Subaru - Outback :: 2004 - Overheats When A/C Runs
Sep 9, 2011
My engine starts to overheat (the thermostat creeps up towards the red) when I run the a/c. This started this summer. If I turn the a/c off, it settles back to normal. Mechanics said a/c pressure sensor was defective and caused a/c clutch to stay on all the time. so they replaced the a/c receiver dryer (whatever that is). didn't fix it. they looked again and said a/c fans were cutting out and causing overheating. they replaced them. that didn't fix it. now they're proposing exploratory open heart surgery: opening up the engine. if it only happens when the a/c runs, seems extreme.
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My 2001 Subaru Outback H6-3.0 is at 215k miles (I bought it for $4k at 201k miles). It overheats only when I drive for a while on a hot day. I was trying to get to Yosemite with my whole family in the car, and rather than do the intelligent thing and go back home and get it repaired, I kept going, stopping when the gauge started going past the middle to let it cool down and replace any water it was missing (after the engine cooled, of course). Amazingly, we managed to use the car almost normally during the trip, as long as we did short-ish trips and kept some water in the car. Having to pull over randomly isn't so bad when you are in Yosemite anyway.
There was a mechanic shop in the little town we stayed in, but they weren't equipped to to do a head gasket job in the little time we were going to be up there, and we needed the car to get around anyway. So I tried putting some of that coolant leak repair gunk in there and it seemed to work. We made it the hundreds of miles home, no problem (but it was downhill, where the trip up there was uphill). Problem solved, right?
Well, about a year later of only driving the thing about 50 miles in any given run, and not terribly hot weather, we decide to go a few hundred miles south. Sure enough, it was a hot day and after about 60 miles I saw the temp gauge go past mid and immediately pulled over. After it cooled a bit, I drove it (in two hops, because it started heating up again quickly) to a shop. They tested it and sure enough it's a head gasket leak. They said it'd be $2500 to fix it.
So far this car has been pretty good to me otherwise. Numerous times, I've taken it up 300+ miles into the snow and ice covered roads to go skiing and LOVE not having to put chains on. I am guessing that all the cold air up there kept it from overheating while I was pushing it pretty hard up some steep inclines without issue. It seems like there is a temperature threshold beyond which it starts to quickly overheat, and below witch, the gasket is holding fine, or something along those lines.
So, given that I like this car, is it worth another $2500 to get her back on the road? Should I just try the leak stopping junk again? Should I have been using "SUBARU cooling system conditioner" this whole time, even though it's not one of the supposed head-gasket-problem engines? Should I just drive it until it finally overheats to death? It's probably still fine to drive in moderate to cool temperatures (winter is coming), but I haven't driven it since the leaking head gasket diagnosis. I don't know if I did permanent damage to it that day, or if it's just its usual self still. It didn't get into the red, heat-wise.
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Several weeks ago, my wife drove our Outback for 10 minutes, turned the car off, then turned it back on after 10 minutes. After 15 minutes of its being on the second time and the car being in a car line, the red temperature indicator blinked, then went solid. She pulled over to let it cool, then put coolant in the overflow reservoir when she got home. The reservoir was nearly empty. The very next day, the exact same thing happened, in the exact same sequence - 10 minutes on, 10 off, 15 minutes on in a car line, then indicator came on again.
I took it to a mechanic who could not reproduce the issue after letting it run for four hours. He replaced the fuses and told us to bring him the car when the problem recurred. Reservoir tank is full, no blockage in line from radiator to overflow tank.
The next day, for a third time, the car overheated in the pickup line. We brought it in the following day. The mechanic finally was able to reproduce the issue. He said that both fans (a subi outback has two) needed to be replaced, as they were drawing a tremendous amount. He advised that I take it to subaru to find out if there was anything they could do re: warranty.
I took it to subaru, who said that the fans are not now under warranty (we have 65k on the car). I decided to have them replace the fans anyway, so I asked them for a diagnosis. However, after two days in the shop, they were unable to reproduce the problem. They ran the car in idle, they tried to recreate the stop-and-go/standstill environment of a carline, but no luck. They said that the fans were drawing the expected amount and that they would need recreate in order to diagnose.
I have two questions:
1) Should I replace the fans myself? I can either take the car back to the first mechanic and have him replace the fans or I can do it myself. I can do basic jobs like oil changes, replacing serpentine belts, but I'm not sure what nuances are involved with replacing anything electrical.
