brokengt Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 So much to my regret I'm posting here... I know its been gone over 12,000,000 times but I'm stumped... so my wife has a 97 Subaru legacy gt. We got it in febuary of 2012 and i changed th plugs an oil when we picked it up at 98k miles it now has 106k..A week ago a cel came on an flashed a couple times and I got it scanned and it was a cylinder 4 misfire so I said heck with it and bought Subaru wires and NGK plugs after doing extensive research about them being finicky if they weren't the "brand" they like to run... so I changed plugs wires and fuel filter and still ran the same with a rough in gear stoped idle and cel came back on within 2 miles and randomly flashing , so i had it scanned again same thing cleared code then it came on again so when I got home I sprayed throttle body cleaner around all the vacume hoses and injectors idle remained the same so I know its not vacume related, then changed the coil pack still no fix..ran 3 bottles of seafoam through the gas in the past week upgraded to 93 octane so an hour ago I swapped the 2nd and 4th injector around and now I have a plume of unburnt gas spewing out of the tailpipe along with a rough almost dying idle and a flashing cel at idle..so my question is what do you guys think?? I haven't had the compression checked yet but I fear the worst any help would be great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleaidestar Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Sounds like your only running on three cylinders even with switching the injectors, you probably should have just pulled the injector harnesses one by one with the car idling to hear a change in idle. Sounds like a dead injector, have you given a look at the knock sensor, its right above cylinder #4 its also the last in line to get fuel supplied to the cylinder...I wish I could tell you how to check your fpr, but its not a typical failure. My mistake knock sensor is above cylinder#1.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokengt Posted October 7, 2013 Author Share Posted October 7, 2013 Yea I did the whole pull the plug thing and it did make a huge difference on 123and even on 4 but it wasn't as big of a difference as the other 3... I haven't checked the knock sensor but I have been meaning to check to see if its cracked... I'm just wondering why there is a huge plume of unburnt gas coming out the exhaust pipe??? Thank you pleaidstar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleaidestar Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Missed the unburned gas detail...compression test time...any exhaust leaks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokengt Posted October 8, 2013 Author Share Posted October 8, 2013 No exhaust leaks all is in great working order...no burning of oil no oil consumption... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tr00b Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Do a compression test... you may have dropped a valve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snederhiser Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Hello; I would do the compression test, use a multimeter or dmm to check the resistance of the injectors. I use a test light to see if the injectors are firing. I would think maybe a faulty injector or a burnt exhaust valve, Steven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleaidestar Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 ^thats what I was thinking too, a dropped guide or broken retainer. Do the compression test and I would say do it hot but if its what were all thinking it won't matter you will probably have 0 compression. Remember to disconnect the coil..you don't want it firing up on you like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokengt Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 So I haven't gotten to do a compression test yet so don't know if it still has compression or not but I found out the cause of the plume of unburnt gas that was rolling out the tailpipe.. when I flip flopped the injectors I tore the bottom o ring on one and it was literaly pouring massive amounts of fuel into the combustion chamber so I got that fixed and runs as usual... which isn't terribly bad, but I still have the check engine light after swapping in new plugs... so I was doing some further investigation and found the knock sensor pulled out out and found that it has melted the plastic on the housing and has 4 massive cracks on it... so I'll be ordering a new one to see if that fixes the problem... then if that doesn't correct the issue I suppose I will do a compression test to see if that's the issue... I'm just not looking forward to dropping that kind of money to rebuild the engine also I did check the resistance of the injectors and they all tested the same so I am under the assumption that there all in working order and also took a noid light to the injector harness plugs an they all seemed to be firing the same so its not a pulse issue.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleaidestar Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 One step closer man, knock sensor will do screwy things such as misfiring on one or all cylinders..if it seems like the car is running close to what it should be the arrow points to that. Glad you got the unburnt fuel issue taken down...I bet it shot flames at night if you fired it up.lol. good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokengt Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 Lol no it didn't shoot flames but I was worried for a little bit about it cuz at one point it literally had a stream of gas coming out the tailpipe... yea I can't see it being anything major as it ran fine just two weeks ago.. the car only has 106k on it and was meticulously maintained by an elderly gentleman since it was new it just developed a rough in drive stopped idle and got a check engine light... still runs great down the road just an annoying light and terrible idle at a stopligh/sign Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishLt Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I'll ask the dumb question. Did you swap the wire over from 2-4 or well....any wire to 4. As you've already swapped plugs/injector, the wire is the only spark/fuel component left short of the coil that's simple to check. Could be the KS if it's retarding the timing enough for the crankshaft sensor to pick it up as a misfire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleaidestar Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Awesome way to get a boxer running like that on a dead cylinder, make the firing order on the same bank halfway through the compression stroke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokengt Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 Irishlt I did try flipping the wires around also but it also did nothing to improve the situation.... I noticed something this morning on my way to work though. It sounds like there's a whistle through the exhaust any ideas? And when i first start the car it runs awesome with no issues at all, then about two to five minutes later it starts running rough... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnegg Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 burnt exhaust valve. is this an ej25D engine, 96 - 99? if the valves are not adjusted around 105k, they can burn up an exhaust valve on #4. i don't know why #4, but it is not uncommon. do a compression test on that cylinder and see. or replace a bunch of parts and pull your hair out for another few dayd / weeks, and then do a compression test. i hope i'm wrong, but it can happen. and wires and plugs are a much more common cause. but if you plan on replacing plugs, do #4 first and do the compression test before you in stall the new plug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokengt Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 Thank you johnegg I will be doing a compression test tomorrow if not later today... I have a bad feeling that I'm going to have to spend a bunch of money to get the valves done:( and honestly I don't know if its worth putting anothe 1000 in.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnegg Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 well, for $150 - $300 you can buy a set of good heads and just do a head gasket job. where are you,? someone has heads sitting around. or just do the one bad valve and adjust the others. but bucket and shim adjusters are a pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokengt Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 Located in northern indiana... yea I don't have any idea about the internals of these motors as I've never torn into them..but I do have a friend that builds Porsche kit speedsters and puts subi motors in them and rebuilds them so maybe he has something laying around??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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