Subaru - Legacy :: Cranks For About 7-10 Seconds Prior To Starting When Temperature Is Below 35 Degrees
Dec 12, 2013
My husband has a 2013 Subaru Legacy, and we have noticed that on days where the temperature is below 35 degrees Fahrenheit or so, it is having trouble starting. It cranks for about 7-10 seconds prior to starting, or will not start until after a few attempts. We have owned the car for about a year, and did not notice this problem last winter.
So far, we have taken it back to the Subaru Dealer twice. The first time, they told us they found nothing wrong with the car. The second time, they tried draining and recharging the battery. Our car is still having issues starting, and we are not sure where to turn to next. Is this a known issue with Subaru Legacy? Our car is still under warranty.
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I have a 2004 Subaru Legacy Wagon with around 90,000 miles on it. I purchased the car in 2008 with about 26,000 miles on it. Starting two years ago, whenever the air temperature is below 15-20 degrees, my car will develop a smell of antifreeze in the cabin when I start it and let it warm up for a minute or two. It did not do it for the first winters I owned it. I have not been able to detect the smell outside of the vehicle, and I have not been able to detect the smell in the summer months, even if the car is left idling for several minutes. The White Whale (my cars name according to my wife) was worked on by my local mechanic (where the car was purchased) last winter. They considered and replaced the thermostat, a leaking (or at least they thought it was possibly leaking) hose, and then finally after consulting over the phone with the Subaru dealer that is a little over 45 miles from my house, decided that the problem was likely the head gasket.
So at around 65,000 miles I had the head gasket replaced by the Subaru dealer. Problem is, they replaced it in March, and the temps were high enough that I couldn't really tell if the fix had fixed the original problem or not. It had seemed that the smell was at least less intense, but hard to tell. So, here we are in the midst of January, yesterday the car started beautifully (which is one reason that I love this car) after sitting outside all night at -11 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chills down to below -30. Last winter, in these conditions, the smell would be so strong that I would get nauseated driving the entire 15 minutes to work.
This winter, since the repair, the smell seems limited to only the first idling time. After that, the cabin seems to get cleared out with fresh air, and the smell dissipates. There have never been any check engine lights, the oil and coolant levels have never been a problem, the temperature is never higher than just above the mid-line on the gauge which has stayed the same all throughout the time I've owned it, and performance has been completely unaffected by the smell, other than my performance as a driver when trying to navigate in a car that reeks of antifreeze. Also, I have never noticed what some describe as a haze or liquid building up on the windshield when a heater core goes out and my mechanics, both dealership and local, assured me that this was not the problem.
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Have a 2001 Subaru Legacy GT, 5 speed manual, 194,000 miles.
A few months ago, I started noticing that my cooling fans are running more often. Even when it is cold out and the temperature gauge was at normal temperature. The fans would turn on, and just keep running. Obviously, they would turn off when I shut the car off, but if the car is on, they will stay on. However, I found a trick to get them to turn off. If I am in neutral, and I race the engine up to around 3000 RPM's or so for about 10 seconds, and let it come back down to idle speed, the fans are now off. Works almost every time, not just a coincidence.
I know my car, and this has never done this before. I know it is not normal. I have replaced the following- thermostat, coolant temperature sensor, flushed the system, changed the fan relays, and most recently, I put a brand new Subaru radiator in. All of this, and the issue is still there. I am beginning to wonder if it is the water pump. Coolant not circulating fast enough, so the fans come on to cool down, but when I race the engine, the water pump works harder circulating coolant faster? Also recently, the temp gauge starts to climb going up long steep grades. If I pull over and race the engine, the temp gauge drops almost immediately back to normal. The pump is not leaking or making any noise, so I'm not sure if it could go bad any other way.
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Last week my 94 subaru legacy started giving me problems, At first it would putter out when I would go into reverse. A day or two after it was puttering out in reverse it started to putter out 5-10 secs after it had been started. Even faster when i would give it some gas. A few people had told me to replace the fuel filter and I decided to do so because I was hoping for a cheap easy fix, but sure enough it didn't change a thing.
I am around the time i should get the timing belt replaced, could that be that issue here? Or maybe the fuel pump, or fuel relay? Anyways I am working in Colorado where there isn't a mechanic shop around for at least 30 miles, and am not in a rush to fix it. Obviously the sooner the better but id rather try a few more things before I take it in.
I have the 2.2L engine SOHC. Also I have been driving on dirt roads quite frequently.
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I jumped in my car, started her up, and drove the 10 miles or so to meet up with her on the other side of town. And hour and a half later, I jumped back in my car and tried to turn her over....and nothing happened. I got the normal lights on the dash but no sounds at all - not even the usual "click".
