streetlethal1000 Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 I have posted some of my problems and ideas in a few other groups but I wanted to put the whole story on the table and see what everyone thinks. My problem seems to be a combination of a few problems and Im not sure where to go from here. So please through in any ideas you may have. My 97 Subaru legacy 2.5 gt 5mt is throwing a CEL. The light only comes on on the highway, in the winter months. (It has never come on in the warm weather) When the CEL is read is says its a misfire. It has said different cylinders every time (so I don't think its related to one cylinder specifically). Here are some key points I have narrowed down too. - Only happens on highway - Only happens in the cold - Has not happend when I had a stock motor with a weapon R intake and exhaust - Has happed after the engine was pulled out - Has happend after I had new intakes molded into my hood. - Happens rarely. Say once a month in the winter months - No specific speed. I can be doing 100mph and the car runs fine or I can be doing 60mph - Comes on when the car is cold, or warm doesnt matter Other Car symptoms that are strange (maybe related) - Car does not seem to idle smoothly in the winter - When its first started the car jumps up to 2000rpm then bounces up and down. Only happens some mornings and not others. What I have done so far - new plugs - new wires - new air filter - new fuel filter - new coil pack - new PCV value Ideas I have.... - block the intake on the hood for a few months to see if it happens again - clean out all the electronic connectors with alcohol - maybe clean out the vacuum lines with alcohol or spray - Bringing the car to a dyno to have to tested for irregular sensor readings - Possibly purchase a piggy back system for the computer and have it programed for the change in air flow on a dyno. ANY SUGGESTIONS? TIPS? IDEAS? Im kinda shootin in the dark it seem like here. Its guess and check right about now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonklein611 Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 coil pack, loose plug wire. How long ago did you change your plugs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streetlethal1000 Posted October 29, 2008 Author Share Posted October 29, 2008 As the CEL started coming on I started replace things one at a time. The problem started last winter. I have changed everything I said over the past year. Most of it was done all last winter/ spring. Then once the summer hit the whole problem went away. I can double check the tightness of everything, but where it drives perfect in the summer is where it throws me off. I would think it has something to do with the cold air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnifeyMcShanker Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 You could check your valve clearances. The cold may be causing the metal to contract or something. Other than that, I can't think of any other problems that cool air would cause... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streetlethal1000 Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 I would lean more towards the car running too lean. The cold air is much denser then warm air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingbobdole Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Ever fix it? Do you have a lightened flywheel or crank pulley? Sounds like a cam or crank position sensor... and sometimes light weight stuff can do that... or maybe it's just a dying pickup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streetlethal1000 Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 It turned on the other day again. I plugged my laptop in to see what the result was, and I found that it again was a cylinder 3 and 4 misfire. But I found a new tab on the program I use that gives all the readings when the misfire happened. I don't have the findings in front of me at the moment but it gave some interesting data at the time of the misfire such as speed and RPM's and a few other stats. Nothing stood out to me as odd, but Im no performance mechanic. Over the weekend I tried cleaning out all my vacuum hoses and switch around some plug wires. ( I had a short plug wire where a long plug wire needed to be, at the time I put them in I guess I didnt notice the length difference. Not sure if that will make a difference or not) Ill try to go get the stats i recorded and get back to you on it. Kindbobdole: I dont have a lightened flywheel nor crank pullies. Im leaning towards a possible sensor problem myself because they car does not seem to show physical signs of misfire that are significant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowwhos Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 I have a 1999 legacy gt and it's got over 164000 miles. I just got a #4 miss fire in the cel and finally took it in and they found the valves were out of limits and were showing signs of failure soon. They had said it was the coil pack after eliminating the plugs, wires and injectors but ultimatly the valves are bad. Not sure if this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sinister Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 3rd vote for valves. They're supposed to be adjusted at 105K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streetlethal1000 Posted December 1, 2008 Author Share Posted December 1, 2008 Well The CEL hasnt come on recently (but of course now I say that Im going to jinx it) I think I may be getting rid of the car in the next year or so once I graduate college and get a full time job. If the economy stays this way, there are some amazing deals to be had out there on new cars. I think I will be posting a thread to sell my mods if anyone is interested. I blocked my intake holes on my hood to see if that makes any difference. And I ran a bottle of injector cleaner in about 5 gallons of gas and booted down the highway. See if that helped any at all ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonklein611 Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 3rd vote for valves. They're supposed to be adjusted at 105K. How the heck do you adjust the valves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowwhos Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 I have a 1999 legacy gt and it's got over 164000 miles. I just got a #4 miss fire in the cel and finally took it in and they found the valves were out of limits and were showing signs of failure soon. They had said it was the coil pack after eliminating the plugs, wires and injectors but ultimately the valves are bad. Not sure if this helps. After all that it ended up being bad valves. It only ran a few miles after the last post. here is a picture of a damaged valve that all came from a #4 missfire code. http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/snowwhos/valve.