Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
Hey guys, just wanted to update this thread and close it out. After battling with this issue for a long time off and on, he finally brought it to a professional who diagnosed it and replaced the ignition coil and both oxygen sensors. I’m not so sure the O2 sensors really needed replacement, I think the coil was the main problem, but this is a reputable shop so I trust them. Either way, the car is running great now, and it looks like my suspicion of the coil was correct. Wish I could have helped him do the coil and saved him some money but it just didn’t work out that way. Anyway, thanks everybody for the help!
Hey Eric, great video. Just wanted to say that if you use aftermarket axles in a Subaru a lot of times you get vibrations at idle when in gear (this manifests itself in the automatics primarily). In case you feel that in yours, that’s why. Also I believe in that transmission what controls the transfer in the AWD system is what is called the Duty C Solenoid. If you do some research on that you’ll see it as the culprit for a lot of binding and other issues. Last thing, I wanted to maybe suggest (perhaps for an inclusion in an RE video if you do it) if you could provide tips for doing this job if you don’t have air tools. Thanks!
Hey Eric, great video. Just wanted to say that if you use aftermarket axles in a Subaru a lot of times you get vibrations at idle when in gear (this manifests itself in the automatics primarily). In case you feel that in yours, that’s why. Also I believe in that transmission what controls the transfer in the AWD system is what is called the Duty C Solenoid. If you do some research on that you’ll see it as the culprit for a lot of binding and other issues. Last thing, I wanted to maybe suggest (perhaps for an inclusion in an RE video if you do it) if you could provide tips for doing this job if you don’t have air tools. Thanks!
Thanks for the reply Eric, I tend to agree with you. However, the car seems to still be running okay for now, so I’m obviously not going to do anything until the problems resurface.
For my own knowledge and in case there is an issue again in the future, how would I check that the feed going into the coil was okay, in case it’s getting a bad signal and the coil itself is fine? Due to how intermittent it is I’m wondering if that may be an issue, or is that rare and in most cases it’s the coil? Thanks everybody.
Thanks for the reply Eric, I tend to agree with you. However, the car seems to still be running okay for now, so I’m obviously not going to do anything until the problems resurface.
For my own knowledge and in case there is an issue again in the future, how would I check that the feed going into the coil was okay, in case it’s getting a bad signal and the coil itself is fine? Due to how intermittent it is I’m wondering if that may be an issue, or is that rare and in most cases it’s the coil? Thanks everybody.
Just wanted to update this thread, my friend called me up and said that the check engine light has turned off and the car has been running really well. All of this just out of the blue one morning when he drove to work. He stopped by the other day, and had the car idling and it sounded pretty smooth and wasn’t having any issues. This is really confusing me and I’m not sure where to go next. Just seems strange for it to go from barely able to keep an idle and missing horribly to running pretty smoothly and no CEL within a week or so. Any thoughts?
Just wanted to update this thread, my friend called me up and said that the check engine light has turned off and the car has been running really well. All of this just out of the blue one morning when he drove to work. He stopped by the other day, and had the car idling and it sounded pretty smooth and wasn’t having any issues. This is really confusing me and I’m not sure where to go next. Just seems strange for it to go from barely able to keep an idle and missing horribly to running pretty smoothly and no CEL within a week or so. Any thoughts?
[quote=”dreamer2355″ post=39298]Does your scan tool have any graphing capabilities?
Any idea when the timing belt was last serviced?
Did you ever check fuel pressure and stress test the ignition system?
Mileage?[/quote]
Unfortunately no, my scan tool doesn’t have graphing capabilities, it’s one of those simple Actron PocketScan things. From what I can remember, the timing belt was done a bit after 100k, a little bit before he bought the car. I think that’s what he told me. The car has about 120k now. I did not check fuel pressure or stress test the ignition system yet. If it was fuel pressure wouldn’t it be a more constant thing? Feels very electrical to me, and since plugs and wires are new I’m leaning to the ignition coil. I am going to have him test it before any parts are purchased though.[quote=”dreamer2355″ post=39298]Does your scan tool have any graphing capabilities?
Any idea when the timing belt was last serviced?
Did you ever check fuel pressure and stress test the ignition system?
Mileage?[/quote]
Unfortunately no, my scan tool doesn’t have graphing capabilities, it’s one of those simple Actron PocketScan things. From what I can remember, the timing belt was done a bit after 100k, a little bit before he bought the car. I think that’s what he told me. The car has about 120k now. I did not check fuel pressure or stress test the ignition system yet. If it was fuel pressure wouldn’t it be a more constant thing? Feels very electrical to me, and since plugs and wires are new I’m leaning to the ignition coil. I am going to have him test it before any parts are purchased though.I agree that you’ll never learn unless you do it. You sound like you’re pretty good with cars and tools, and know what you’re doing, so if you want to try it go ahead!
However I know Eric has said “it’s better to hear them than smell them” so if they’re not really loud or causing problems it might be better to leave them alone. Not that you’ll necessarily screw anything up but more that it’s not worth the time. You’ll have to make that call but if you want to do it, I have full confidence you’ll do a great job 🙂
I agree that you’ll never learn unless you do it. You sound like you’re pretty good with cars and tools, and know what you’re doing, so if you want to try it go ahead!
However I know Eric has said “it’s better to hear them than smell them” so if they’re not really loud or causing problems it might be better to leave them alone. Not that you’ll necessarily screw anything up but more that it’s not worth the time. You’ll have to make that call but if you want to do it, I have full confidence you’ll do a great job 🙂
I guess I should clarify. It begins the misfires very shortly after starting, so I don’t think it’s enough time for it to go into closed loop with the O2 sensor in the equation. I mean that right off of a cold start it seems okay but after a couple minutes it goes into the problems. And yes, if you try downshifting and giving it WOT it just sits there and has almost no power and then will all of the sudden go. We also tried unplugging the upstream O2 to get it to go to the default value at the computer and the car ran exactly the same. And with the car smelling rich and the computer telling me it is trying to pull fuel away it seems like the upstream O2 is doing its job right? I’m just thinking maybe after the coil has started firing for a minute or two and heated up inside that it begins having issues. He told me it still runs decent not great when cold but not nearly as bad as the other times. It very well could be missing right from startup too but not as bad as when warmed up…I only have what my friend says to go on. Also this car does NOT use a coil-on-plug setup, it uses one coil, mounted on the intake, with 4 leads from it to each cylinder. So that’s why I was suspecting it in this case. If this was COP I would not be looking in this direction.
I guess I should clarify. It begins the misfires very shortly after starting, so I don’t think it’s enough time for it to go into closed loop with the O2 sensor in the equation. I mean that right off of a cold start it seems okay but after a couple minutes it goes into the problems. And yes, if you try downshifting and giving it WOT it just sits there and has almost no power and then will all of the sudden go. We also tried unplugging the upstream O2 to get it to go to the default value at the computer and the car ran exactly the same. And with the car smelling rich and the computer telling me it is trying to pull fuel away it seems like the upstream O2 is doing its job right? I’m just thinking maybe after the coil has started firing for a minute or two and heated up inside that it begins having issues. He told me it still runs decent not great when cold but not nearly as bad as the other times. It very well could be missing right from startup too but not as bad as when warmed up…I only have what my friend says to go on. Also this car does NOT use a coil-on-plug setup, it uses one coil, mounted on the intake, with 4 leads from it to each cylinder. So that’s why I was suspecting it in this case. If this was COP I would not be looking in this direction.