I tried a couple more times before I went back inside and retrieved my brother-in-law, who is a retired truck mechanic, and asked him to take a look at it. He found nothing wrong and even he couldn't get it to start up.
I finally relented and called AAA to tow me to my fav mechanic. Before the dispatcher sent someone out, she offered to run through some troubleshooting stuff with me. She tells me, "Jump in, make sure the car is in park and your foot is on the brake, and give it one more try." And guess what? YES! THE CAR STARTED! It wasn't the normal start - it was silent for about three seconds before it finally roared to life - but at least it started.
So, I rush to my mechanic's place and ask them to give it a check over and make sure everything is okay. (I'm heading up to the high desert tomorrow and don't want to get stuck out there.) They came back a couple hours later saying everything looked fine - the battery, starter, and alternator were all fine. The advised me to keep an eye on it and come back when it "finally dies".
In the past year, I've replaced the fuel pump, battery, tie rods, and a boot. The alternator was replaced about 5 years ago and I've never had the starter worked on.
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Ok. I replace my alternator on my 1995 Subaru Legacy Ls. Everything went great. Last thing I did was to connect the positive cable on the battery. When I did it sparked alittle. Well when I got into the car to start it nothing. Turn the key nothing. The knob on the shifter won't go in to get out of park. Neighbor checked my battery said it was fine. But nothing will come on. Nothing.No lights. I had problems with my ignition before. Do you think my ignition went out? Honestly don't know what to think. Some one told me that these cars have a secondary security system. If it goes on you cannot move the knob on the shifter and when you turn the key on nothing?
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'98 Subaru Legacy L, Automatic Tran., 2.2 L, ~140,000 mi. (a youngster)
My issue is with intermittent/delayed starting. What happens is that when I turn the key, the starter solenoid will click once. Eventually after several tries of turning the switch, it starts, usually with some hesitance. When I try to start, I don't hear anything laboring like the starter Bendix grinding against the flywheel, just click and nothing. I did have the CEL come on once for like 40 minutes and then go out. Once started, however, the car tends to run well and once warm starting is still hesitant, but is quicker. Did conk out on me once at an intersection, was able to restart. Luckily I can walk to school, so I have been keeping it off the road.
As far as troubleshooting goes, the car has the same difficulty starting in neutral as well as park. Within the past year I have replaced the alternator (died), timing belt (routine maint.) as well as the battery (bad). I have also reseated all the ground wires and coated them with dielectric grease. A few months ago, I took the starter out and had it bench tested as good at a "popular auto parts store" in my region - it tested good (starter readily turned over and the Bendix deployed and retracted). Funny thing, when I pulled the starter and replaced it after being checked, the car started flawlessly for a month or so, so I chocked it up to a bad connection. Guess not.
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I recently purchased a 2006 Avalon XLS, 120,000 miles. About 25% of the time, it will crank for several seconds without starting. Turn off the key momentarily and try again, it fires right up every time. This tends to happen when setting for an hour or more, but can also happen after just a few minutes. My first thought is fuel pressure, but can't find a good spot to attach a pressure gauge.
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Truck stalls out and cranks hard for 7-10 seconds before starting if I don't let it warm up adequately before I start driving. Transmission is hesitant to shift. Also, white smoke comes out exhaust if it's cold and I get in the throttle too much or if I hit 70+mph.
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I have a 2005 Toyota Avalon. The radio will not come on if the temperature is 40 degrees or below. I have to turn on the heater for several minutes and then it will come on fine. WTH? This have been going on for years. Not a problem in Mississippi but bums me out in Denver!
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I seem to recall my 4.2l oil and coolant temperature staying at a consistent 200 degrees, but now my oil temp seems to hover at or slightly above 180 while coolant remains at 200.
A 5 mile high speed uphill run brought the oil temp to about 190 degrees, but it soon settled to 180 once I slowed to 80mph.
So ambient temp is about 15 degrees Fahrenheit; however, that really shouldn't make a difference with a water cooled/thermostat engine, correct?
My main concern is that lower oil operating temperatures wont allow condensation to boil off.
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Starting this past winter, whenever the overnight temperature drops below 45 degrees, a loud grinding/whirring noise emanates from inside the middle of the dashboard of my 2006 Prius. The noise occurs in regular one second or so intervals, and appears to originate inside or behind the touchscreen and radio/CD player.
The noise continues for about 15-20 seconds, and then goes away. The problem won't reoccur until the car cools overnight - i.e. the grinding noise won't reappear if I start the car up again when it's warm.
