hesitation in the rain ?

Hi all, I'm far from an expert and hope someone has run across this before.

I have a 1989 Forrester with about 140K miles, regularly serviced. I've noticed this problem starting several years ago but have not been able to figure it out.

When there's a heavy rain going on, and I get in the car and start up, there's severe hesitation. I can add a bit of gas or floor the gas and the RPM's don't change out of the normal range, I can hear the engine racing, but the car hardly moves along, or does so slowly with a jerking motion.

NEVER have this problem in dry weather.

After driving for a while, the hesitation goes away.

Any clue ???

Reply to
Jerseyj
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Reply to
Edward Hayes

Classic sign of bad high voltage ignition component(s). You may have a cracked 'coil' or bad wires. Soemtimes the symptom can be duplicated (or, in the dark, seen as sparks!) by spraying a mister bottle of water around under the hood while idling.

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

Jerseyj wrote:

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Don't recall, but the car gets serviced as reccomended by Subaru.

Jerry

Reply to
Jerseyj

This something that the dealership can diagnose ?

Jerry

p.s. but why would the car engine race but RPM's not go up if it's an electrical problem ?

Reply to
Jerseyj

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Reply to
ismlv

Reply to
Jerseyj

I had something similar on a VW after a drive in heavy rain. Turned out it was the connections on the engine computer that were wet/dirty. It took 1h for my mechanic to diagnose and fix. Cheap !

H

Jerseyj wrote:

Reply to
H

How can the engine race without increasing RPMs? I think maybe you are hearing the starter motor failing to disengage from the flywheel.

Reply to
Chris Phillipo

I had similar problems with a Mazda 626 several times.

Replace the plug wires, and I bet a quarter that yur problem goes away.

If your car has a distributor, check the cap for cracks, and if it does have a crack the distributor may be fouled (moisture induced corrosion of teh contacts). But, given the timing of your issue, moisture induced arcing caused by worn out plug wire insulation has my bet.

Best Regards,

-- Todd H.

2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA
Reply to
Todd H.

Possibly. Cheaper just to replace the plug wires. If you've never had that done before it's probably the cause. And they're pretty cheap and dead simple to replace yourself.

Replace one wire at a time so you don't screw up the firing order. :-)

-- Todd H.

2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA
Reply to
Todd H.

Someone said "why is the motor revving but the rpm's not going up" So the engine is revving but the tach isnt moving (?) Sounds like a grounding issue (subaru was pretty cheap whith their grounding straps) Check all the grounding points. There are even "grounding kits" out there (just check any subaru forum) Also ive seen a "failing" alternator cause weird things. Remember electrical components dont like moisture :)

Reply to
NitroTrike

Hmmm...my Baja takes about 4 Revs to start when cold. If I immediately shut it of and then try again, it fires immediately. Sometimes it will start (4 Rev type) and slowly drop to 0 RPM. No problem re-starting, or otherwise. I wonder if it's a grounding strap problem. Porsche can develop the same problem.

This is a Subaru forum, anyone here know about the straps? Username munged by FixNews

Reply to
Don

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