My apologies ahead of time, I've searched and read and searched and read. Just looking for a little assistance in the misfire chasing list. -'03 WRX wagon, 138k miles. -recent "mods": silicone ancillary hoses, catback exhaust Got a #2 misfire a couple weeks ago (had code read at O'reilly's). Randomly went away on it's own a couple days later. CEL is back on now, and I haven't gotten it read yet but am assuming it's the same thing (yeah, I know). It came on for the first time back in November. Changed plugs then and it went away until now. Anywho, due to the slightly louder than stock catback I feel like I've been able to notice it more so recently, or at least what I think is the miss. So hard to tell on these damn things with the unequal length headers. When I first installed the catback it was obviously "louder" but still felt/sounded "smooth". The last couple days I've noticed it sounds even "louder" yet, or better term would maybe be not quite as smooth as it should be/usually is. For some weird reason I had this stupid inkling that one of the plugs maybe had backed itself out a little over time (not used to how little torque these plugs take)? I could notice a little drag in power throughout the power band and swear I could smell a little gas when I'd get on it a little harder and let off. Was away from home all weekend and got home late last night. Checked both left side plugs and although they weren't finger loose by any means, I could still turn them with a ratchet fairly easily. So I snugged them up again. Don't have a 3/8" torque wrench yet, and my 1/2" only goes down to 25 ft/lbs. Put some dielectric grease inside the coil boots and on all three contacts in each coil pack connector. Took it for a cruise after that and it seemed completely smooth/quieter again. Went to the store with it after work today (wife drives it daily for work) and noticed it's back to being rougher/louder again. WTF, mate...? Thanks ahead of time for any assistance/non-flaming.
25ft lbs? They only need to be snug which you can do with a ratchet. The heads are aluminum and plugs are stainless you can easily strip out the threads. Out of curiosity what kind of plugs are you running and did you gap them before you installed them? Cheap plugs could bring up some problems.
Fwiw, I had the elusive misfire on my 05 that drove me nuts until I took it into a shop... Turned out I had a cracked spark plug isolator (the white part). Small things like that can cause a misfire. You may also want to check your coil packs for corrosion/buildup. You could also eliminate the worst case scenario and do a compression test as well...
I didn't tighten them with the 1/2" one, was just mentioning that I didn't have a proper torque wrench currently. I used a regular 3/8" ratchet by hand to snug em. The plugs were NGK platinums I believe. Whatever was most suggested via multiple Subaru forums. They were like 10 bucks a piece at Napa...
Buddy at work has a compression tester that he's gonna let me borrow as well. Figured I'd get that out of the way too.
My 05 Wrx is the same with cylinder 2 misfire. But mine came on with evap code, was because the hose connector on the canister broke. Found that out because I took it to white bear subaru, fishy thing was I had the CEL scan multiple times and its always the same evap and misfire code but when I took it to the dealer they said there was only the evap code that was showing. Anyways after getting that leak fix, CEL didnt come on till after about 400-600 miles and not after every full tank like before. Always only after I re fuel, and this one time it turned off after I refuel so I thought it was just the gas cap. Few days later it came back so I decided to go get it scan at orileys and it was the same misfire code but evap was gone. What I've done: -Had my spark plugs switched out to NGK Iridium when this started happening. -Replaced filter to WIX (from Orileys) -Cleaned IACV and MAF. -And on this past sunday, I just swapped coil 2 and 4 around. Waiting to see if CEL come back on and if it does, will it follow the coil pack from cylinder 2. I'll let you know if that's what causing my misfire. And if you figure it out before me, let me know because this misfire is getting annoying.
In theory you should start your own thread andy. but anyway. things to check can be your gas cap and there is a small filter like deal up near the front drivers side of the motor cant remember what its called but the nipple likes to break off on it can also cause this code .
Well, didnt want to start a new thread on the same subject. Just a little info on what I did and am doing to see if Krazy done them yet.
No worries at all, and thanks for the suggestions. Always good to know what other steps somebody else takes just in case I miss something. Will probably get the code read and cleared again just to know which one it is. Then switch coils as another possibility.