2) Most importantly: What would cause both fans in a relatively young subi to spike their amperage draw intermittently? I guess it's possible that i just got two bad fans, but that doesn't seem to be a common problem with this model. So, I want to make sure that this issue is not indicative of some other underlying problem.
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I own a 2003 subaru outback. Tonight when I took my keys out of the ignition my car kept running. It took several turns to get my car to shut off. I don't know if this is related but about a month ago a friend of mine started my car after dropping my keys in the snow and the next morning I found ice in the ignition. What caused my car to run without keys in it? Or how to fix it?
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I have a 2000 Subaru outback (150,000 miles). Recently after starting, the car will feel sluggish or like it's pulling. When I come to a complete stop it will shake and feel like it's about to shut off... and recently it has been shutting off. Last night I changed the spark plugs, spark plug wires, and fuel filter... after that the car was driving worse. My check engine light is on and the code is for a knock sensor. Also there was oil on my spark plugs which I believe is an idication that there is a broken or leaky gasket. I am at a loss... would the leaky or broken gasket cause car the run sluggish and stall, would a faulty knock sensor cause the the same? I also need to get my rotors changed but I don't think that would cause any of this.
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I have a 2004 Suburu Outback with a throttle positioning sensor (TPS) instead of a cable. Intermittently, I lose my throttle. At the same time my check engine light goes on and my cruise control button has a flashing light and my cruise control does not function.. I coast off the road, place the transmission in park, turn "OFF" the engine, wait 15 seconds and restart the engine. The throttle control works and I go on my merry way. After a few hours of driving, the check engine light goes out and the cruise control functions again. This incident occurs about once a week. I have 145,000 on the engine.
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Left for work yesterday AM on a "dark and stormy" morning. About 1/2 mile down the road lost my accelerator. Engine was running fine, but pushing pedal did nothing. Engine check light "ON". Opened hood and found a small mouse nest on top of throttle body. Came back after work. Looked for chewed cables, none found. Car started up and accelerator worked, drove home, hooked up code reader, P0138: downstream O2 sensor, high voltage. What could it be?Accelerator Pedal Position Sensor?
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Our Air conditioner keeps on for about 5 minutes then cuts off. If we turn the car off and immediately back on it comes back on for another 5 minutes. we have taken it to the dealer twice at ca. 200 a pop and they say they have fixed it each time but they haven't.
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My Subaru Outback 2004 has 136,000 miles. Recently the check engine light came on and the mechanic diagnosed leaking head gaskets, cost to replace $2,000. Does it make sense to fix it or bite the bullet and get a new car?
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I have a 2004 outback with just over 100k miles on it. It has been making a loud vibrating sound lately. It makes the sound when idling and even louder when I step on the gas, but at highway speeds the sound disappears. I do not actually FEEL a vibration, it just sounds as though something is vibrating/rattling. We had a mechanic check it out and they thought it was an exhaust issue. Apparently not, because the sound is still there.
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I have a 2004 subaru outback that smells of gas when the tank is filled. The smell persists for a couple of days after the tank is filled. It started in the spring and I brought it to the dealer but they couldn't find anything. It seemed to go away during the summer but now that the colder weather has started the problem has returned.
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I have an 04 outback wagon with the right side headlight that has stopped working. I put a new bulb in but it still doesn't work. I tried swapping the fuse and the relay from the left side light but it still doesn't work. All the other lights on the car work. When I was poking around the connections with a meter the light flashed on/off a few times. Could this be a connection problem or something wrong with the rear headlight assembly?
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My 1995 ranger was running just fine then today overheats in five minutes and then runs at very high rpms, has 2yr old water pump new tstat don't think head is blown no water in oil no white smoke no water on the oil cap, I haven't check the plugs for water, stated raining no garage, when engine is cold starts runs fine,but when it gets hot its like a train...
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I have a 2004 Subaru Outback. This fall I started having intermittent problems starting the car. It would run like a champ, no problems. Then every once in a while when I would try to start it, typically happens after it has sat all night, it would turn over just fine, motor would catch, then the motor would quit running (almost immediately upon start). It is kind of like the old days when your carburetor was not adjusted quite right and you would have to keep one foot on the brake the other on the gas while stopped at a stop light to keep the motor running.
The first time it happened we added "heat" as we thought it might be water in the gas line somewhere. It started, then ran just fine. This winter the problem started recurring more frequently. We added injector cleaner, it seemed to work a bit, but did not solve problem. We took it to the shop, and they could not figure out what was going on as nothing is registering on the computer and the car would start just fine for them. Brought the car home it worked OK for a week or so, then started up again.
