Tone

My 2002 TS wagon has been having some trouble lately and I wanted to get some opinions here first before bringing it into the shop. I live in San Jose and don't want to bring it to Steven's Creek, so if anybody can recommend a good shop here in San Jo it would be much appreciated as I am new to Subaru's.

With that said, my problem is that the CEL has been coming on lately after driving for awhile on the freeway at speeds ranging from 65-70. Nearly as soon as I get off the freeway the CEL comes on and then the car will drop to nearly 0 RPM when in neutral, but has never completely stalled. It has however stalled quite often sitting at a traffic light in neutral and on an incline when entering my garage. I had the idle adjusted to factory specs. because that was what the code ran the first time around. I had to bring it back to the same guy a second time because the CEL would still come on and he said he adjusted the idle again. The problem isn't fixed and I'm tired of shelling out money to some mechanic that doesn't know what he is doing...

My question is whether or not this could be a fuel filter problem, a fuel pump problem, or simply an idle adjustment. Another thing that has been occurring is some popping or backfiring when shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear. Could this have anything to do with the stalling, or is that a seperate problem? The car has 60K miles and has been taken care of fairly well to my knowledge.

I know that's a lot of info. but I'm guessing the more the better in order to fix the problem. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Tone

Tone

Any ideas?

AWDimprezaL

probaby a dirty IAC valve...find your baron hose (huge hose that connects to your intake piping) spray acrap ton of throttle body cleaner in it. while someone keeps the car running by holding it at about 3k rpm, get your codes checked while you are at it

Tone

Ok, so the CEL hasn't come on in awhile, but today it popped up. I ran the codes and got:

P0065 and P1507

I am going to clean the IAC valve to see if that takes care of the problem, but I cannot figure out where it is at. Does anybody have a picture of where it is located on on a TS or other 02 NA?

Just out of curiosity, I have done some research as to other problems it might be and have found these:

2) check the neutral switch

3) ECT sensor

4) neutral shift positioner

Should I check these as well?

Tone

Tone

So, after cleaning the IAC valve with carb cleaner and q-tips (numerous posts on this procedure here and @ nasioc) and cleaning the throttle body with the same, the problem is still there. I'm still getting the CEL and mostly after a quick trip on the freeway, it turns on right when I get off the ramp. The car idles at around 500 and sometimes lower. Is this normal? Maybe it all has to do with my idle settings. I am just hoping this is not a serious issue and if anybody has had similar problems, let me know what you did. Should I just order a new IAC valve and possibly an Air Assist Injector Solenoid valve? My car is no longer under a warranty. Any suggestions would be helpful.

AWDimprezaL

take it do the dealer to at least get it diagnosed before you start throwing money at it

Tone

Just took it to the stealership today...we'll see what they say.

Tone

So, the dealer told me that I need a new IACV . However, they said, it will cost $380 for the part and I said HOLY S***! F* that! Ordered the part from 1stsubaruparts.com for $248 instead, but damn that is still expensive for such a small part. I just hope this fixes the problem as I'm crossing my fingers and "trusting" the mechanics at the dealership. Oh yeah, and by the way....they charged me $240 for a diagnosis along with a key lock fix on the driver's side door. Talk about a rip-off. Why is it so hard to find an honest shop with hardworking mechanics these days that won't give you a bunch of F*ing BS?! I'm seriously sick and tired of people that treat you like dirt when your giving them your money and putting your faith in them to do a good job. I ask, what has happened to all the good people or as Jack Johnson says, "Where'd all the good people go?" If any good soul on this board can recommend a reliable shop in San Jose or close to San Jo, that would be great. I try to do most of the work myself if I can, mainly because I don't trust anybody, but sometimes it's just not feasible to do it yourself. Thanks.

Tone

Replaced the IAC valve today with brand new one from 1stsubaruparts and as soon as I turned on the car, the RPM's shot up to 4k and then slowly came down to an idle of around 1500. The CEL came back on and it warmed up to normal temp. with same idle of 1500.
I decided to take it for quick drive then to see if it would somehow reset itself, but it didn't work and i'm still getting the CEL with a fluctuating idle. One really weird thing that it does is when shifting from 2nd to 3rd or 3rd to 4th right at 3000 rpm, the car will automatically kick the rpm's up a bit to 3500 or so without any touch of the gas pedal. Is this still related to the idle?
Tomorrow I am going to check the Air Assist Injector Solenoid Valve (damn that's long) since the other CEL code is referring to that.
I'm really surprised nobody has chimed in at this point and I refuse to believe that nobody has had similar codes or problems and has replaced one or the other. I'm getting really frustrated though because I spent $240 on a IAC valve that didn't fix the problem. Thanks Stealership for the incorrect diagnosis! (dealership is Steven's Creek Subaru if your curious). After all the things I've read on here about that dealership, I am kicking myself in the head for actually going there!
Going to run the codes tomorrow, but if anybody has any advice, PLEASE chime in! Thanks.

T