truckin2001

Hey - Thanks for the input guys... Just to put this topic to bed - it ended up being a burnt valve... compression was 70 lbs lower in no.1 cyl. plus a little oil ... intermittent miss. 30k miles later, still running on the 2.5 timing pully

I bought a wrecked one owner 96 legacy 2.2 (sohc) 159,000 mi. and a 99 legacy outback for a parts car. The right (passenger) cam pulley was bent so i replaced it with the one off of the 2.5 DOHC. They appear to be the same (except the 2.5 pulley is plastic), and the part numbers are the same except the 2.5 pulley has an "A" at the end of the part number. MY ISSUE is poor performance and gas mileage (19 - 21 mpg - 70% hwy). when first fired up in the am, it misses BAD for 5 seconds, then smooths out. I swapped coils, no difference. I noticed It has a slight miss sitting at red lights... sometimes more noticeable than others. Are the reluctors(?) on the pulleys slightly different? There are NO Codes and I did a Proper tune up / fluids before I drove it, and the timing belt was replaced 15,000 miles ago. I've read of similar issues where the timing belt is 1 tooth off. I hate to throw parts at it or tear it down un-necessarily. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!