This is an old topic but I thought I’d reply. Turns out that a mobile mechanic who installed an alternator installed it incorrectly and there was some aspect of the linkage that was interfering with the butterfly valves (TGR). What makes this bizarre is that back in February when a Subaru dealer had five weeks with the car, they claimed they replaced an “AY motor assembly” (TGV), and it did not resolve the problem. Two mechanics later after this topic was started and someone pulled out enough of the alternator and the manifold to see what the problem was. I don’t even know how it was physically possible to install it that way as the manifold never came off when the alternator was installed — that said, the car went straight from that repair to the shop that did the head gasket work and I can’t rule out that the car was tampered with there (that was the shop that insisted that we needed an new ECM). It turned out to be a physical obstruction that was tripping the code. No sooner did we figure that out that on the way home it threw another code having to do with the throttle position sensor. The accelerator peddle assembly (with sensor) was replaced and now it’s running fine — except now we learn that the rack-and-pinion is leaking again (after it was replaced in summer 2019 by the same shop that did the head gasket work). Having lost the car for nearly five months out of 2020, we didn’t have it in our own driveway enough to appreciate that the rack-and-pinion repair was faulty.
I have had a lot of old cars in my time because my late father was an autobody repairman (professionally) and backyard mechanic at home — and yet for all the stories I can tell — reason I was such a big fan of the show Car Talk! — I have never in all my years seen a car attempt to “die” in so many ways as this Subaru Outback. (I almost choke when I see the same model Outback depicted on a Subaru car commercial in which they flash a frame of the odometer at 505K+ miles. Ours barely cleared 165K before all hell broke loose despite regular maintenance). Currently our “money pit” is running again with no check engine lights and a recent (successful) smog. For how long before the now-out-of-warranty rack-and-pinion work fails? Who knows. Since I posted my last reply here, the car has only been back in spouse’s possession a month. This is one crazy story to top all crazy car repair sagas, hence I thought it deserved an update.
Happy Holidays, everyone!