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About my Subaru Out...
 
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About my Subaru Outback 2009 Shutting down unexpectedly

  

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Hello Mr. Killmer. Thank you for your informative YouTube Channel. I was just curious if I can ask you a question please?

 
I have a 2009 Subaru Outback with Engine 2.5L.
 
I have done a few repairs on it. For example, back in 2021, I did a full tune up on it. Then, I fixed all front end issues. Replaced the Bulkhead Engine Harness because I was told that if the vehicle shuts down behind the red light is because of this issue. Then I had the mechanics clean the camshaft sensor. But yet, sometimes the car does shut down in the middle of the road. 
 
Mechanics can't find out what is the cause because the computer reading doesn't show anything. The last time I had the vehicle in service, I was told that they cleaned the gas system hoses. 
 
But again it shutdown on me the other day. In your professional opinion, do you know what could be the cause? 
 
(PLEASE NOTE: I am just asking your opinion and I am the only person responsible for any repairs or decisions made on this vehicle. NOT you) 
 
But I would greatly appreciate it if I can get some advice from you please and thank you.
 
Thank you sir.

3 Answers
4

No OBDII check engine codes? When it shuts off, does it immediately stop (electrical/ECU) or sputter to a stop (fuel)?

My bet would be that one or more connectors or grounds on your new engine harness has gone intermittent due to a loose connector, connector dirt or corrosion, loose or corroded ground.

I always first suspect any parts that were not factory-installed - putting complex modern cars together is very demanding, even for expert mechanics.

 


Hello there and thank you for your kindness for helping me with this. With regards to your question when you said if it stops immediately, Fortunately, this has never happened when I am driving on the road. It only happens when the car is on and is stopped. Plus I feel like car shakes a little bit. I mean in my opinion its running rough. Not smooth at all.

With regards to the Engine Harness, I took it to Subaru company and they replaced it with new part. I am assuming that they have double checked the connectors. Not sure to be honest.

I don't know at this point to be honest.

Thanks.


3

Your fuel pump may be going bad.


Hello there and thank you for helping me with this. In my opinion, (I am not a mechanic) but I believe I agree with you strongly. But my fear is that what if its the fuel pressure sensor, or something else, because it feels like the car is consuming just a little more fuel. I mean its not very fuel efficient. So, what do you think? Thanks.


A lot of cars don't have a fuel pressure sensor, so you have to hook a gauge up to the fuel rail to check it.


3

Here's a case where an inexpensive scanner would be useful to get an idea of what's happening here.

Stalling at stops can be caused by several reasons.

Air/fuel issues or ignition circuit issues.

You have to nail down which one it is to begin your troubleshooting.

These days, even cheap scanners can record live data and that would be helpful in your case. A lot of them can even graph it.

So, you could pick a day when you're running errands around town and you know you'll be in heavy traffic and you'll encounter a lot of stop lights.

Hook up the scanner and record live data of your A/F sensor.  If your scanner lets you, also record fuel trims at the same time. 

When your Subaru stalls see if the engine goes lean just before it stalls. Then you'd start considering throttle body, IAC valve, PCV valve or any general "unmetered air" issues or like @chucktobias says, maybe a fuel pressure issue. (your mechanic "cleaned the fuel hoses" so he also considered "fuel starvation" ((not sure why he thought that was necessary unless they found an obstructed fuel line and that shouldn't happen without another issue)).

Conversely, if the engine goes rich just before it stalls at a traffic light, then maybe a sticky EGR valve.

If those don't seem to be the issue then the next time, record the engine rpms.

One of the things the computer uses the Crank Sensor for is to determine engine rpms. 

So it might be helpful to record the engine rpms to see if the signal drops out just before the engine stalls.

You have a 2 wire Crankshaft Position Sensor.

It's a VRS (Variable Reluctance Sensor). It creates its own AC voltage instead of using a DC voltage reference/ground from the computer like a Hall Effect Sensor.

With a VRS sensor, the voltage signal to the computer is "weaker" at lower rpms than at higher rpms and if you had a failing crank sensor, or maybe an intermittent wiring/connector issue like @glen_stet proposed, this should show up by the RPM data dropping out just before the car stalls.

Here's a graphic which may be helpful to wrap your head around something happening like this.

The computer doesn't really care about the voltage level as long as it can see it.

It cares about the time between the voltage signals.

So maybe that's helpful to see how a problem here could cause an engine stall at a stoplight. (failing sensor or wiring where the computer can't read the voltage at low rpms)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to replace the crank sensor, throttle body. IAC valve, PCV valve, and EGR valve.

Just sayin' that recording Live Data on a "stop and go day" on some of the engine control sensors may be really helpful (Not just the ones I mentioned).

If you want to try this and you aren't used to this stuff, I'd suggest buying one of those BlueDriver scanners that work with your phone.

First, because they're inexpensive and I've never seen this kind of customer support for novices. They make videos on how to do all this stuff. And second, there's plenty of youtubes from different people, without any automotive experience, showing how they use it.

For example, I did a youtube search for "BlueDriver record live data" and this video came up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPWzzDckghc

Even if you don't do your own repairs, with an intermittent problem which (like all intermittent problems never happens when your mechanic is test driving your car), you can show him the live data from several sensors when the engine dies at a stoplight which can help him narrow this down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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