help with engine problem
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: LOS ANGELES
Posts: 23
Car Info: IMPREZA STI 2006
help with engine problem
Hey guys need some help, just after Christmas I was driving from northern cali to Los Angeles and while driving all of a sudden I started to feel vibration and the engine noise changed, I pulled over and the vibration was coming from the engine it was shaking a lot. I managed to get to Los Angeles but the engine shaking continued the engine noise is still very different and it feels weak like it does not have the power it usually does. The engine light came on and I got the following codes P0301, P0302, P0303 and P0304 which apparently are piston misfire for all pistons. Any idea what could have happened?
#2
Da Brit.
iTrader: (31)
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Bay Area, CA
Posts: 2,808
Car Info: http://tinyurl.com/3vo4362
Hey guys need some help, just after Christmas I was driving from northern cali to Los Angeles and while driving all of a sudden I started to feel vibration and the engine noise changed, I pulled over and the vibration was coming from the engine it was shaking a lot. I managed to get to Los Angeles but the engine shaking continued the engine noise is still very different and it feels weak like it does not have the power it usually does. The engine light came on and I got the following codes P0301, P0302, P0303 and P0304 which apparently are piston misfire for all pistons. Any idea what could have happened?
Don't drive the vehicle anymore in this condition. Quick way to test.. process of elimination.
one at a time, while the engine is idling, be careful not to snap the clip and remove the wire harness connector on the coil pack one by one. Each time you pull a harness off, that cyl will stop firing and the motor will act like its going to die. Do this only for a split second as you dont want the motor to keep idling this way.If there is no change on a cyl, you know that one wasnt firing.
If you get a result from this, now its time to move on to testing whether its the coil, the injector, the plug, or the cyl which is causing the issue.
1. on the same side which you find the issue, swap the coil pack and see if the issue follows it.
2. if it doesnt, do the same with the plug.
3. if that doesn't, do the same with the injector(be careful with the o ring. Easily damaged)
4. if that doesnt reveal anything, its definitely time to go to a shop.
good luck!
#4
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: LOS ANGELES
Posts: 23
Car Info: IMPREZA STI 2006
Sounds like you are not firing on all cylindars. I hope you didnt stress it on the grapevine.
Don't drive the vehicle anymore in this condition. Quick way to test.. process of elimination.
one at a time, while the engine is idling, be careful not to snap the clip and remove the wire harness connector on the coil pack one by one. Each time you pull a harness off, that cyl will stop firing and the motor will act like its going to die. Do this only for a split second as you dont want the motor to keep idling this way.If there is no change on a cyl, you know that one wasnt firing.
If you get a result from this, now its time to move on to testing whether its the coil, the injector, the plug, or the cyl which is causing the issue.
1. on the same side which you find the issue, swap the coil pack and see if the issue follows it.
2. if it doesnt, do the same with the plug.
3. if that doesn't, do the same with the injector(be careful with the o ring. Easily damaged)
4. if that doesnt reveal anything, its definitely time to go to a shop.
good luck!
Don't drive the vehicle anymore in this condition. Quick way to test.. process of elimination.
one at a time, while the engine is idling, be careful not to snap the clip and remove the wire harness connector on the coil pack one by one. Each time you pull a harness off, that cyl will stop firing and the motor will act like its going to die. Do this only for a split second as you dont want the motor to keep idling this way.If there is no change on a cyl, you know that one wasnt firing.
If you get a result from this, now its time to move on to testing whether its the coil, the injector, the plug, or the cyl which is causing the issue.
1. on the same side which you find the issue, swap the coil pack and see if the issue follows it.
2. if it doesnt, do the same with the plug.
3. if that doesn't, do the same with the injector(be careful with the o ring. Easily damaged)
4. if that doesnt reveal anything, its definitely time to go to a shop.
good luck!
#5
Da Brit.
iTrader: (31)
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Bay Area, CA
Posts: 2,808
Car Info: http://tinyurl.com/3vo4362
easy stuff first IMHO. Up to you though. Your car, plus the fact that i'm a computer geek and not a mechanic. What do i know?
#6
Registered User
iTrader: (9)
ODD> goodluck!
#10
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Sacramento
Posts: 491
Car Info: 04 WRX Wagon, 06 Forester XT, 99 Legacy Sedan
I can tell you that when this happened to me... it was because MY CRANK PULLEY BECAME LOOSE WHILE DRIVING WHICH IN TURN NOTCHED THE KEYWAY IN MY CRANK SPROCKET. The small notch in the keyway was enough to cause the crank sprocket to be off by a degree or two. This would be a very good explanation for why the engine vibration is now happening as well as the noise.
Read here.
It is worth looking into... especially if it randomly happened WHILE driving at highway speeds. Your crank pulley didnt need to come COMPLETELY off for this to happen. If you read the SL-I.net thread below... it actually happened during a long drive from Portland to Sacramento. The misfires popped up on the CEL a few hundred miles before the crank bolt backed itself completely out.
I imagine as soon as the crank bolt was loosed enough for the woodruff key to pop out of the slot on the crank pulley, it skipped out of the slot and then caught it maybe a few rotations later. You could tell this was the case because the back of my crank pulley was all chewed up from the end of the woodruff key in a perfect circle.
Put a socket and breaker on your crank bolt and see if it is completely tight. Should only take you a couple minutes.
Go towards the bottom of the first page to see what I am talking about.
Subaru Legacy International • View topic - Harmonic Balancer came off while driving. Misfires solved!!!
Post #52 is what eventually lead me to solve my issue:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...oodruff&page=3
Read here.
It is worth looking into... especially if it randomly happened WHILE driving at highway speeds. Your crank pulley didnt need to come COMPLETELY off for this to happen. If you read the SL-I.net thread below... it actually happened during a long drive from Portland to Sacramento. The misfires popped up on the CEL a few hundred miles before the crank bolt backed itself completely out.
I imagine as soon as the crank bolt was loosed enough for the woodruff key to pop out of the slot on the crank pulley, it skipped out of the slot and then caught it maybe a few rotations later. You could tell this was the case because the back of my crank pulley was all chewed up from the end of the woodruff key in a perfect circle.
Put a socket and breaker on your crank bolt and see if it is completely tight. Should only take you a couple minutes.
Go towards the bottom of the first page to see what I am talking about.
Subaru Legacy International • View topic - Harmonic Balancer came off while driving. Misfires solved!!!
Post #52 is what eventually lead me to solve my issue:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...oodruff&page=3
Last edited by Harry Maneuvers; 01-10-2013 at 03:07 PM.
#11
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: LOS ANGELES
Posts: 23
Car Info: IMPREZA STI 2006
So I worked on my car to try and figure out what the problem is. I started with the timing belt, I removed panels in front of all timing belt pulleys and all seemed well, all the pulley marks matched. Then I reset the computer for trouble codes, started the engine and then trouble codes came back but only for cylinder #3, I unplugged the coil while engine was running and made no difference unlike other cylinders, the engine kinda wants to die. I removed the coil attached a spark plug and it did spark!! so I'm wondering what else can it be, I didn't check the fuel injector but I'm going to.
#12
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: LOS ANGELES
Posts: 23
Car Info: IMPREZA STI 2006
Ok so today I swapped coil and fuel injectors and it still made no difference, cylinder #3 misfires, so it's not the coils, spark plugs, injectors or anything related to timing belt pulleys. Should I be sure it's something internal like my pistons or valves?
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