Yea i cleared my code and switched the coils. CEL havent come on yet, I have a felling it will after this tank though.
Mine is still missfire cylinder 2 -.- Any luck with yours? And did you ever get to do the compression test? I might do mines this weekend.
Haven't gotten the tester yet. And of course going out of town again for the whole weekend for Easter. Another weird thing to throw at you Andy, since you're replying to this, have you ever felt like "resistance" or something when shifting from 1-to-2 or 2-to-3? Hard to describe, but sometimes when we're puttzin around town and not really on the throttle I'll push the clutch in and go to the next gear, and it seems like the car actually wants to slow down going into the next gear. And actually while writing this out I've realized, maybe it's because the motor isn't necessarily "under power" so I'm feeling the car going against the compression of the motor rather than using it to accelerate. I have also noticed this on the boss' Honda Civic as well. And I must admit, I haven't been in a manual for much of my driving career. The wife had a '93 Ford Tempo before this that was a 5spd, but does that even count? Haha.
Im not too sure about what your saying. I dont feel it in my car. Maybe its just they way you drive? Haha. Because it all matters on how you balance clutch and gas to get that smooth gear switching. Sometimes I dont feel any resistance and shifts smoothly but at times if I dont balance it right then yea I can feel it. But about the misfire. I went in and talk to NF yesterday and seems like the only option left to check is injectors. Swapping them like how I did the coil pack. Since coil pack wasnt the problem. If not then its probably an exhaust valve. I hope its not that, or if it is I hope my warranty from my finance covers it.
Bringing this old thread back up! I think I found the solution to what's causing my cylinder 2 misfire. Last sunday (not this past sunday but the one before) I finally got around to swapping my injectors around. Found out it was because the top o-ring on the injector in cylinder 2 was ripped and it was just squirting fuel out. Notice it because after the swap I turn the key to on and my buddy was like, dude its shooting fuel out. So I had to go through the whole process of getting the injectors out again and that's when I saw the ripped o-ring. Not sure if I ripped it when I was trying to put the fuel rail back on or if it been ripped. But its been 1 week and 1 and a half tank and no CEL so far. Pretty sure it is that though, and I just didnt notice it before because cylinder 2 is towards the firewall and I probably didnt see it squirting. I'll check back after this weekend. Going on a camping trip, about almost 2 hour drive. That'll help me tell if the misfire is really gone or not.
I should get my injector o-rings checked too. replaced the spark plugs this weekend that looked pretty shot.
Haven't had my CEL come on in quite a while again. Did get a compression tester from a friend at work but haven't had time to check into that situation yet.
Have either of you had a valve adjustment done? Its a critical service on a 2.0, if let go, you're looking at burned and/or cracked valves.
I just bought my car for about 3 months now. I havent done it. Not sure if previous owner did or not.
Any used car with higher mileage normally has a laundry list of items to properly maintain. Sure, you can skip some of the maintenance items, but your car will last longer if you take care of the maintenance items up front.
What do you want to know? The 2.0 you need to check the valve lash around the same time as the timing belt change. If you dont check it and make sure its in spec you can end up with a burnt top end. Not sure what conflicting info is out there.
have to remove the valve covers. check them with feeler guages. or you can have the dealer do it price unknown.
Finally got some free time this afternoon to do the compression test. Motor was warm enough to hurt the hands but wasn't still quite at operating temp. Got right around 145 in all 4.
Sounds about right. If I remember correctly when I was looking at what others was getting. Check injectors. Could be the fuel filter too.
So the misfire came back in full effect this weekend. Wife had the car for the weekend and came back today with a flashing CEL. Seemed to run normal at first and progressively got worse. Limped it home but it's definitely missing on that same cylinder now. Gonna see if I can whip together my own cylinder-pressurizer dealie and do a self leakdown test. Any tips from anybody that's done this themselves? Recently the code had come back so I swapped coil packs, it didn't follow. Assuming that means the coils are out of the suspect lineup then. Landlord used to be a mechanic and has some tool he's gonna let me borrow to see if I have spark or not. If compression checked out before, coils don't seem to be a problem, and now I've got a strong fuel smell (so not like it's getting shorted gas), is the valve thing my next bet? Also, how does the compression check out if the valves are a possible issue, or is it more complex than that... Thanks for any help.
