Siper2

Actually I'm a NH native. My wife and I just moved to PA this past February. She originally grew up in PA (north-western, though), and we met just after both of us graduated from college.
So it's sort of a move home for her, and totally new for me.

Anyway, sorry for the very late response, been busy. Glad you found a good shop. Let me know how it goes/went.


-Chris

wombatsauce

iTrader: (7)

Wow, I have had similar issues with my '01 RS. I just paid $122 for CarCode's OBD2 scanner software. Going to the dealer to clear my CEL and get the info is $100 and a PITA, so I figured this would be a savings for the future... Looks like I need a knock sensor eh? Haha.. I was gonna replace the coilpack next. Just did the plugs and wires, and have had 2 CELs since.

Yikes.

Siper2

Well actually, I'm thinking now that the knock sensor was a totally separate issue.
Maybe my ECU got "confused" last year, and that's why my CEL went away for a while and then came back with the knock sensor code. I dunno.


At any rate... This may not cure your woes, but my dealership recommended mixing a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil in with my next oil change. (So, the car holds 4.2 qts. - put 1 qt. of MMO in, with 3.2 qts. of regular 5/10W-30.) I did, and my CEL went away after a couple hundred miles.

I'm not counting any blessings yet....... but it seems pretty solid. It hasn't reappeared in about two weeks. This stuff's purpose is to clean out the insides, and help with things like...... stuck valve lifters. Which can easily cause a P030x code.


So... picking up some of this stuff might be a good idea for anyone else with piston misfire issues. Comes in a red container, and it's a reddish thick liquid. Been around since the very early 1900s, supposedly.



As for your dealer charging $100 for CEL diagnosis? I thought $36 for MY dealership's readings was highway robbery. $100 is purely nuts. Cool that you have an OBDII reader now, but AutoZone also reads codes for free.

=S2=

wombatsauce

iTrader: (7)

Hmm.. I plan on Seafoaming my engine at some point. I have done this on a few cars to great success. My '03 WRX was pinging on WOT full boost for a little while after break-in and the dealer suggested Subaru Top Engine Cleaner, which is like Seafoam but more expensive and less effective (from what I found, not sure about that). I ran it through my engine in the normal process, clouds of crap came out and the car was fine after - smoother, more powerful and no more pinging. I guess the granny driving in break-in taught the car how I want to drive as well as left all kinds of carbon deposits on the pistons. Sounds sorta what the MMO is supposed to do.

Yeah, the dealer here (Carlsen Subaru) in Redwood City, CA is pretty rediculous. Anything I buy from them is way hgher priced than even the list price at other dealers.

What I got isn't a code reader, it's a OBD2 program I can run on my laptop and see realtime info from the ECU, see codes, code history and reset the ECU. Seems pretty confusing so far, but I need to study more.

Thanks for the input!

Siper2

Ohh, okay, computer program. Sorry, misunderstood. That's cool!! I should do that eventually.... especially if I ever buy a laptop... heh.


Never heard of the Seafoam stuff, but yeah maybe it and MMO are similar. You're supposed to mix MMO in with oil or gasoline. Haven't tried it in the fuel yet, but I just ran some BG 44K through the fuel tank not long ago anyway.


www.subaruwrxparts.com has great parts prices. And tax free too, since they're in NH. I find them to have the lowest prices on average. It's run in part by North Ursalia, who also owns www.ravensblade-impreza.com which damned near everyone is familiar with. Great Impreza site.

wombatsauce

iTrader: (7)

This morning I had CEL #6 since December - misfire on 1, 2 and 4. I guess it's time to toss a fuel filter and a coil at the car and wait patiently for the next CEL.

Crap. I love my Toyota.

wombatsauce

iTrader: (7)

By the way, this ONLY occurs on cold starts. I have no idea what to replace, so I will start with the coil and filter I guess. The coil is pretty expensive tho...

Siper2

Replied to your duplicate post on RS25.

http://www.rs25.com/forums/showthrea...d=1#post495652

wombatsauce

iTrader: (7)

Replied to your reply.

wombatsauce

iTrader: (7)

Fresh CEL again this morning (my car has been in a body shop for nearly 3 weeks) with the exact same circumstances - cold start, nothing strange, after a minute or so the CEL comes on. Previous to this, I picked my car up at said body shop (around noon Tuesday). I started it once there, again at a gas station, once more at work, then again at home when I put my rims/tires back on to go for a test drive. No CEL. Then this morning, there it was like clockwork. Gonna go see what my codes are today at lunch.

