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Re: Intermittent loss of power while engine is cold...
Subaru Subaru vehicles (alt.autos.subaru)
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#1
 
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Re: Intermittent loss of power while engine is cold... -
03-22-2007
, 01:45 AM
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My 1.8L Subaru Impreza 1995 (manual, front wheel drive) recently started to behave strangely: When an engine is truly cold (mornings or driving home after work), it starts and begins to drive normally, however, shortly after that it tends to lose power for a moment or two, then resumes OK, then these cycles repeat until an engine fully warms up. Then it behaves perfectly O.K. It's kind of difficult to describe. Basically, I press accelerator and feel that it "does not work" - very little (if anything) happens; then, as I continue to hold it down, the car "wakes up" and finally responds and accelerates. This usually happens at least several times, rather unpredictably. It's as if the engine is not getting enough fuel or air, or as if the mixture is not ignited in timely fashion. May or may not be related, I also noticed that, when the car is in this state, it seems to idle strangely - an engine shakes (I can feel the car shaking a lot more) and tachometer goes up and down from high 1,000 rpm to about 100 (when warm, it idles at approximately 400 rpm normally). |
#2
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When was the last time you did the basic tune-up or at least inspected your plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, PCV, and anything anybody else can think of for a basic tune-up. I wonder if this could be temp-sensor related? Sounds similar to what my '93 was doing before I replaced the plugs. Are you receiving any engine codes from the check engine light? 400 RPM seems low to idle at. ~Brian "George A." <ga (AT) nomail (DOT) net> wrote in message news:h6640311t47hd2npr5q7siajghnqlv17jq (AT) 4ax (DOT) com... My 1.8L Subaru Impreza 1995 (manual, front wheel drive) recently started to behave strangely: When an engine is truly cold (mornings or driving home after work), it starts and begins to drive normally, however, shortly after that it tends to lose power for a moment or two, then resumes OK, then these cycles repeat until an engine fully warms up. Then it behaves perfectly O.K. It's kind of difficult to describe. Basically, I press accelerator and feel that it "does not work" - very little (if anything) happens; then, as I continue to hold it down, the car "wakes up" and finally responds and accelerates. This usually happens at least several times, rather unpredictably. It's as if the engine is not getting enough fuel or air, or as if the mixture is not ignited in timely fashion. May or may not be related, I also noticed that, when the car is in this state, it seems to idle strangely - an engine shakes (I can feel the car shaking a lot more) and tachometer goes up and down from high 1,000 rpm to about 100 (when warm, it idles at approximately 400 rpm normally). |
MAF, bad TPS, bad IACV and even bad plug wires/coils etc.
Do the cheap stuff first or get someone to diagnose it when its in a
failure mode.
Carl
--
to reply, change ( .not) to ( .net)
#3
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My 1.8L Subaru Impreza 1995 (manual, front wheel drive) recently started to behave strangely: When an engine is truly cold (mornings or driving home after work), it starts and begins to drive normally, however, shortly after that it tends to lose power for a moment or two, then resumes OK, then these cycles repeat until an engine fully warms up. Then it behaves perfectly O.K. It's kind of difficult to describe. Basically, I press accelerator and feel that it "does not work" - very little (if anything) happens; then, as I continue to hold it down, the car "wakes up" and finally responds and accelerates. This usually happens at least several times, rather unpredictably. It's as if the engine is not getting enough fuel or air, or as if the mixture is not ignited in timely fashion. May or may not be related, I also noticed that, when the car is in this state, it seems to idle strangely - an engine shakes (I can feel the car shaking a lot more) and tachometer goes up and down from high 1,000 rpm to about 100 (when warm, it idles at approximately 400 rpm normally). |
fuel and air filters plus spark plugs.
If somome can test fuel pressure too, so much the better. It might also pay to
add some injector cleaner to the tank or have the injectors professionally
cleaned ultrasonically.
Graham
#4
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When was the last time you did the basic tune-up |
Graham
#5
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When was the last time you did the basic tune-up or at least inspected your plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, PCV, and anything anybody else can think of for a basic tune-up. I wonder if this could be temp-sensor related? Sounds similar to what my '93 was doing before I replaced the plugs. Are you receiving any engine codes from the check engine light? 400 RPM seems low to idle at. |
Doesn't the Impreza have individual coils per plug too ? Worth checking them as
well.
Graham
#6
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strchild wrote: When was the last time you did the basic tune-up How do you 'tune up' a car with an ECU ? |
but the price schedule still calls it a tune-up anyway.
--scott
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"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
#7
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My 1.8L Subaru Impreza 1995 (manual, front wheel drive) recently started to behave strangely: When an engine is truly cold (mornings or driving home after work), it starts and begins to drive normally, however, shortly after that it tends to lose power for a moment or two, then resumes OK, then these cycles repeat until an engine fully warms up. Then it behaves perfectly O.K. It's kind of difficult to describe. Basically, I press accelerator and feel that it "does not work" - very little (if anything) happens; then, as I continue to hold it down, the car "wakes up" and finally responds and accelerates. This usually happens at least several times, rather unpredictably. It's as if the engine is not getting enough fuel or air, or as if the mixture is not ignited in timely fashion. May or may not be related, I also noticed that, when the car is in this state, it seems to idle strangely - an engine shakes (I can feel the car shaking a lot more) and tachometer goes up and down from high 1,000 rpm to about 100 (when warm, it idles at approximately 400 rpm normally). The car is up for some expensive maintenance and break job pretty soon, so before I do any of it, I'd like to know what might be the problem with the engine and how expensive it might be. (I can, after all, buy another car, if it does not make financial sense to fix this one). Any ideas? Many thanks in advance. George |
#8
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My 1.8L Subaru Impreza 1995 (manual, front wheel drive) recently started to behave strangely: When an engine is truly cold (mornings or driving home after work), it starts and begins to drive normally, however, shortly after that it tends to lose power for a moment or two, then resumes OK, then these cycles repeat until an engine fully warms up. Then it behaves perfectly O.K. It's kind of difficult to describe. Basically, I press accelerator and feel that it "does not work" - very little (if anything) happens; then, as I continue to hold it down, the car "wakes up" and finally responds and accelerates. This usually happens at least several times, rather unpredictably. It's as if the engine is not getting enough fuel or air, or as if the mixture is not ignited in timely fashion. May or may not be related, I also noticed that, when the car is in this state, it seems to idle strangely - an engine shakes (I can feel the car shaking a lot more) and tachometer goes up and down from high 1,000 rpm to about 100 (when warm, it idles at approximately 400 rpm normally). The car is up for some expensive maintenance and break job pretty soon, so before I do any of it, I'd like to know what might be the problem with the engine and how expensive it might be. (I can, after all, buy another car, if it does not make financial sense to fix this one). Any ideas? Many thanks in advance. George |
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