2004 Subaru Forester XS won't start

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Hey all,

I have a Forester with around 134k miles and it’s had a lot of issues in the past.

Now, my most recent issue is it won’t start.

The first symptom is the engine would stutter and cut off mid drive, usually ten minutes in. The dash lights would flicker and the oil light would flash right before it dies.

Second is the acceleration seems “groggy”. Like it’s choking on something almost.

After checking the OBD codes, I got a whole line up of codes.

Finally, I decided to just park it up and leave it be. Whenever I try to start it up it just cranks and stutters. It’s been a month and after checking up on it, my battery is dead, despite being purchased just last year.

What could be the issue?

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2

Issue?? issues plural.

Likely bad throttle body or pcm or wiring harness. Probably 2 of the 3. Which 2? Wiring or pcm. And a related O2 sensor, bank 1 sensor 1 problem.

You also have an evac leak.

Hope you didn’t pay much for this thing 'cause it is gonna cost you quite a few diagnostic hours by a trained tech to find all the problems. If you just start swapping parts trying to fix this you likely will spend more and fix less than a pro.

Good luck

3

Every one of those codes have one thing in common, faulty electrical connections
Check all your ground connections, check the connection on the PCM, unplug it and make sure they are clean and dry, disconnect battery first.