I am terminally dissappointed that the only answer from anyone I have talked to is to start randomly replacing things. That is just pitiful. Next on the list are the coil and then the longshot knock sensor. I have a new fuel filter waiting to go on this weekend, and have already changed the plugs and wires. I need to check my plugs I guess and maybe do a compression test.

More in a little bit.

Siper2

You're right, it IS pitiful.

While I know that troubleshooting is necessary for some problems, I had one dealership scratch their heads and charge me a good deal of money, over the span of a couple of months, dealing with this CEL. I opened a case with SoA that is *still* open... At one time I was hoping for reimbursals for much more, but right now all I want is $50-100 back for a free CEL diagnosis that SoA promised me, plus a couple other small things....

The SoA rep called me the day before Thanksgiving, about 10 minutes before their closing time, with the service rep. from the dealership on the phone. They had a grand time yelling at me, both, in their amusing little "11th hour" stunt. Yeah well I work customer service too, and that stuff just doesn't fly.
Now I don't even get Email replies, and I rarely have time to call since by the time I get out of work, then out of the gym (or wherever else I have to go AFTER work) it's after 5pm anyway...

It's a mess. A total mess. The dealership replaced my ignition coil, claiming that it was cracked. Yet the service order has no mention of a crack. And I find it completely random and unbelievable that the thing would just so happen to be cracked, while I'm having a piston misfire that often relates to ignition coil troubles. Meaning that they'd already played with other things, and just kind of "picked" that as the next step. Yes the dealership gave me somewhat of a break on labor rates, but it's not so spectacular a bargain as they made it sound.

=S2=

wombatsauce

iTrader: (7)

Ugh.. That's pretty sad. Mine was P0304 again, but this time instead of just misfire it said *ign system malfunction or misfire* so maybe there would be some stock in replacing the coil. Either way it's next on the list. We'll see if I get another CEL this morning...

Siper2

Realistically I haven't replaced a huge number of items, so for my case it's more of a customer service thing.
The techs at the dealership were great, but the service advisors at the time were notorious for jerking people around. Unfortunately that trickled up to the service advisor, who through my battles to make things right got VERY angry with me, and I'm sure the total lack of proper information on the part of the SoA rep. didn't help that.

I'd love to know what the hell is wrong with my car.

wombatsauce

iTrader: (7)

CEL # 8 today. When I get to 10 I am gonna hard-wire the OBD2 port. So I guess that should be next week. Mind you, I have only had my car since December and haven't yet put 5k miles on it. I hate this effing car. Though, I never had an issue with it from December to mid February. Then I had the clutch and f/w replaced and all this started. Not sure if there is any connection there, but my plugs in #2 and #4 were really crappy (previous owner changed 1 and 3).

Misfire on 2 and 4 today. The last one was exactly a week ago. I replaced the fuel filter on Saturday and drove my car all weekend, couple trips etc - NO CEL at all. Then, this morning, start it up normally, and after about a minute - CEL pops up again.

This week's Part Of The Week will be the Ignition Coil unit. You know, there are a few things I really wanted to do to this car modwise - as well as some other things like you know, drive it around and stuff. At this point, I just hope some soccer mom slams into me and it gets totalled. Since it's sale-proof.

I really like Subarus, they are really fun cars. But I can't hang with this crap. If I get this CEL to stop showing up, that will be really nice. If not, I'll never own another Suby again. This RS is my 4th.

The service advisor thing is pretty rough. I had so much trouble with a service advisor at Carlsen Subaru with my WRX. I totally understand. From my dealings over the last couple years with mechanics and such, my back will be firmly to the wall if I ever have to trust anyone with my car again. I am gonna be one of those people who takes pics of everything, notes mileage, saves everything. Tired of being screwed over by incompetent and irresponsible people. Every interaction with a "professional" leaves me with less money, and some sort of iffy situation or damage to my car. Pretty sad really.

AWDimprezaL

now that you have a new coil, just get plugs and wires! its not worth selling the car because of somthing stupid like this, if it keeps coming back, it could be injectors, if not that, THEN its time to sell the car, its not that huge of a deal to put plugs and wires in, and YES coil packs can crack, and they do it alot!