OK, heres the deal. Wife's '97 Legacy Outback threw a repeated CEL. Would appear and then disappear after a bit. One night it comes on and blinks like 6 times then stays on, then repeats this blinking and staying for about 5 minutes. It finally stays on. 2 days later it goes out again.

I tell her take it to the dealer and have them pull the codes (she had other maintenance to have done). Dealer checks the codes and it shows misfire. They say if it is a misfire and they are just going to change the plugs and wires. I say I'll do it myself at home. The dealer wanted $50 for the plugs by the way because they were platinum, I bought my own NGKs for far less. I change the plugs and wires, car is fine for a week and a half and on our way to Buffalo NY the light comes on again. The next day the light is out again.

Any ideas? Bad coil pack? Similiar experiences?

On my 97 outback sport, I kept getting misfire codes [ p0300, p0301cyl#1, p0302cyl#2, p0303cyl#3, p0304 cyl#4]

I kept clearing the codes, changed plugs, changed wires, finally when I stopped using injector cleaner fuel additive the codes finally ceased.:)

my 98 outback has been giving all 4 misfire codes and a fuel trim malfunction code, but I can feel the misfires and the car does not run well at all. My guess is that if you can't feel the misfires you should be ok (at least for a while).

Oh, I forgot to add that I changed my coil pack and wires this week and they didn;t do squat. Car even runs worse than it did before, but I have heard that other coil packs have gone bad and were the source of misfires. Does your wife notice if the CE light comes on when its raining or wet out? My car drives like poop in the rain, and triggers the light to come on. You might have luck with a new coil, you might not.

The check engine light in our 99 Outback came on. We didnt have a computer to hook it up to though. On the way to the dealer it went out. When we got to the dealer they said it was the humidity that could of caused it. It had been very humid over the past week and that day that the light dissapeared was very hot.

Hi there,

I had a similar experience with my 98' OB Ltd. I just purchased. I knew the plugs and wires hadn't been changed in a while so I decided to replace them. I bought Bosch wires and Platinum 4+ plugs. I replaced the plugs and wires at the same time and I started the car up to take it for a spin. The rpm's went up past 3k when it started idling. I waited a few minutes without touching the gas and the engine came down to a normal 600 rpm's. (I am guessing the 4+ plugs screwed with the firing). I took it for a spin and it ran great. I started it up again after driving it for ten minutes and it idled fine. I didn't drive it for three days and then I changed the air filter to a K&H filter and when I started it up it the idle went up to almost 3k rpm's and then the check engine light flickered and came on. I drove to work a little worried, and when I got out of work and started it up again the CEL was off and it idled fine. It has been about two weeks now and it hasn't come back on. The car seems to be running fine.

In regard to the hot weather post, it was one of the hottest days of they year here when the CEL came on. Coincidence?

Hope this helps or eases the worry.

Bryan

I had this problem recently. actucally plauged me for a year or so. I replaced everything, and the dealer could not find the problem. And then finally one day the MAF died, so it could quite possibly be signs of a dying MAF. Good luck.

i had the flashing CEL on my 98 about a month ago, assuming it was a misfire code i replaced the coil pack, left the plugs and wires as is and it fixed it. mine looked like #3 was bad on the pack due to alot of corrosion in there.

Seabubba,
I've had exactly the same problem. Bothered me all summer. Here in NY its been a very wet summer. It seemed every time I started after a wet day, it was hard to start and then ran hesitantly until it warmed up. Usually the light stayed on, but last time it flickered then went off.

On the second instance the dealer said it was a misfire. So had them change the wires and plugs. (wires were cracked anyway). No difference.

Is it possible our dealers are not gapping correctly?
But I don't understand how the rain might be affecting the firing.

PS - what is a MAF? And by coils do you guys mean the distributer cap. (I'm fairly new to car repair.)

PPS - last time the CEL came on I had a large backfire and expelled a lot of exhaust until it warmed up.

i got a cel misfire code as well on my 2003ob mt. the dealer had to reprogram the ecm since there was a bug in the code for the manuals. is yours and auto or manual?

I've got an automatic.

Is the ECM the car's computer - the one that gives the codes to the dealer?

If these things seem to have so much trouble, why doesn't SOA recall them?