So I have never had problems, and this one seems pretty bad. Anyway it's about that time. I have a 99' Forester, and on friday I stepped on it to get on the freeway, and noticed a few stutters around 4000rpm. I was low on fuel so I figured maybe I was running out of gas, although I still had for another 20miles at least. I went to gas up and put a bottle of STP in just in case my fuel was contaminated. Went along my way and got a bit more stutter after that. I decided I wasn't going to worry about it until today. In the morning it ran fine and I decided to see if it was still stuttering at the higher revs. It did, but not as bad and was absent most of the time. 75 miles later, out of nowhere I get a Flashing CEL which went away in a min. Then it came on again when I was off the freeway, stopped at a light. The CEL then turned off. But I noticed now that the car was putt-putt-putting and stuttering bad at every rev. Does anyone have a suggesting on what it could be. This engine has never had any problems and i've maintained it well. I've never changed the fuel filter, hopefully it's something simple like that. How about CO2 sensor(changed headers recently), or MAF sensor? Any suggestions would be greatly appreaciated. Thanks.

 

Flashing check engine light means you are getting a misfire. My car had this same problem on cylinders #s 2,3,4, where it would stutter, or even (at the worst times) have no acceleration under WOT. What I did was changed the coil pack and I had a faulty O2 sensor. after I changed those two things, my car was perfect. Go to the dealer, see what they say after they scan it. good luck!
Dan

 

Thanks. I opened up the engine bay and heard a faint cracking sound. I found that one of the spark plug wires was leaking and the spark was flying to a bolt. When I went to inspect the wire, I took it off gently and the piece that connects on the inside ripped off the wire. So it was a simple wire that caused it. No biggie. Good! The problem is that the dealer takes 3-5 days to get one and the Autoparts stores don't list any standard wire kits that would do. Does anyone know what would work that would be on their shelves?