I had been running an aggressive spark map which, at this point i feel was causing my car to misfire and not fouled plugs, since i replaced them. I went back to a relatively safe spark map and have not had any misfire issues. But i am noticing some very strange things.

Every once in a while i get a periodic CEL being thrown, and I do mean periodic, every 13 seconds for about 2 minutes and then it stops. If I shut the car off and hook up my laptop, and then continue to drive, no spark retard, knock voltage below threshold setting. It's happened on 3 occassions, and today, i just pulled over shut my car off and turned it back on, and the CEL pattern went away... Its a hydra in my 02 WRX.

On another note, with extreme cold fading is anyone noticing the ISC settings causing the car not to idle fine?

Sounds like you're in the high-knock map to me. Once you shut your car off, you're resetting and its going to the regular map.

Not to hijack your thread but I thought that the Hydra replaced the stock ECU. If so, what is firing the CEL? Is the hydra OBDII or is it just like the UTEC and it flashes the CEL for other warnings?

It's just like the UTEC.

That means you need to get your car tuned properly ;)

The flashing CEL at about 15 second intervals means the ecu is trying to go into the "backup spark map." The reason I say "trying" is because your tuning/diagnostic connector has not been unplugged. After you're done tuning you unplug this to allow the ecu to engage the "backup spark" spark map which will be followed by a solid CEL when activated. Now, when the diagnostic connector is unplugged you cannot make real time changes or use “autotune.” This is highlighted in your Hydra manual.

Most likely what’s happening is you’re misfiring now because of the more conservative ignition map. My guess is that your tuner ran the car so rich to prevent knock given the extremely advanced ignition curve that it’s now misfiring which can be mistaken as knock by the ecu.

As for your idle it’s not the ISC settings but inconsistent fueling across load sites. This takes time to dial in but if you watch your AFR closely when the idle oscillates you will see a change in AFR. Generally when the car goes leaner than 14.7 it will stumble so it’s best to shoot for around 14:1 AFR. My guess is you have a lean spot in there which is causing the car to stumble. If you’ve done this all correctly your idle should be no different than stock.

Good luck.
Phil
www.elementtuning.com

Let me clarify my experience a little bit here. I was not getting a CEL when the car has an anomalous shudder at cruise, 80 MPH 3300 RPM. I have been calling this a misfire. This may not be correct but to the best of my knowledge i think thats whats happening. It usually happens after I let up off the throttle a little. I never get a CEL when this happens. On one occasion I had my data logger on and could not find anything on there, no spark retard or exessively high knock voltage.

Let me clarify my experience a little bit here. I was not getting a CEL when the car has an anomalous shudder at cruise, 80 MPH 3300 RPM. I have been calling this a misfire. This may not be correct but to the best of my knowledge i think thats whats happening. It usually happens after I let up off the throttle a little. I never get a CEL when this happens. On one occasion I had my data logger on and could not find anything on there, no spark retard or exessively high knock voltage.

I see some sudden fuel dips and spikes in your 85mmHg and 10mmHg load sites right around 3300 rpm. You really have to make sure everything is smooth and linear in these transistions. I'm 99% sure that is your culprit.

You can also try secondly turning off your "decel cut" and let me know if this fixes the problem. If it does then you will have to make adjustments to the "dynamic enleanment" and "dynamic enrichment." This is unlikely however.

Thanks,
Phil
www.elementtuning.com