# I need help my AWD 1996 Subaru Legacy Station Wagon suddenly loses power while I'm driving

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/i-need-help-my-awd-1996-subaru-legacy-station-wagon-suddenly-loses-power-while-im-driving/77871>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [March 9, 2013, 8:46am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/i-need-help-my-awd-1996-subaru-legacy-station-wagon-suddenly-loses-power-while-im-driving/77871 "2013-03-09T08:46:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Knmichael91](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Knmichael91](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Knmichael91)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 8:46am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/i-need-help-my-awd-1996-subaru-legacy-station-wagon-suddenly-loses-power-while-im-driving/77871/1 "2013-03-09T08:46:13Z")

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**Author:** ![Honda-Blackbird](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/honda-blackbird/32/3159_2.png) [@Honda-Blackbird](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Honda-Blackbird)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/i-need-help-my-awd-1996-subaru-legacy-station-wagon-suddenly-loses-power-while-im-driving/77871/2 "2013-03-09T20:31:11Z")

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We need more info on this… Does the engine “bog down”? Or is it akin to someone shutting off the ignition? This can be many many things and without more info will be impossible to diagnose via internet.

You can try loosening your fuel cap…and driving round a while…see if this helps the power loss…if it goes away …we found the issue.

The issue can be fuel related or spark related or an electrical issue causing all sorts of issues… Very hard to say at this point

Loosen your gas cap to see if that helps…the idea behind this is to let air into your tank bec the vent system of the tank may not be working properly…just a quick idea to help zero in on the prob…

Let us know

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**Author:** ![WesternRoadtripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@WesternRoadtripper](https://community.cartalk.com/u/WesternRoadtripper)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/i-need-help-my-awd-1996-subaru-legacy-station-wagon-suddenly-loses-power-while-im-driving/77871/3 "2013-03-09T21:17:27Z")

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@Honda Blackbird  
OP has posted a few times referencing a computer/website problem and writing in the title that he/she is not able to enter more than one character in the body of the message. Until that is resolved, we won’t have much to work with.

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**Author:** ![derfcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@derfcat](https://community.cartalk.com/u/derfcat)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/i-need-help-my-awd-1996-subaru-legacy-station-wagon-suddenly-loses-power-while-im-driving/77871/4 "2013-03-09T22:24:31Z")

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My 2001 Forester does the same type of thing. It loses power and sputters. We replaced all the fuel filters and the FUEL PUMP and the fuel sensor control. NO change. It NOW is not intermittent ( it occurs ALL THE TIME) and our mechanic says that will “help” in diagnosing the problem.  
They are inspecting ALL the wires looking for a loose wire and possibly the COMPUTER that runs the fuel injection. Our Subaru has 210,000 miles and has good compression and a new complete TUNE-UP.