Weird stalling issue....

[noballoffire]

Hello all,

I have a stock '04 wrx standard with about 92k. Lately, it's been doing this weird stalling thing. I'll start the car and drive away, and after about a mile, the engine will completely shut down when I put it into neutral. I've always been able to start it up again immediately and drive away, and it's never happen twicen the same trip. (That makes me wonder if it has anything to do with the engine being cold.) This scenario has happened a few times now, and always at the SAME place in the road, about a mile away.

About the third or fourth time this happened, the "check engine" light came on and stayed on. I got it looked at, it was a faulty O2 sensor. I had it replaced, but the next day the stalling problem happened again!!

Being out of work, and having spent $400 on the O2 sensor fix, I'm reluctant to give the car to a mechanic to diagnose for the problem at $80/hour... Does this problem sound familiar to anyone? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks all!

[Tinywagon]

when the car dies does it sputter as you take it out of gear or just flat out quit?

[noballoffire]

Nope, no sputtering at all...it just quietly but completely dies when I take it out of gear. Does this sound like something in particular?

[noballoffire]

Well, OK. The CEL was for the secondary O2 sensor... I've replaced it, and it's happened again since then. Can you think of anything I should check, or any other info that might be relevant?

[WagonGuy]

Another quick and almost free thing to do is to check if the MAF sensor isn't dirty. If it is then you'll only spend about $5 for a MAF sensor cleaner and, who knows if it is related or not, it may help.

[noballoffire]

I cleaned the MAF sensor (it looked OK, but I sprayed it down anyway), and it happened again.

Any other suggestions??? Please help! TIA

[pzr2874]

Have you checked all your vac hoses ?

[Donkey]

Use the resistor mod for the 02 sensor... if you have to, replace it with a high-temp probe... if it's a DP probe, delete it. The slight loss of power from the ECU (reduced current when approaching WOT) is easily made up for by the increased airflow in the DP and the reliability of having no "signal", but a constant reply that the DP temp is nice and cool, allowing full boost earlier.

This is flat out wrong and horrible advice. For starters if this is the front O2 sensor you cannot use the resistor mod period. Second the rest of the gibberish spouted is completely false.........you have been talked to about posting this kind of crap.

Noballoffire- You have a completely stock 04 with no mods at all? Just want to confirm that you have no performance mods.

[noballoffire]

Noballoffire- You have a completely stock 04 with no mods at all? Just want to confirm that you have no performance mods.

Correct.

[Donkey]

When the car stalls now are you still getting any CEL's? It only stalls in neutral and not in gear? I would maybe think the IAC valve maybe going bad or just gummed up. It's job is to allow the ECU to control the idle of the vehicle via a solenoid when in neutral/idle.

Cleaning And Reattaching The IACV (Idle Air Control Valve) - NASIOC

[noballoffire]

When the car stalls now are you still getting any CEL's? It only stalls in neutral and not in gear? I would maybe think the IAC valve maybe going bad or just gummed up. It's job is to allow the ECU to control the idle of the vehicle via a solenoid when in neutral/idle.

No more CEL's, and only in neutral. Would it make sense for the valve to be getting stuck when the car is cold? Cuz it only happens then. I took the car out but warmed it up first, and it hasn't happened....

I'll check out that link - thanks for the lead, Donkey!

[Donkey]

No more CEL's, and only in neutral. Would it make sense for the valve to be getting stuck when the car is cold? Cuz it only happens then. I took the car out but warmed it up first, and it hasn't happened....

Quite possibly. The IACV is heated by the throttlebody cooloant lines though a passage. Cleaning it is very easy just remember to buy a new gasket.

[subaru_crazy]

I had something like that happen to my old audi a4 and it was the valve, I tried cleaning it but that only worked for about a week or 2 at a time. I got tired of taking it off the car because you had to disconnect some of the fuel hoses and replaced it with a new one, after that no more idling issues. It would die at stop lights but it was automatic, so it would not die while in motion becaue the engine was not idiling, and it would be more pronounced when cold but when it got warm it would still die here and there.

[smccorkell]

I have a very similar issue with my 2005 WRX. I would drive along the freeway for a couple of miles and the engine would just stall, I would coast over to the side of the freeway (ouch!), start the car, and it would start right up. This has been happening intermittently for many weeks now, and it has gotten to be more frequent. I've had my local mechanic try several things but nothing has made any difference yet. There hasn't been any discernable pattern that I can tell. As soon as I thought it was related to heat, it stalled in the cold. When I thought it only happened on the freeway, it started stalling in town at moderate speeds. It has become harder to start back up now, but I'm not sure whether that's related. Any thoughts?

[Impreza2.0]

I have a very similar issue with my 2005 WRX. I would drive along the freeway for a couple of miles and the engine would just stall, I would coast over to the side of the freeway (ouch!), start the car, and it would start right up. This has been happening intermittently for many weeks now, and it has gotten to be more frequent. I've had my local mechanic try several things but nothing has made any difference yet. There hasn't been any discernable pattern that I can tell. As soon as I thought it was related to heat, it stalled in the cold. When I thought it only happened on the freeway, it started stalling in town at moderate speeds. It has become harder to start back up now, but I'm not sure whether that's related. Any thoughts?

Battery ground

Any connection you might have knocked loose modding or maintaining...

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