If compression and leakage is minimal on cyl 2 (10-20% at 80ish psi) look at fuel then spark. I'd start with swapping injectors and new orings based on what you've reported. re: valve issues, it's typically the exhaust valves. That should help point you to where/what to check when you leak test. Compression in that cylinder is typically marginally down if it's out of spec. Compression will be noticeably low if completely shot.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm in the process of making a leakdown tool and will be getting after that this evening. Will hopefully be able to report on that later. And then will find out how to do injectors.
Well, didn't get a full on leakdown tool made, rather just a valve connected to an air hose to pressurize the cylinder. However, don't think it's really helping/hurting at this point. Borrowed my landlord's spark testers and also grabbed his compression tester while I was there. Got spark like crazy. Let the motor run long enough to get warm, then did a compression check. #4 had like 145-150 ish. #2 had f**king zero. So that's sweet. Applied some air into the #2 hole but had a hard time finding TDC with the timing covers still on. Regardless, is there any point in the cycle where the air from #2 should/would ever cross paths with #4? I could for sure hear air coming out both the intake and exhaust (at different times...), but there were several times where I'd feel it blasting out of the #4 hole. As far as I know, that shouldn't happen, correct? I'm kinda lost as of now, for words and for what to do. Yet again, thanks for any help/suggestions to come. Also, my post in here about the compression test was June 22nd, and all read 145. 4 months and a cylinder just completely dies? WTF...?
Sorry to hear that man, subaru's suck sometimes. Sounds like catastrophic failure, my guess is valves. I think a tear down is in order. The air "blasting" out of #4 might just be the piston forcing air out.
All signs point to borked exhaust valves on that cylinder. If you don't have a scope, I would just pull that head and inspect the cylinder as well. Likely, a fresh set of heads is all you'll need (don't forget to have them machined of course). Re: air leaking from cyl 2 and 4... Could be leaking past the headgasket?
Thanks for the replies. Here are my current thoughts: A. About the air coming out of #4, it can't be from that one's compression because I was turning the motor by hand and it only blew out when I applied the air into 2 via the air hose. B. An exhaust valve being bent or stuck could seem feasible to me as far as allowing the air to pass through to 4, via the header when 4's exhaust valve is open. C. I'm going to pull the valve cover tonight and check the operation of valves and see what happens or doesn't happen. D. If it's "only" a head issue, does 600 for a set of rebuilt, ready to go heads seem like a decent method of fixing? I noticed there's somebody on here that just posted some for sale. I could replace the one and hang onto the other for the time being. Pending it's in the head, of course. E. Lastly, I can borrow a scope tool to check out the piston. If I can only see the top of the piston, that'll basically just tell me if the piston slammed the valve(s), correct? Thanks guys.
A. In that context, then it sounds like its just coming across the exhaust valves but plan on checking head gaskets/head/block for evidence of failure and warping. B. Yes C. Not sure what benefit this will be. D. Not sure on the value of ready to go heads but if they are truly in good shape and ready to go, the lack of down time might make them worth it. You can always rebuild your heads and recoup the expense of buying the heads. E. This will provide the best insight on the scope of the damage and give you a better idea of what needs to be replaced before you start tearing down. You can also inspect the valves via the exhaust/intake ports.
$600 isn't unreasonable, but you can do better. Correct, although unlikely. You mostly want to check for cylinder wall scoring in the unlikely event that the valve dropped or a chunk broke off. It's more likely that either your clearances are way off or coking over time lead to a cracked seat. If it were me, I would just pull the motor and plan for replacing the head(s). Unless you're somehow wrong about zero compression in that cylinder, any repair scenario will require some level of disassembly anyway.
So what you're saying is that what's specifically wrong is sort of irrelevant at this point and the head obviously has to come off regardless to fix the situation. So upon removing the head will it be pretty straightforward to identify what's wrong with it? My apologies for the lame questions, I'm used to working on stuff much older and simpler. Granted the general operation is the same it just seems much more intimidating for some reason.