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonklein611 Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 How many miles did you have on the car before the head gasket went? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streetlethal1000 Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 I think it has something to do with my intake scoops on the hood. Its gettin too much air. I blocked the scoops temporarily and I haven't had the CEL come on in the last month or so. I did a few things to the car so I dont have a good control to see what actually solved the problem. In the last month I have.... - used the injector cleaner - Blocked the intake scoops on the hood - put lighter smaller winter rims on the car Im gonna throw a guess out here....because the car was getting a lot of air on the highway, and the rims are much heavier with much more resistance the calculated load was high, when I gave it throttle on the highway, the car couldnt pick up in time and guzzled too much air vs fuel and threw miss fires. Im still going to monitor it throughout the winter to see if the problem is actually solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streetlethal1000 Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 Well back in the hole again. The CEL didnt turn on for the longest amount of time ever but if finally did the other week. I guess Im gonna have to bring it in and have the valves check. See if that really is the issue. The only reason I am skeptical is because I only have like 66,000 miles. Although it is a 97. How hard is it to do the valvues yourself? Anyone have any forum links to DIY pages? Thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levis76 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I just did my HGs this last weekend, and its a major PITA. You can remove the heads without pulling the motor, but you have to loosen everything and jack the engine up a few inches, so I decided to pull the thing anyways. I replaced every seal I could and inspected the valves too, whew. I would definitely agree with the adding a programmable piggyback ECU. With all the mods, your stock ECU probably isn't able to meet the demands of the motor and it has definitely had time to learn. Install the piggyback and get her tuned on a dyno. If you have misfire problems, the dyno tech will see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freekyFX4 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Mine just did the same. Driving on the interstate, no perceived misfire, CEL came on. Took it to AutoZone and the CEL was a misfire on cylinder 1. Plugs and wires were replaced less than 3 months ago. What OBDII code reader do you guys recommend? I plan on buying one soon because my Superchips tuner for my F250 won't read the codes on the legacy. Preferably one that will reset the codes too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streetlethal1000 Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 OBDCOM.com Its a computer program i run on my laptop in the car that has some cool features. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fischer881 Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Well The CEL hasnt come on recently (but of course now I say that Im going to jinx it) I think I may be getting rid of the car in the next year or so once I graduate college and get a full time job. If the economy stays this way, there are some amazing deals to be had out there on new cars. I think I will be posting a thread to sell my mods if anyone is interested. I blocked my intake holes on my hood to see if that makes any difference. And I ran a bottle of injector cleaner in about 5 gallons of gas and booted down the highway. See if that helped any at all ? What mods do you have on it? I have a 97 2.5 LGT and I am looking to put some money into my car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibob6 Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Consider EGR systems to be your problem it would run rich at idle and race, and it would allow inert gasses to enter the combustion chamber when the engine is not entierly warmed up maybe. i might be off my rocker is just a sugestion... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reuben Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Yeah, check the valves. Strikes me as odd that it's only sometimes though. That, or turbo swap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streetlethal1000 Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 What mods do you have on it? I have a 97 2.5 LGT and I am looking to put some money into my car. I have a cat back exhaust 2 1.4 inches with high flow muffler. Two resonators removed but left the stock cat. A weapon R intake. Good wires and plugs. Racing clutch and thats about it for engine work. I have read that the 2.5 cant take much pressure so theres no use adding a turbo. I wanted a motor swap but i have been screwed by too many people now. I dont have the money any more. So now I just enjoy the work I did and drive it around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaketiernay Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 i have a 2005 legacy gt turbo with up pipe downpipe cat back stage 2 cobb and i have this miss fire thats driving me nuts, iv cleaned the mass air flow i swaped coils from drive side front to the rear to try to get it to miss fire on on diffrent cylinder i swaped injectors the next thing i might do is plugs even tho i did them like 4 months ago,, all so is cylinder 4 on the driver rear ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 This is the easiest way to show you... Front of car ============ 2----------1 4----------3 ============ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaketiernay Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 does any one no were cylinder 4 is pass side rear or drivers side rear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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