tskeeter
Junior Associate
Joined: Mar 20, 2011 19:37:45 GMT -5
Posts: 6,831
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Post by tskeeter on Sept 17, 2013 12:30:45 GMT -5
bcdfgh, given the number of miles on the car, I'd bet you need a new EGR valve. I know that the valve was recently cleaned. Usually, EGR valves are replaced, not cleaned. The cost of labor to remove a EGR to clean it is so high that most shops replace them to avoid the possibility that cleaning isn't adequate. Just replace the EGR valve and you're 99.9% sure it is fixed. Your intermitent stalling at idle sounds much like the symptoms that I experienced with a Mazda many years ago. Would sometimes stall, or nearly stall at stop signs and stop lights, when slowing to turn corners, and the like. I resorted to slipping the car into neutral so I could keep the idle speed and vacuum up during situations when the engine speed would normally drop to an idle. Mazda dealer couldn't duplicate the problem, so one of their folks drove it for a few days. On the third day, the problem happened. Turns out that motor had two EGR valves on it. One valve OK, the other one was bad. I spent over $500 (labor and parts) on this problem and am afraid to spend more on guessing what else to replace. A mechanic believes the IAC is bad but he is not 100% sure. A new IAC is around $300. A new EGR valve and EGR control solenoid valve is over $200 total. Just for clarifying, the EGR control solenoid valve wasn't cleaned, EGR valve was. We tested the resistance for all these parts and they're all good. I already set up an appointment with the dealer. Will see what they'll say. Even though you have spent a fair amount on the repairs so far, it's a lot less than a year of car payments. Even if you end up spending another $500 or $600 to get the car fixed, the total is only two or three months of payments on a new(er) car. By today's standards, 115K miles is the middle of a car's life. Many cars, and especially many Subaru's, run 200K miles or more. I think it is well worth the money to fix the car and continue to drive it. By the way, looking at the symptoms of a bad Idle Air Control motor (low idle RPM, stalling at idle), I think the mechanic you talked to may be on to something. The IAC tends to accumulate carbon build up over time, which can cause the IAC to stick. Some IAC's are vacuum operated, so it could be as simple as a bad vacuum hose. Some IAC's a magnetic, and require cleaning about every 40K miles to ensure proper operation.
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bcdfgh
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2, 2012 12:17:53 GMT -5
Posts: 132
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Post by bcdfgh on Oct 1, 2013 6:29:32 GMT -5
The dealer can't find anything wrong. It's so frustrating. Actually I took it there twice - the first time they spent about an hour then sent me home because they over scheduled. The second time they spent about 2 more hours then gave up.
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