Questioni have an 03 forester xt (manual trans) with under 90K miles. my check engine light came on five months ago. i took the car to a subaru shop. the issue was with the gas cap. the cap was replaced, and the check engine light stayed off for a week or two. then there was a period the check engine light would sometimes be on and sometimes off.
the check engine light has not been off for the last two months. and now, the car stalls as i'm filling the tank (i know the law). i have only used 93 octane, 10% or less EtOH. the engine will not turn over the first time starting after a fill, unless i pump the gas a couple times. the engine will stall again unless i rev the engine to 2000 rpm when in neutral for 10-15 seconds. then i pull away and there is zero issue with the engine (other than the light) or starting until the next time i fill up.
as a test, today i ran the engine with a half tank and the gas cap completely off for about 5 minutes. the engine ran fine.
any thoughts? for the record, i just paid my car off too. thanks
AnswerJohn,
You are making this much harder than it needs to be, there are a thousand possible reasons for the check engine light to come on and only one light, just because the light was on one time and a gas cap was faulty, doesn't mean every time it comes on it is related to the gasp cap. The proof is that you make no mention of it running poorly in correlation with the light coming on the first time and now you have a light on and off and a issue with performance.
I could list a hundred reasons why it is a bad idea to fuel up a 1996 and newer OBDII equipped vehicle with a comprehensive evaporative emissions system. One of the reason to not fuel up a car when it is running is there is the potential for the evap system to vent when the car is running this could put raw fuel into the evap system and cause damage, not to mention what it can do to the environment.
The definition of the car not turning over is the engine making no noise when you turn the key, cranks but won't start is when the engine turns over below 500 rpms but will not "catch" and run.
If the engine doesn't turn over you need to look at the primary circuit, battery, cables, starter, switch, wiring, if the vehicle turns over and doesn't start and run, you need to look into a huge list of other potential causes.
You need at a minimum to have the check engine light diagnosed, the symptoms diagnosed and I would encourage you to do this before you do any damage to your catalyst if you have not done so already.
The check engine light is a warning that something is wrong with either the emissions control system or the engine management system choosing to ignore the light and the symptoms is pretty similar to ignoring your body when it gives you warning signs something is wrong.
Best advice I can give you is to establish a relation ship with a good Independent Subaru repair shop in your are and get your poor Subie fixed.
You can read more here about how the check engine light works in your car.
http://allwheeldriveauto.com/your-subaru-check-engine-light-explained/
Justin
www.allwheeldriveauto.com