I recorded the sound this morning and have attached a sample WAV file here. I had to upload it as a zip file because the upload facility on PriusChat apparently doesn't allow one to directly upload a wav file.
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My 2007 5.7 Toyota Tundra has developed a quirky habit when the outside temperature is lower than 50 degrees, the transmission fails to change gear ratios properly until such time as the truck warms up. In other words, for the first several blocks leaving home in the morning, the Tachometer reads 2,000 at 30 MPH, but when it warms up, the tach will drop to 1200 to 1500 at 30 MPH. The truck started doing this around 40,000 miles. It now has 53,000 miles and my warranty will expire at 60,000 miles. The dealer tells me that the failure of the transmission shifting properly when cold is NOT an indication that my transmission might be in the need of repair or adjustment.
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I read in a different vehicle forum that, in vehicles where the A/C condenser is mounted in front of the engine coolant radiator, when the engine coolant temperature reaches some near-overheat limit, the onboard system disengages the A/C compressor clutch so its condenser does not preheat airflow going to the radiator in an attempt to avoid overheating.
Is this the case with the Toyota Highlander (and specifically in a 2008 Hybrid Limited)???
I've recently been experiencing loss of A/C cooling when the center console outside temperature exceeds about 107 and the dashboard coolant temperature gauge is almost midway up towards H, but still closer to C. But once the outside temp reading drops back below 107, and I restart the vehicle, the A/C is once again cool.
Since coolant temperature is likely is impacted by higher outside temperatures, might the coolant temperature sender be failing or simply aged such that it is out of calibration, falsely indicating too high a reading?
How difficult is it to replace the coolant temperature sensor? Where is it located (in case it's just a corroded connection!)?
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Chasing a problem for sometime now with my early 99 F350 auto 7.3 w/ 134K. This problem seems to only happen when the temperature outside is lower than 20 degrees.
When approaching a hill the truck will lose top end power (2000 RPM and greater) and shudder. Basically, start at 65 and you reach the top and 45. My gauges are all normal, no codes are present, no leaks or other abnormal sounds.
Fuel pressure is good (even under load), passed buzz test, passed CCT test. Is this possibly just the nature of the beast (being cold)? Seems to go away after 30 minutes or more of driving. In the last month, we have:
-changed all fluids and filters, except in tank filters
-sensors replaced: map, ebpv (and tube), IAT, and intake spyder sensor
-boost leak checked
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So I did a couple searches and found a couple MK3's with this issue however I did not find anything for the MK4.
The last couple days, we have been over 90 degrees in the afternoon. My black 03 20th 1.8t sits on the side of the road at work in the direct sun from 12:30 (lunch) until 5pm when I get off.
The last 2 days, when I have gone to start it, it cranks and cranks for 5-8 seconds before it starts to catch and finally stumbles to life. Once its running, everything feels fine. If I turn the car off and restart it, it starts fine.
In the mornings in the garage, evenings when its cooler or leaving for lunch before the day has gotten really hot, it starts fine. It only seems to be affected after sitting in the direct afternoon heat for a few hours.
I have read vapor lock, dying crank position sensor, ignition issues, starter etc. I am going to rule out the starter as the car cranks like normal. It simply does not fire.
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I have a 2002 Nissan Altima that has a hard time starting but runs fine once started. It is very difficult in the winter when the temp is below 25 degrees. Sometimes it take me 5 to 6 tries to get it started. I have had the vehicle checked by two mechanics and recently had the battery replaced. The mechanics said the car looks fine. Could this be a fuel injector problem or moisture in the fuel system?
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One of my headlights has stopped working on my 1999 Subaru. Do I need to replace the entire headlight assembly or is it just a bulb? Approximately how much should it cost to fix? 1999 Subaru Legacy sedan
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I drive a 2000 Subaru Legacy and the radiator fan does not always come on. This sometimes makes the car run hot but has not (yet) put it into the "danger zone" overheating. It seems to happen if the car is in stop and go traffic and it's hot outside. If I'm driving down the highway or the weather is cool it doesn't happen.
I checked the fuses (yes, even the ones under the hood) and they are all fine. I am just curious if there is a sensor that could be the problem or if it is more likely the thermostat. It didn't quite fit the descriptions I found for thermostat but I'm a broke college student trying to keep an old car on the road, not a Subaru mechanic
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I need to lube the speedo cable on my Suburu legacy 1993 does the cable come out from the speedometer end.?Also what the best lube to use for the cable,also any pitfalls to avoid.
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My Subaru was violently shuddering. I think the cold weather has made it worse. It seems to just be when I accelerate. I'm not sure if it's the CV joints or the rack and pinion.
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