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gen 4 won't idle when cold - please help!!

PostPosted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 4:29 pm
by DownUnder
Hey guys I've been stalking this forum for the few weeks since I bought a liberty but now I've been thown in head first with this issue. I've posted this info on another forum but I've come to the people with the most knowledge in hope of solving iy.

I have a 2004 MY04 subaru liberty 2.5i manual wagon. The battery was suffering from a bit of voltage drop on start so I followed a recommendation to recharge it. I pulled it out to recharge and put it in yesterday arvo. Then this morning the car started fine but while it was cold whenever I let off the accelerator the revs come rights down and it stalls. At first I thought that the battery must be stuffed so I bought a new one but that didn't fix the problem so I'm considering returning it. The issue only seems to happen while the engine's warming up once it was fully warm it stops. Outside temp was about 25*C. I definitely had the clutch in. It wasn't a normal stall.

there was a link with the battery disconnection... I also replaced the altenator and AC belt at the same time.... but pre that I had no problems so I'm leaning toward something electrical. Maybe the drive by wire system? It's almost like the throttle snaps closed when I let off the accelorator

No codes whatsoever. It's almost like the idle speed is set too low.... but seeing as it's drive by wire I don't see how that's possible.... it could be fuel related seeing as I did fill it up just before the battery removal but I still don't see how bad fuel would create such a problem. it definitely isn't fun in heavy traffic where if I let it off I'm gonna stall. Considering taking it to the subaru dealer down the road to see if there's anything extra they can do with their SSM reader. (My reader does ssm but it's in BETA)

Arrrrrg it's just so so frustrating!!!

P.s. sorry for the bad grammar I'm on my phone.

Re: gen 4 won't idle when cold - please help!!

PostPosted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 9:05 am
by bigBADbenny
Find a local member w/ tactrix and log the car during idle and normal driving.
Get a multimeter and check your battery voltage too.

Re: gen 4 won't idle when cold - please help!!

PostPosted: Sat Jul 27, 2013 5:56 pm
by Mr Bagus
Every time I had to disconnect the battery (O2 sensor probs), my car did the same thing- low idle and stalled a few times. After driving a bit, problem stopped and car ran normally. I suspect the ECU is resetting when the battery is disconnected and needs to "re-learn" how it should run......

Re: gen 4 won't idle when cold - please help!!

PostPosted: Sat Jul 27, 2013 6:13 pm
by zch91
Have you driven it much since battery replacement? The ECU does take a little while to re-learn a few things which can cause odd things like this to happen

Re: gen 4 won't idle when cold - please help!!

PostPosted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 11:07 am
by DownUnder
As far as I'm aware it's an idle air control valve thing. It takes the ecu ages to learn its way around this. Esp as not that much time is spent at idle. Lazy fix is to let it idle for 10-20 every day for a week after disconnecting battery. I'll be in there cleaning out the valve soon

Re: gen 4 won't idle when cold - please help!!

PostPosted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 10:12 am
by cooki_monsta
Have you checked your ignition system? Leads etc? Consider your temperature sensors too - air, coolant etc.