Need advice with 1991 Subaru Legacy stalling

art58

I have a 1991 Subaru Legacy SW. The problem is that it keeps on stalling at the top of hills! Near the top of long hills, the engine begins to stutter and loose power until the car comes to a complete stop. It takes a minute to recover and then we're off again without any problems at all until the next hill climb! I've check the fuel and oil - no worries there. Any ideas?

ibendigo

I purchased a 93 Subaru wagon 16 valve 4 cyl, with 200k+ miles on it. Other than basic maintenance ie: brakes, oil change, fuel injector cleaner, spark plugs, wheels, fuel injector was ok, the car, other than being old and needing a muffler pipe patched, was running pretty good. In fact car drove fine while driving it home where we were cruising on a highway with no stops. I drove it today to work. and at the stoplights, when accelerating, the car would VERY slowly inch forward when the gas pedal was pushed, and if I would keep the gas going, it would slow down more, and if I let off the gas it would slightly move a little faster than creep back to nothing, overall taking about 20-40 seconds to even start moving. This is at every light almost, and then it would slowly start creeping around the corners like it wasn't getting any gas.. felt like it was going to stall out but didn't. Eventually it would start moving again, it did this every time the car stopped. Also, I turned it on fresh in the morning, and turning my steering wheel to the left it stops completely and does not move for a little while.

rjknapp

OB has 155k for 7K? it seems low priced... KBB has it @ 11k. any advice for novice Subaru fan. Thanks in advance.

xwesx

I would never pay $11,000 for any car with that many miles! If this is from a private seller, it may very well be a solid, miled-up car that they are attempting to sell for a reasonable price.

On the other hand, it could have a head gasket or other major issue. So, run it through the paces on one or more test drives, look for seepage at seals, gaskets, etc., and look for any gunk (black specs, oily sheen, air bubbles) in the coolant overflow, etc. Inspect the CV boots, brake pads, do some figure-8 turns to check for any differential binding, etc. Above all, check the car's fluids! If fluids don't look good, you'll likely be in for some significant repairs down the road as those are the surest signs of general neglect.

rjknapp

thanks for the info. the car is listed for 7000, not 11000. but i still think 7000 is a lot for a car with 155k miles

xwesx

Yes, that is how I read it: The seller is asking $7,000, but KBB is showing $11,000. Correct?

Yes, $7,000 is quite a bit for those miles, but the age of the car comes into play as well. Some damage & deterioration is very much a factor of age, so a six-year-old car will likely be in better overall condition than the same car, ten years older, with the same miles.

samanda

having almost exact same issue as ibendigo on a 93 subaru legacy 2.2 L, when trying to accelerate from a stop the pedal can be to the floor and it either doesnt move at all or very slowly and sometimes with pedal to floor it bogs out like its about to die. did you get yours fixed? if so what was it??thanks

xwesx

Automatic transmission? Have you tried manually shifting the gears?

raywood1

I have the same 2001 Subaru wagon with the same problem. I have a manual transmission. I have completely eliminated the stalling problem on long uphill grades by downshifting from 5th gear to 4th gear when the rpm's drop below 2500. The higher rpm's in 4th gear take the pressure off the engine. As soon as you feel any tremor, downshift.