Thread: off topic Subaru help

I had my mums outback while my parents were in china and theirs does exactly the same, felt like i was driving my tdi.

Does it do this only when a passenger is in the front?
Reason i ask is because our old Forester GT did similar, what i found was the main computer is under the passengers feet, i pulled it out and it must have had a loose plug, put it back in and never had a problem again.
Passenger must have had to much pressure on the cover plate over the computer.

Happens without passenger in front seat, but I'll check the computer plug, thanks.

Cheers
Simon

What year Outback is it?
I work at a suby dealer so hope i can help
Andrew

Thanks Andrew,

It's a 98, lower spec model.

Cheers
Simon

so it will be the original outback with the with the Quad cam motor im guessing.
These were quite a responsive motor, for a subaru.
It sort of sounds like a mass air flow problem as i have seen a couple of cars behave like that from that vintage.
very hard to tell without driving it though. if its surging may be tps related too.
Ill keep thinking about it tomorrow and see if i can think of something else. Subarus have had very few sensor probs so ill see if anyone at work has suggestions too
Andrew

I recall my old mans first outback did this, I think it turned out to be a bad program on the ECU. I think an upgrade at the dealer fixed it.

May i suggest if it's an auto i would have a look at the torque converter or just the auto in general. possible bands slipping etc. Are the revs matching actual speed?