97 subaru 2.2sfi. driveabilty problems

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- wally592
  
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posted
16 years ago

Tue, Oct 9, 2007 1:51 PM

my 97 impera runs great for the most part except for the last month .I;ll be driving and all of a sudden it starts to spit and sputer and will stall and some time it won't restart unless i dissconect the plug on the mass air flow sensor.I have no codes and the part is'nt that cheep to buy and find thats not the problem. Yes I've been to a garage and had it check and this what they told me would fix.Well any ideas I'm all ears

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- Carl 1 Lucky Texan
  
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posted
16 years ago

Tue, Oct 9, 2007 10:45 PM

I think some people have cleaned the element with gentle force and alcohol. Do you use an 'oiled' filer like K&N? Sometimes they deposit oil on the MAF element. But you might also be suspect of the crank angle sensor. IIRC some models have had intermittent problems with those. Is the problem temperatrure related? Sometimes the Engine Temp Sensor can fail such that no code is recorded. It can keep a car in 'choke' mode. Cars with this problem may only start and run well when cold - run too rich when hot.

Carl

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- Sam
  
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posted
16 years ago

Wed, Oct 10, 2007 7:43 PM

I'd recommend buying a can of CRC Mass Airfow Sensor cleaner - it's specifically designed for cleaning the elements of the MAS. Over time the tiny grids get clogged with tiny particles and cause the sensor to lose calibration. I cleaned mine the other day, after 170,000 miles, and noticed the engine seems smoother on acceleration even though I wasn't having any drastic symptoms. I'd also recommend resetting the ecu (disconnect the batter for 30 minutes) when you do this - that way it relearns the air to fuel ration with the newly cleansed sensor.