Hi all,
I am currently having some misfire issues on my 2003 WRX sedan. It started misfiring after a day of skiing where my car had sat for outside for about 6 hours with temps around 10*F ( nothing it hasn’t done before). I had started driving for around 5 minutes when my check engine light started flashing and I pulled over. I wasn’t able to figure anything out on the side of the road so I drove the remaining 15 min home. As I was driving home I noticed that the check engine light would stop flashing intermittently for no apparent reason. It didn’t seem to have anything to do with rpm or throttle position, not that I went WOT at any point but still.
Update:
Compression test results performed while engine was warm (after roughly 10 min of running)
Cyl# 1: 150, 150
Cyl# 2: 27, 27
Cyl# 3: 150, 150
Cyl# 4: 150, 150
After I got home I pulled the code with my accesport (I have been stage 2 for about 1500 miles but the engine has about 135,000 miles on it). Misfire on Cyl 2. Current mods are catless TBE and flash to stage 2.
I changed plugs and oil and started it up but sure enough, 5 minutes after cold start, it started misfiring again. Next I swapped coil packs with Cyl #4 and tried started it again with no change in location or time for misfire to occur. The fuel filter was next to be changed and now after 5 minutes at idle both Cyl #2 and #4 are misfiring. When it starts up it appears to idle fine but as the rpm drops it gets progressively more uneven and shakes the whole car until it almost dies.
Right now I’m pretty well stumped as to what it could be with the symptoms I have and could use some help. I almost think it would be something temp sensitive as it occurs after warming up for a short time but I have no idea what it could be.
Here are some pictures I took that could possibly help figure something out.
This is one of the spark plugs that I pulled after I got home. All four looked like this one. Whitish/brownish chalky looking.
After unsuccesfully trying to fix my issue I pulled the plugs again to examine them. This is the plug from Cyl #2.
And Cyl #4. Before it started misfiring and throwing a code.
Cyl #1,3 both came out without any gunk or residue on them.
The following pictures are may not necessarily help but I feel they could be of use.
This is the turbo inlet, Grime coating the compressor housing
This is just below the compressor housing, on the engine block. As you can see, there is a lot of grime/gunk build up all over the passenger side of the engine.
If you would like to see larger pictures or pictures of other parts of the engine bay please let me know. If you have any suggestions please let me know. I need to get my car back up and running properly as soon as possible.
Thank you,
-Luke