The motor would catch then would quit running almost immediately. We were able to get it running good enough to get it to the shop (kept one foot on gas at stop lights, etc so would not kill). My car has been at the shop for two weeks now. It finally misbehaved on their watch, and they replaced a sensor, but they are not sure it fixed anything. They are keeping it so see if they can get a better diagnosis.
My first thought was the gas pump, but they said they had never seen a subaru gas pump fail and usually when a pump goes out, it goes out. They thought it could be electrical, but not sure as the problem is so intermittent. I would like to get my car fixed and back home. It's a great car; when it is running it runs great. The shop we work with is very good, and they are reluctant to start just replacing parts if it is not going to fix the problem.
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This has been happening for the past 6 months or so. I recently had new ball joints, 4 wheel alignment, and 4 wheel balance. Even with this I'm noticing a very slight high frequency vibration at highway speeds. I noticed on one of the front wheels that a weight fell off, so this might explain the high speed vibration.
However - When I'm starting at 0mph, and accelerate to say 50mph for example, the car vibrates rather substantially as the speedometer moves from around 25mph to just past 30mph. After those speeds it goes away.
I've also noticed that it tends to be worse if I'm going up hill, which, according to the laws of physics, would tell me that going uphill would put more pressure on the front end, given it's heavier with the engine there. If I'm going downhill it vibrates much less.
When I drive I tend to not accelerate quickly, meaning, I don't 'punch' it, and accelerate gradually instead. If I'm driving on a level, well-paved road, and accelerate quicker than regular, the vibration seems to not be as heavy.
Any other tests for this? Struts, control arm, steering knuckle, drive shaft ?
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My 2004 Subaru Outback has had the head gasket replaced, the O2 sensor replaced, spark plugs replaced. Still I cannot go up big hills anywhere near the speed limit. I think it may be the catalytic converter is bad from driving it with a leaky head gasket.
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My 2004 Outback power steering was growling and squealing, but it was working ok at the time. I decided to replace the power steering pump before it completely failed and 3 hours later I was done. the growling and squealing was gone. However, when I backed the car out it was hard to steer at first. When I got going it all worked great, until I turned at the corner... hard steering again. When I got around the corner and up to speed everything is great again. The problem did not go away with time. Every time I turn at idle there seems to be no power steering. What is going on?
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The head gaskets are less than 2 years old, radiator only almost 3 years old, I've constantly had oil leak issue. Now the problem is my temperature gauge rises after driving for 20-30 minutes when I'm going at a lower speed or in stop and go traffic. Both fans are working, no leaks, new thermostat, and new radiator cap.
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engine light and flashing cruise control switch--computer says replace bank one---so I replace with factory catalytic converter----six months later light comes back on with flashing cruise control switch and computer asking me to replace bank one---So I use computer to shut light off----four weeks later light comes back on----called dealer they said "we usually replace both banks"---I found it most painful paying for dealer supplied catalytic converter even when I was under the impression that it would keep light off.---This is my wife's car and she is not really buying the piece of black electrical tape I placed on dash over check engine light.---Am I dealing with a bad oxygen sensor ?
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My 2000 outback wagon has only 67k miles. About a month ago, the check engine light came on. I took it to an Auto Zone and although unfortunately I didn't write down the code, the person who checked the car seemed to think it was probably just a bad tank of gas. I ran through that tank of gas and filled up with premium gas. Light didn't go off until THAT tank was near empty. Filled up a third time and light remained off until tank was near empty and it came on again. It has not yet gone off. I'm not sure how many more tanks of gas I should run through! The car isn't running poorly so I thought the bad gas was a good explanation.
A side note: about 6 months ago I had to have the head gasket replaced. I argued with Subaru and got some extra work done in exchange for the head gasket payment since my car missed the recall by a few digits but I was obviously stuck with an inferior product. I'm hoping they didn't do an inferior job. Even though it was 6 months ago, it wasn't that many miles ago - you can see my the year/mileage on my car that I don't drive a lot. Does that gas explanation sound reasonable? Anything about a head gasket related?
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Having problem with corrosion of the tie down on a battery? The terminals are fine. It's just the metal plate that holds the battery in place with bolts. The paint has corroded off. I clean it up and cover it with dielectric grease. I have to do this every 4 to 6 months or so, because the corrosion keeps coming back. I had the same problem with my 2004 Subaru Legacy, and had to replace the battery holder as a result.
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