eagleb

Just got the tranny serviced, new timing belt, water pump, and a couple other pieces of cheap insurance in the front end (all for $520). Car shifts a lot better, haven't had any noticeable lagging problems, but I've also been avoiding the long high speed inclines. CEL came on again with a cylinder 4 misfire, but it doesn't seem to be affecting the performance. Still can't figure out if the misfire is a computer glitch, a fuel injector, gas cap, or what. But I'm not gonna complain until it acts up again. Thanks for all the help so far, I'm sure I'll be needing more before too long.

I got a tune up a few weeks ago, every once in a while the check engine light comes on with a cylinder 4 misfire code. But the last time this happened, no check engine light came on. I haven't noticed any black smoke, and I don't know when the fluid was last changed. I bought the car from a dealer in january. I despise gremlins.

My 96 outback seems to lag in 3rd gear. Driving from the Canyon Rd exit to highway 26 on 217 in beaverton (a long incline on the highway), i needed to accelerate relatively quick to merge. It shifted down from Overdrive, but that didn't seem to give enough power, then it shifted down again (up to 3500-4000 rpm) somewhat abruptly, and as it got up to speed and shifted back up, the car would shudder when I stepped on the accelerator. This problem stopped when I sped up again and got onto more level highway. Any ideas?

Thanks everyone that's putting in their ideas, hopefully one of them works. The car is running just fine now, which would be nice if I wasn't trying to diagnose the problem. Where is the best place to look for parts for my subaru? How difficult is it to replace the EICM in a '96 2.5 and how much is the acutal unit?

3Pin, do you know how I could go about checking to see if that is the problem?

I own a 96 outback wagon with 105000 miles on it. A while back the check engine light came on, and the diagnosis was cylinder 4 misfire. After chaning the plugs and wires, the light went off. A few days ago, the light came back on with the same diagnosis, cylinder 4 misfire. Most of the time the car runs fine, however it seems like there is a small loss of power. The biggest problem happens when I drive the car after it has been sitting for a few hours and I first start driving. Going up some hills when I first start driving, the car doesn't accelerate properly, and doesn't easily downshift, and after this happens, when I slow down or stop, the car dies, but when I start it back up, it seems to run fine. Does anybody have any ideas on what is going on? Please help, I'd appreciate it very much.