97 subaru 2.2sfi. driveabilty problems

[wally592]

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

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

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

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

 

[Sam]

I think some people have cleaned the element with gentle force and
alcohol.

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.