legacycentral bbs

First off I have a 1994 Subaru Legacy LS N/A with FWD/AWD and it has 157,000 on it. I was driving to school today and my car felt funny while I was driving and it shut off. I coasted to the side of the road and popped it into neutral and started it up and then it felt fine. The radio cut off and all the dash lights went on. This is not the first time it has done it either. It shut off for the first time about 2 months ago, initially I thought it was a fuel injector because I had a CEL for it. I have since changed out. The second time it shut off was about a week or so ago. It did the same thing as it did today. Also I have a CEL for a knock sensor, but have had that for more than a year and a half. i have been lazy with changing it. Does anyone have any idea why my car would shut off randomly. I think it is an electrical problem possibly the coil pack, but I'm a car noob right now so I'm not entirely sure.

Backround info:
I have had the car for a little more than a year and half. I have changed one fuel injector in the #1 spot, the fuel filter, spark plugwires to Bosch Platinum Wires, spark plugs to NGK Iridiums, pcv valve, air filter to a K&N air filter, the water pump and timing belt, the battery to an Autocraft gold battey and a few other things.

Any help is appreciated

Anyone?

bump

I would suggest replacing your knock sensor. Subaru updated the design, and the plastic on the old ones tended to crack and ground the sensor. This however wouldn't cause your car to shut off.

When the car does run, how does it run? Do you notice any other issues? How is your fuel mileage?

I had an issue several years back where my car died randomly and/or loss power. The problem ended up being the MAF sensor. So that could be a possible cause for your problem.

Other than that, I'm not sure what to tell you without some additional information or testing.

Legacy777 wrote:I would suggest replacing your knock sensor. Subaru updated the design, and the plastic on the old ones tended to crack and ground the sensor. This however wouldn't cause your car to shut off.

When the car does run, how does it run? Do you notice any other issues? How is your fuel mileage?

I had an issue several years back where my car died randomly and/or loss power. The problem ended up being the MAF sensor. So that could be a possible cause for your problem.

Other than that, I'm not sure what to tell you without some additional information or testing.

I ordered a knock sensor last night and will change it when I get it. It runs fine until the problem arises. Then when it arises it runs funny, idles oddly, and also my fuel mileage is rather poor. I get less than 200miles a tank when in FWD mode. I do drive mostly in the city though. I went and talked to some friends about the issue and I was told by a friend that it probably is the MAF. So I bought one of those too. I'm gonna change both the sensors out and see if it fixes the issue. If not I was told to look at the coil pack or the fuel pump next. I'm hoping it's just the MAF though.

I would recommend only replacing one item at a time. That way you will know what exactly fixed the problem. If you replace both the MAF & knock sensor at the same time and the problem is fixed, there's no positive way to know exactly which one fixed it, you can only assume.

Legacy777 wrote:I would recommend only replacing one item at a time. That way you will know what exactly fixed the problem. If you replace both the MAF & knock sensor at the same time and the problem is fixed, there's no positive way to know exactly which one fixed it, you can only assume.

That's what I planned on doing, I got both parts today in the mail. I'm gonna change the knock sensor first because I know I have a code popping up for it.

Sounds good. Let us know what you find out.

The issue with it shutting off ended up being my MAF sensor. My knock sensor fixed some other issues too.

Good to hear

Yeah, good to hear.