Intermittent P1443 - 2004 Forester X - Please save my sanity

[dwomack]

Fellow Subaru owners, I'm hoping some (or just one) of you can help with a problem that is driving me insane. Quick rundown of of the situation:

 

Recently purchased a 1 owner 2004 Forester X primarily for my teenage daughter (new driver). Car has only 84,000 miles.  Have driven it about 1000 miles and cannot get rid of a recurring P1443 code.  It sometimes trips almost immediately after being reset, but recently went more than 300 miles before tripping again. Other info that may help:

• Dealer (reportedly) replaced vent solenoid/valve (the one in the back near the fuel tank) and cleaned out all the lines
• Dealer reports all systems check out as fine, even after getting assistance from Subaru HQ tech team diagnostics show no issues
• Gas cap seems fine and I have been making sure it is on tightly and the seal seems good
• No problems filling tank
• Car is hard to start immediately after fill up and stutters for a minute or two after fill up but seems to mostly run fine after that...except
• Recently did the same stutter thing while stopped at a light and then stopped. Restarted (with a little difficulty) and then ran fine.  This time I got a check engine light and a flashing AT temp light.  Still only showed P1443 code.

I'm concerned about my daughter driving the car alone until I get this figured out.  Any ideas?  Hoping someone else has seen these symptoms and been able to find a fix. 

 

I have searched this forum and many others.  The only other suggestion I've seen is to replace the duty control solenoid that is located at/near the manifold.  I would be happy to replace that solenoid but wonder why it doesn't show up as a problem in diagnostics.

 

Thanks in advance for saving my Forester and my mind!

[1 Lucky Texan]

if you do a google search with just '  Subaru P1443 ' there's tons of hits.

 

here a link to this same Forum;http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/142640-p1443-cel-code-evap-system-fix/

 

 

here's a link to a thread at the Forester Forum which includes a 'spider blockage' post; http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f88/code-p1443-35503/

[Fairtax4me]

Purge solenoid under the manifold. When this sticks open or the valve is dirty, it allows fuel vapor from the tank to be pushed into the intake manifold while re-fueling. This causes the air fuel mixture to be too rich for a few seconds when starting, basically causing a flood condition, and the engine may not start. After a few cranks the excess vapor is sucked out and the engine will start. 

 

Find the vacuum hose that runs from the solenoid to the throttle body, pull if off the throttle body and blow into it. If the valve is bad you'll be able to blow air through it. Usually its because or carbon stuck in the seat area of the valve, but sometimes the valve just goes bad and doesn't seal properly anymore.  

You can temporarily plug the vacuum hose to prevent starting issues. You'll likely still get a CEL until the solenoid is replaced. 

[dwomack]

Thanks 1 Luck Texan and FairTax4Me.  I'll be trying blowing air through the vacuum hose to check the valve as soon as can be home with some daylight left.  Probably have to be Saturday!  Will update this when/if I figure it out.

[Bushwick]

When you fill your engine up at the pump, do you fill tank completely, then try and force more gasoline until it's sloshing around in the filler tube? Or do you fill it, and 1st time the vapors click off the pump nozzle, you stop?

 

Reason I'm asking is if you routinely keep trying to force more gas into the tank long after the vapor safety switch is kicking off the nozzle, gas can actually end up in the vacuum line leading to the evap system. If this happens, it can actually ruin some of the evap parts in the system, or cause other drivability issues like you are experiencing.