Stuck in snow > kill engine > hard restart = trouble

Living in the mountains and being a skier has its benefits and its drawbacks; we've had more the five feet of snow in the last week here in Park City. With another storm last night and several passes by the plow, the entrance to my driveway had a nice berm of snow today.

 

When I tried to back out of the driveway, I immediately came to stop and the engine died. Cranking the engine over, it took several long attempts before the engine restarted. And then I had to give it some gas before it would relight. When it finally did restart, the check engine, ABS and Cruise lights came on. It also sounds like the cooling fan is running.

 

I have no idea how or why this happened. Well, I know how I got stuck, it's the aftermath I don't understand. I have an AccessPort, but am a novice regarding it's capabilities. Can I use the AccessPort to restore the natural order? Do I dare drive the car in this condition?

 

HELP!

Dude... Make sure your exhaust did not back up.... You were backing up into a snow bank? You could have threw a CEL due to high back pressure...? Not sure what else could have happened.... I think you can clear CELs with your AP but I have not done it my self... If the problem still exist it will come back....

That seems really odd that those lights came on after backing into snow but I experienced those lights when I pulled the fuse for the traction control/ABS. All I needed to do was disconnect the battery, waited liked 10 minutes and reconnected and it was fine. May be something more but probably worth a shot.

Since you have the AP, just pull the code and find out what it is. Don't just clear it off randomly. Once you know why it's throwing a CEL, you can figure out what the next step you should take.

Here are the codes:

• P1518 - starter switch
  
• P1153 - o2 sensor
  
• P1152 - o2 sensor
  
• P0137 - o2 sensor
  
• P0851 - neutral voltage switch

You should of said "go go gadget snow plow!" before hand. Did you disconnect the battery like racer said? Maybe the snow pushed the exhaust around and...broke your sensors and switches...or maybe not.

I've been sick all week and my Go-Go-Gadget powers are all haywire. Which is why I didn't clear the snow before I tried to leave the house. It doesn't pay to be lazy, if you feel like death warmed over.

 

mwiener2 suggested that I clear the codes with the AccessPort; it worked like a charm.

OK so check this out.. got a foot of snow last night and I was having some trouble backing out of the driveway... At one point I spun the tires at a high speed and then i started sliding to the side... so i quickly braked and ened up stalling out. when i turned the car on again i got CEL ABS and flashing cruse.

 

I read on here that it has happened to ppl spinning tires in the snow and it would go out. At lunch today it was still on so I called Subaru. service guy said it was definitely due to the peeling out in the snow and they would go out shortly. And sure enough on my way back to work from lunch... they went out.

 

so just an FYI to folks that experience this.. no worries.. lights will reset back to norm on their own...... unless of course, you got other issues.

I made a post about those same lights, the ABS light is on because your sensor is blocks get the snow off your rims or just drive and the lights will go off. Mine went off the next day they come on when its snows alot or is very cold, it happened to me after we got 18 inches of snow and i just turned my car on before i cleaned it off didnt move it at all and those lights came on. They will go off on there own.