Well as most folks here know, I just bought a minty "one owner" 1995 AWD Subaru Liberty (EJ22, Auto transmission) that I'm doing a little work on before I put it back on the road next week.
It was a regularly serviced car, (timing belts changed 30,000 miles ago) so apart from replacing most of the fluids (oil and filter, coolant and thermostat, brake fluid) I've replaced all 4 brake rotors and pads, as the old ones were getting a little thin. The only other problem (apart from the fuel gauge not working) has been an erratic idle, whether it's hot or cold.
The idle speed would jump up to 1500 RPM or so, so I thought that perhaps the MAF sensor needed a clean? I've done this before on my green Liberty and the twin turbo-beast, I had a can of MAF cleaner in my toolbox, so I gave it a good clean and reassembled it, and hit the starter.
The car fired right up, the tach needle rose to around 1500 RPM, then dropped down to around 1000 RPM, then conked out. I tried again, and again and again, and still it wouldn't keep running after the initial fire-up.
Assuming that the MAF sensor had gone to God, I bought a shiny new(ish) reconditioned one from Repco, ($295.00, ouch!) installed it, hit the key, and......... no difference! Fcuk! I removed the cable plug from the MAF and it fired right up and idled at 1000 RPM, and I was able to move the car out of the carport so my wife could move her car out, but as soon as I re-connected the plug, the engine immediately stopped.
I've posted a "help needed" thread on the Subaru forums so I'm sure someone will know exactly what my problem is (with my car.......) but it pisses me off that through my desire to make things a little better, I've turned a perfectly functional vehicle into a "non-runner"..............