specialtywoodsjames

Thanks, Gloyale, I do have the cyl numbers right and it is the reason I immediately suspected the coil and then the ignitor. Unfortunately, the manual I have is for the wrong year and was copied and compiled badly. It's missing pertinent sections and I've had to go a little by the seat of my pants. I did ponder a lot of unlikely scenarios that involved the #3 and 4 going out independently but simultaneously, but I thought I would pursue the likely first. It also occurred to me that one of those cyls has been out for while and my friend didn't notice, but it hasn't been that long since I drove the car myself so I'm not sure I rate that scenario very much higher than unlikely. DavidPeab, I considered the plug/wire fault possibility as well, but the wires are new and I have rarely encountered a plug that does not fire at all and I have encountered some pretty trashed plugs. Two such plugs in such a suspicious configuration I also ruled out as unlikely. Still, inspecting plugs and testing wires is on the list of fall back options... Also, what is a P030?DTC? Is that some kind of government assistance program for Subaru owners? ;-) I think I will test continuity of the connections between the coil and ignitor, as suggested and then swap in a different ignitor. Then if I have failed, I will move and change my phone number.

Can you give me more details about checking for pulse? I had assumed that the primary coils would be energized with the key in the run position, but they are not. I checked for voltage in the same pairs as I used for testing the resistance, but I am no longer at the car and I can't recall which terminal is yellow. I assume that should be term 2 from your description, unless I am completely confused.

I have a friend who's car I've been working on for a week or two. It is a 1993 legacy wagon, 5spd 2.2. First, he called me from the gas station and said his car wouldn't run and he was stuck in the parking lot. I had him tow the car to my house and determined that the fuel pump was kaput. I replaced it and life was good, briefly. A week or so later he called to tell me the car had no power and, well, he had a lot of panicky and not pertinent things to say and I'd rather not divulge the sort of abuse he may have heaped on his poor car in order to get it home. Anyway, I went over to his place and tested the fuel pressure again and I noted that it was a pretty constant 40 PSI and in the manual it says it should be regulated to 26. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator today though I didn't have the fuel pressure gauge with me so I don't know if the fuel pressure is now at 26 PSI. Anyway, the car smokes blue on startup and still runs like it's running on only two cylinders because...wait for it... it's only running on two cylinders. When I pull the plug wires from #3 or #4, nothing changes. The old coil tested OK for the secondaries, but was a bit high for both of the primaries. Thinking that I have encountered coils in the past that test fine but aren't, I put a new coil on to no avail. I am thinking of getting another ignitor from the pull-a-part tomorrow and swapping that in. Also, I need to pull codes, but the CEL is not on, which kind of makes me suspect that it has been disabled. It seems like this can't be a unique problem, but after at least an hour spent searching the interwebs in general and this site in particular, I have not come up with any more ideas. Any thoughts?