Code P0304 - should I remove CBE before taking it in?
Wait, when did Steven's Creek become a good place to take your car? I've been out of the loop and when I bought, S.Creek was supposed to be the devil.
My warranty work happened at Carlsen.
My non-warranty work happened at Livermore... and they couldn't even fill the coolant right (car started overheating, me limping to a gas station, then filling and burping properly fixed it a-okay)
My warranty work happened at Carlsen.
My non-warranty work happened at Livermore... and they couldn't even fill the coolant right (car started overheating, me limping to a gas station, then filling and burping properly fixed it a-okay)
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,808
From: San Jose, CA
Car Info: 2015 WRX
Honestly, I got hassled a bit when I took my car in for p0303 (cyl 3 mis), while I had a catback. Although I told them a catback couldn't possibly cause it, they still said they'd charge me for diagnosis if they found the catback deny my warranty.
Not saying you will, but just a heads up.
Not saying you will, but just a heads up.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jun 2008
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From: San Jose, CA
Car Info: 2015 WRX
When I hear from Capitol Subaru I'll ask to see it again and post up a photo.
Thread Starter
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Posts: 1,808
From: San Jose, CA
Car Info: 2015 WRX
Ok so, something else my mechanic did while he had the car was a compression test on cylinders 3 and 4. Cylinder 3 had a compression of 115 and 4 was 140.
When I took the car from him, he warned me that the dealership might try to just replace the spark plug and claim it was fixed if that removed the check engine light.
When I took the car from him, he warned me that the dealership might try to just replace the spark plug and claim it was fixed if that removed the check engine light.
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mine did the same thing and i had cylinder misfire for # 4 and when i took it in the said i blew up my cat, so they replaced it and i took it to ed for a real tune, instead of the standard subaru tune, try to check the plugs and coil packets first
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From: San Jose, CA
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Update, I'll just copy the chat I had with my friend:
me: All they did was slap in a new plug and call it a day.
me: I now have no faith in the reliability of my car.
friend: ah damnt
friend: that sucks
friend: that sucks when you cant trust it.
friend: so what happened when it went down the first time?
friend: no throttle response?
friend: or engine died?
me: The car lost all sense of power.
me: Any kind of driving beyond the capabilities of a grandmother was out of the question.
me: It would MOVE, but that's about it.
me: Here's the best part, the work order I got when I picked my car up -- here's what the mechanic wrote about my car.
me: Brace yourself.
me: "A guest states the check engine light is on. Inspect and advise.
me: Cause: 0
me: 10 Driveability
me: 355 WPS
me: 1 blah blah spark plug
me: Found P0304 cylinder 4 misfire. Pulled plug and found electrode looks like something made contact with it. Replaced plug. Road tested car. No codes and no misfires felt. Checked data no misfires registered. Did hear a noise during the road test but only happened once. Noise seemed to come from the engine bay. Checked engine bay, didn't find any missing items. All ok at this time. Test drove car again from a cold start. Did not get any misfires. Test drove car a total of 26 miles. All ok at this time. Performed compression test as per Subaru. CYL #4 140, CYL #2 145. Numbers are within spec. All ok at this time.
me: EOM
me: I told them THREE ****ing times that the compression test my mechanic did was on cylinders 3 and 4, but what did they test?? TWO and four.
me: They saw that something smashed into my spark plug INSIDE THE CYLINDER but hey why look for what did it, right??
me: So the actual problem didn't get resolved.
friend: damn
me: I don't know what to do at this point.
me: My mechanic (a friend of mine, also -- I trust him implicitly) said I should just drive the everloving **** out of the car and hope it breaks before 100k miles.
friend: I am going to 2nd that
me: All they did was slap in a new plug and call it a day.
me: I now have no faith in the reliability of my car.
friend: ah damnt
friend: that sucks
friend: that sucks when you cant trust it.
friend: so what happened when it went down the first time?
friend: no throttle response?
friend: or engine died?
me: The car lost all sense of power.
me: Any kind of driving beyond the capabilities of a grandmother was out of the question.
me: It would MOVE, but that's about it.
me: Here's the best part, the work order I got when I picked my car up -- here's what the mechanic wrote about my car.
me: Brace yourself.
me: "A guest states the check engine light is on. Inspect and advise.
me: Cause: 0
me: 10 Driveability
me: 355 WPS
me: 1 blah blah spark plug
me: Found P0304 cylinder 4 misfire. Pulled plug and found electrode looks like something made contact with it. Replaced plug. Road tested car. No codes and no misfires felt. Checked data no misfires registered. Did hear a noise during the road test but only happened once. Noise seemed to come from the engine bay. Checked engine bay, didn't find any missing items. All ok at this time. Test drove car again from a cold start. Did not get any misfires. Test drove car a total of 26 miles. All ok at this time. Performed compression test as per Subaru. CYL #4 140, CYL #2 145. Numbers are within spec. All ok at this time.
me: EOM
me: I told them THREE ****ing times that the compression test my mechanic did was on cylinders 3 and 4, but what did they test?? TWO and four.
me: They saw that something smashed into my spark plug INSIDE THE CYLINDER but hey why look for what did it, right??
me: So the actual problem didn't get resolved.
friend: damn
me: I don't know what to do at this point.
me: My mechanic (a friend of mine, also -- I trust him implicitly) said I should just drive the everloving **** out of the car and hope it breaks before 100k miles.
friend: I am going to 2nd that
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I will help you drive the everloving **** out of it 
Too bad you can't just have Shane fix it and then bill Subaru. What if you took it to another dealership? Maybe one where they are actually willing to find the real problem?
Too bad you can't just have Shane fix it and then bill Subaru. What if you took it to another dealership? Maybe one where they are actually willing to find the real problem?
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,808
From: San Jose, CA
Car Info: 2015 WRX
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,808
From: San Jose, CA
Car Info: 2015 WRX
That's what I'm really worried about. Since the cause of the damaged plug was never found, it's possible that it could happen again at any time. I can't trust the reliability of my car at all now.
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-- Ed