Last week I wrote about my Subaru Brumby problems, with the car proving very difficult to start in cold weather. The car started OK most of the time if it was used day-to-day, but give it a two or three day break and it just wouldn’t start.

Last Friday I flattened the battery trying to get the car started, so I put the battery on charge all weekend as I had it booked in with my mechanic for Monday morning. Sure enough, as is usually the way with intermittent problems, the car fired up first-turn on Monday morning.

It started with no problems Monday lunchtime.

It started again with no issues on Tuesday morning. I’m sure my mechanic was thinking I was a complete dimwit by this stage.

I had a chat with Steve and asked him to leave the car alone for two days. My theory was that his tests on Monday and Tuesday didn’t replicate my problems for two reasons: a) because it wasn’t as cold on those mornings as it has been on the mornings I’ve been having problems, and b) because I usually have problems after the car hasn’t been running for a few days.

So he left it.

Thursday morning has just passed by as I write this – 48 hours since its previous successful start – and I’ve never been so pleased to report that my car wouldn’t start today!!

This morning was indeed a cold one, at just 2 degrees C. The car hadn’t been run for two days and sure enough, when Steve tried it, the Brumby wouldn’t start.

He’s traced the problem to a faulty ignition module, which from a quick few minutes of Googling means that the coil isn’t getting the signals it needs to send the spark to the distributor. Apparently these are more prone to faults with heat rather than cold, so there could be more to the story but for now, he’s replacing the IM and hopefully that should do the trick.

So, it’s tentative good news for the moment; no need for a carby service or replacement and all going well, my Brumby should finally deliver the reliability it has lacked so far. Perhaps it’ll run a little smoother, too.

I’ll pick it up at lunchtime.