I bought a 04 wrx with 180000km on stock motor. Yes not the greatest decision.anyways when I first bought it it seemed to have a low idle that would fluctuate. I never thought anything of it. I then had an engine light come on saying misfire is cylinder one. I had a mechanic briefly look at it and he thought an injector is leaking. Before I even had a chance to replace it is had cylinder 1, 2, and 4 misfiring. The car takes forever to start. Almost like its flooded. The car shakes at idle, Smells like gas, fuel aconomy is horrible now. To make this even worse I've lost over 50% of my power and another engine light came on saying that the engine is running to rich. Please help.
It does sound like its the fuel system. If you feel like being adventurous do a lot of googling and attempt to find and fix the problem yourself. Thats what i and most these other subaru guys do. It does sound you have fueling issues. I wouldnt drive the car until its fixed because if your engine is currently in good condition you dont want to mess it up by running it way too hot and lean. It sounds like you dont have any engine management like cobb accessport or a tactrix cable. If youre in this for the long haul buy yourself a tactric cable. Since youre not monitoring your engine you could be getting some serious knock and your ecu is im limp mode. (50% power). Blob eye is a nice generation that you dont see on the road often so get her running with pride! Best of luck bud!
what engine codes are you getting? just the misfire codes? any others? has the timing belt been done? timing belt should be done at 162,000KM so if it hasnt been done youre just over the limit and its possible your misfires are timing related and not fueling related
First give us a complete list of mods. Pics under the hood would help as well. Need a list of all codes.
Do a compression test
While compression test is being done check/change your plugs with NGK's NOTHING ELSE WILL DO
Do a boost/vacuum leak test (Read up on this because if you do it wrong you will blow out your cam seals!!)
Where are you located? This will help us help you even more.
Stage 2 tune by cobb. Aftermarket catted up pipe. Invidia catless downpipe,magnaflow catback.
The compression test was done on a cold motor but they were all within 2. 180,120,180, 120. I had a test to see if there's a boost leak or a vacuum leak and couldn't find anything. I just bought so ngk copper spark plugs that I'm going to swap Tuesday. I'm located in saskatchewan Canada.
You need to put the copper ones back. Only use the Iridium NGK Part# BKR6EIX
Does this place that did your work specialize in Subaru's?
This is the list of issues that it could be IMO.
1 - BOV stuck open
2 - FPR isn't working properly
3 - Injectors leaking/stuck
4 - TGV's are stuck/not operating correctly
When you turn the Key to on and the fuel system primes do you smell any fuel under the hood?
Change your tune back to stock and see what happens. Also which stage 2 OTS Map did you install?
those compression numbers are WAY to out of whack. 120 is not low enough to suggest a dead cylinder, but the fact that you have a 60psi difference between some cylinders, suggests a different problem alltogether.
double check your new plugs that they are gapped correctly to 0.28-0.30.
I have an '04 WRX and like all autos of that age they require more maintenance than newer ones. Mine certainly does.
A fuel system leak is a safety concern so I would take that to a qualified shop and have them investigate that. You might be able to fix it yourself and then the only cost would be the shop inspection. But it's important to know.
When I was getting a cold start fuel smell I was concerned that the car would catch fire and I'd watch my investment burn to the ground because I put off getting it fixed.
Is the exhaust what your smelling the gas from? If you are catless you get more of a cold start smell. And I am almost 99.99% certain it is condensation coming out of your exhaust. If it was fuel you cylinder walls would have been washed out and your rings would be toast.
I have a catless downpipe. When I was looking at the car today it looked like I had pink injectors but that can't be right because doesn't that mean there the sti injectors.my car is definitely not tuned for sti injectors but it's weird that it wasn't running bad when I first bought it then.
Go here COBB Tuning - Maps And find your car and then on the left click on the filter for STi pinks which Is a stage 3. I would get all of them an load up the Economy one first.
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