Easy to stall off of idle

Phizinza

Phizinza

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Jun 16, 2009
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Location
South Australia
Anyone else noticed this? Only an issue when offroading. But when you try and not use the accelerator and come off the clutch the car easily stalls. My EJ22 in the Brumby would dip the idle but then the computer would correct it and you could even drive up hills without the throttle. In the Outback (SOHC EJ25) it just wants to stall and the computer doesn't correct for the low idle.

Just wondering if this is just my car or a shared trait of the EJ25..?
 
Drives me nuts- by far the easiest car to stall I have ever driven. It dies just off idle. The Impreza does not have it, just the Forrie. :madred:
 
Yeah I have noticed that in my Forester. Even when I take off from a stand still like at a set of lights, unless I give it some power the rev counter drops to ~500rpm then I go, so nearly stalling. Maybe its just my driving style :confused:

But offroad yeah it stalls easily. Always having to give it abit.
 
I thought it might be the flywheel weight. But the old DMF I took off this weekend and the standard style flywheel I put on are heavy enough. So I'm thinking the ECU doesn't correct enough to keep the idle up while coming off the clutch. Maybe it has something to do with the IAC valve on the newer engines? I know the whole throttle body is different to the EJ22 I had. IAC takes air from one side of the TB to the other instead of from a pipe that is in the intake piping to the other side of the TB.

Another thing I have noticed is my TB is set fully closed at idle so the IAC is the only thing letting air into the intake manifold. Maybe the IAC can't open enough to correct the idle? Perhapes setting the TB open slightly like all carby cars are and how I'm pretty sure my EJ22 was might help? Hmm, some testing is in order I think. Just gotta take note of where everything is set at the moment.
 
It's probably part of the pollution control programming. Or someone at Subaru just likes p1ssing people off. The Impreza had it when I was running a more primitive after market ECU, but with the Haltech it is fine. In general driving I like taking off with minimal throttle, but with the Forrie it requires more revs for a clean take off. And of course stepping out of the Impreza you forget and look like a dill!
 
Rally said:
It's probably part of the pollution control programming.
Click to expand...

I think you are right about this Tony. A lot of modern (<10 year old) cars seem to have the same characteristic - it's not just Subies - and I've often suspected it is in the name of reduced emissions at or just above idle.
 
My MY03 does likewise - when I first got it I regularly stalled it. No probs now, but it seems to be a "feature", worse than most other cars I drive.
 
My Outback is the same struggles a lot to take off with just the clutch. I usually just give it a lot of revs when taking off it doesn't bother me.
 
I've noticed the same with mine Phizinza :)
It only seems to happen when I'm off the black stuff & 4wding.
Never actually noticed it when I'm driving around the suburbs though.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Glad to see I'm not just going crazy or getting ultra picky. Well I already am ultra picky...

Since putting the new standard flywheel and clutch in it is much easier on the road from a stand still to not stall it. Haven't tried offroading yet, still need tyres. It still won't correct and drive without throttle though. I used to be able to get up to 40kph in the Brumby with the EJ22 with no throttle. Just change gears and it lugs on up to 900rpm. And my brothers Cruiser does it even better. Great for offroad when you need to hover over the brake while using the clutch, as the engine just keeps idling without stalling!
 
Wouldn't vehicle weight and gearing/tyre size etc be some other things to consider?
 
Brumby with EJ22, 170Nm per tonne
Outback with EJ25, 153Nm per tonne

But the Outback feels a lot more torque than the Brumby ever did. Especially off of idle.

Brumby had much over sized tyres, Outback stock.

All things point at the Outback being better in those respects...
 
Had a play around with the idle screw, as soon as I wound it in to try and up the throttle (hoping the IAC valve would self adjust and keep the idle right) it just revved up to 1500rpm. So no ability to adjust it there, it must just detect something wrong with the TPS and raise the idle to prevent problems like stalling.

Here is a video of just how sensitive the throttle is. You can't even tell that I am turning it right at the start and the revs go up to 2500rpm...
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mtpst16Bl4"]Outback with sensitive revving - YouTube[/ame]
 
WOW i dont think mine is anywhere near that sensitive. :huh:

Ill have to do the same test from the engine bay but yeah i dont think it is.

From the accelerator i struggle to keep it under 1.2k rpm unless i start off high and slowly drop the revs.
 
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