceased to function. I tried a few times, used the manual lock/unlock, used the power lock/unlock -- nothing. Interior works fine, but no-go now on the exterior. How much does this repair suck?

 

Thankfully I rarely have front seat passengers, just kids in the back. Just kind of glad it's not the interior handle...

[1 Lucky Texan]

20 year-old car is expected to need a 'sucky' repair every few months.

 

while warm and idling, try tugging/pulling on some wire harnesses and hoses under the hood - maybe a vacuum hose is cracked (even a vacuum gauge might be useful with this problem) or a ground or other wire/connector is intermittent. Does it feel like the car is 'pulling' when this happens? maybe a Torque Converter issue?

[mikaleda]

Could be a dirty idle air control valve sticking slighty. If there is a hose disconnected it should be doing it all the time, but it still couldn't hurt to check for vacum leaks

[fishy]

For clarification, does the car turn off electrically when you come to a stop or does just the engine stall out? If it's just the engine I'd suspect a torque converted-related issue. To check that, can you try shifting it into neutral before coming to a stop when the conditions are right for it to quit?

If the whole car is shutting off then I have no idea other than a possible connection in a harness somewhere as was mentioned. Good luck either way.

[trivalence]

For clarification, does the car turn off electrically when you come to a stop or does just the engine stall out? If it's just the engine I'd suspect a torque converted-related issue. To check that, can you try shifting it into neutral before coming to a stop when the conditions are right for it to quit?

 

If the whole car is shutting off then I have no idea other than a possible connection in a harness somewhere as was mentioned. Good luck either way.

 

Weird, I replied to this yesterday (or so I thought), but it's not there now...

 

Anyway, yes -- it's a mechanical stalling. All of the electronics are fine. I think you're right on the torque converter front, because I've actually been shifting it into neutral quite regularly because then it won't die.

 

How terrible is dealing with the converter?

[fishy]

I'm no expert on trans work.One of the elders around here will have to chime in for sure but my first instinct would be a trans fluid change.