Help car running horrible

ctrent86 · 03-01-2008, 07:19 PM

To give the back story. Thursday night (2 days ago) I flash stage one in my wrx mainly just to learn the flash process because I am about to go stage two. Anyways, So today (saturday) I was driving home from school. I was almost to my house when at a redlight the car started rocking almost like a muscle car it is bogging down like it is going to stall etc. I look down and the check engine light starts to flash(never had done this before). I limp home (one block away) and read that this means I am misfiring in a cyclider.

I think well I will just go back to my saved stock map. I flash the old map. Start it up and it is still running crappy. I can hear it knocking and it seems like it is struggling. So I then reset the ecu but disconnecting the neg terminal and pressing the brake petal. Waited 10 minutes reflashed to stock again no luck. It is weird I would think that if it was a map problem it would have arisen early put on at least 200 since flash. I did a log which I can email to someone if they can look at it.

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bcblues · 03-01-2008, 09:28 PM

Maybe post some of the log here and see what everybody thinks. Did the flash complete successfully?

rkramer · 03-01-2008, 09:29 PM

Did you log immediately after flashing stage 1? Just speculation, but lets say the stage 1 for your car was a little too lean. It had enough detonation to kill a bearing and you might not have been able to hear it. so now, you have 1 dead bearing (aka new shortblock), which seems to possibly be accurate since you said it is knocking even on the stock map. (I'm assuming you mean making a bad noise at idle, not knocking as in detonation.)

Nuke209 · 03-01-2008, 10:32 PM

check for leaks.

my car felt like POOP when the intercooler popped off.
pulled over, reconnected it and was fine afterwards.

bcblues · 03-01-2008, 11:39 PM

You could just have a fouled plug.....

It sound to me like a dead cylinder. What is causing it could be anything from a bad plug, a bad coil, or a holed piston (assuming a broken rod would not run). I have had my inlet hose pop off the turbo several time, and it only affects the car under boost (at least to a noticeable level).

bcblues · 03-01-2008, 11:43 PM

You could log a bit (Enginuity), even just at idle and see if "Roughness Monitor" for any particular cyl indicates a bad cyl....

ctrent86 · 03-02-2008, 12:20 AM

The flash went fine. In fact, I didnt flash it. It was a local tuner here that had a lot of experience. He was teaching me how to flash so I could do stage 2 on my own later on. I did log after the flash. This was a really standard map nothing crazy. My speculation is a fouled plug, coil. I dont think that it is map related because I think the problem would have surfaced before now. Plus, the problem happened after driving some 200-300 miles on new map. Lastly, it happened after I was driving for like 30 minutes and happened while I was at a stop light not during flashing etc. I am by no means an expert just my .02 cents. If someone wants to take a look at the logs then just pm me and I will email them. That would be much appreciated.

03-01-2008, 07:19 PM	#1
ctrent86 Scooby Specialist Member#: 129199 Join Date: Oct 2006 Chapter/Region: South East Location: Jax Beach, FL Vehicle: 2004 WRX PSM Stage 2	Help car running horrible To give the back story. Thursday night (2 days ago) I flash stage one in my wrx mainly just to learn the flash process because I am about to go stage two. Anyways, So today (saturday) I was driving home from school. I was almost to my house when at a redlight the car started rocking almost like a muscle car it is bogging down like it is going to stall etc. I look down and the check engine light starts to flash(never had done this before). I limp home (one block away) and read that this means I am misfiring in a cyclider. I think well I will just go back to my saved stock map. I flash the old map. Start it up and it is still running crappy. I can hear it knocking and it seems like it is struggling. So I then reset the ecu but disconnecting the neg terminal and pressing the brake petal. Waited 10 minutes reflashed to stock again no luck. It is weird I would think that if it was a map problem it would have arisen early put on at least 200 since flash. I did a log which I can email to someone if they can look at it. * Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

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03-01-2008, 09:28 PM	#2
bcblues Scooby Specialist Member#: 17256 Join Date: Apr 2002 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: America's Outback Vehicle: 04 STi Blue w/ custom bug splat	Maybe post some of the log here and see what everybody thinks. Did the flash complete successfully?

03-01-2008, 09:29 PM	#3
rkramer Scooby Guru Member#: 118209 Join Date: Jun 2006 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: North Dakota Vehicle: 2002 WRX Sedan	Did you log immediately after flashing stage 1? Just speculation, but lets say the stage 1 for your car was a little too lean. It had enough detonation to kill a bearing and you might not have been able to hear it. so now, you have 1 dead bearing (aka new shortblock), which seems to possibly be accurate since you said it is knocking even on the stock map. (I'm assuming you mean making a bad noise at idle, not knocking as in detonation.)

03-01-2008, 10:32 PM	#4
Nuke209 Scooby Specialist Member#: 108089 Join Date: Feb 2006 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: Minnesota Vehicle: 2003 WRX NF Performance	check for leaks. my car felt like POOP when the intercooler popped off. pulled over, reconnected it and was fine afterwards.

03-01-2008, 11:39 PM	#5
bcblues Scooby Specialist Member#: 17256 Join Date: Apr 2002 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: America's Outback Vehicle: 04 STi Blue w/ custom bug splat	You could just have a fouled plug..... It sound to me like a dead cylinder. What is causing it could be anything from a bad plug, a bad coil, or a holed piston (assuming a broken rod would not run). I have had my inlet hose pop off the turbo several time, and it only affects the car under boost (at least to a noticeable level).

03-01-2008, 11:43 PM	#6
bcblues Scooby Specialist Member#: 17256 Join Date: Apr 2002 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: America's Outback Vehicle: 04 STi Blue w/ custom bug splat	You could log a bit (Enginuity), even just at idle and see if "Roughness Monitor" for any particular cyl indicates a bad cyl....

03-02-2008, 12:20 AM	#7
ctrent86 Scooby Specialist Member#: 129199 Join Date: Oct 2006 Chapter/Region: South East Location: Jax Beach, FL Vehicle: 2004 WRX PSM Stage 2	The flash went fine. In fact, I didnt flash it. It was a local tuner here that had a lot of experience. He was teaching me how to flash so I could do stage 2 on my own later on. I did log after the flash. This was a really standard map nothing crazy. My speculation is a fouled plug, coil. I dont think that it is map related because I think the problem would have surfaced before now. Plus, the problem happened after driving some 200-300 miles on new map. Lastly, it happened after I was driving for like 30 minutes and happened while I was at a stop light not during flashing etc. I am by no means an expert just my .02 cents. If someone wants to take a look at the logs then just pm me and I will email them. That would be much appreciated.