96 subaru legacy 2.2 runs great but once in awhile it will start to spit and sputter what would cause this?
Asked by Lazyday66 Jul 02, 2014 at 09:05 AM about the 1996 Subaru Legacy L Wagon AWD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
runs great but every once in awhile when you accelerate it will start to spit and sputter and the check engine light blinks then stays on then it all goes away and runs great but light stays on had code read it just says misfire on 4 my mechnic claims it is a bad head gasket I have a hard time believing this it runs like a champ when this isnt happening and thre is no ryme or reason hard to duplicate most after you accelerate to pass back off on gas then accelerate again it will spit and sputter very confusing
6 Answers
Is there any more information you can give me on this? Have you noticed any pattern to when it does it, how long does the issue last when it happens. The more descriptive you can be the better.
No pattern at all it only last 10 to 20 seconds. It seems to happen after you say accelerate to pass some and you back off then acclerate again to pass someone else it will spit and sputter.If I put it in neutral it is fine revs up sounds good. If I put back in drive it starts bucking and engine light starts blinking
I have a couple ideas I'm going to check into and get back to you on it.
Pearlscales answered 7 years ago
Did you ever figure out what was causing this? My 1996 2.5 automatic Legacy Outback does this. Only when it isn't fully up to operating temps and around when I have accelerated to around 50MPH. I get the flashing check engine light with misfires on either cylinder 3 or 4. I forget. My fix has been to only do 45MPH till it warms up.
