This just started a couple of weeks ago. The car seems fine when
driving locally, but when my husband drives it to work, or home again,
it starts acting up. He drives about 30 miles on the highway. At
either end, he has a fair amount of stop and go traffic. Most days
now, the car will stall out while he's stopped at a light.

Fortunately, it starts right up again.

We've taken it to 2 different mechanics who cannot find anything wrong
with it. Our own trusted mechanic, who isn't really a foreign car guy,
ran all the computer diagnostics and said he could buy us a $500 part--
maybe a sensor? but he didn't feel at all confident that would solve
the problem.

Any ideas? The Outback has about 150k miles on it.

Thanks,
Emily

Input from hubby who drives the Subaru:

"Usually when it stalls ALL the lights come on. But sometimes just
the yellow "AT Oil Temp" light flashes for a bit. What I've also
noticed is a sound coming from the front, passenger side as the car's
slowing down, kind of like the noise a flat tire would make, or if
there was something caught in the wheel. So it COULD be brake
related."

for what it's worth!

Emily

"latitude xt" <latitudext (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

What you could be hearing is sounds from the exhaust after the engine has
already
stalled, but the car is still moving and driving the engine.

One way to see if it's the IAC is to look at the throttle body and see where
the
throttle stop is, i.e., the fixed area on the outside that contacts the
movable area
driven by the accelerator cable. If you can wedge a thin piece of something,
like
a tongue depressor or even folded up paper, between the two to bump up the
idle
speed to about 1000-1200 rpm, that will temporarily prevent the engine from
stalling when your foot's off the gas. Just don't make it so high that the
car wants
to take off on its own, or wants to slam into gear from Park.

If that solves your problem, then clean or replace the IAC.

Bob