rossila

Thank you GD we will check this out tomorrow. I really appreciate your suggestion!

Hi everyone! I have a 1996 Legacy Wagon 2.2 that has a problem with random misfires. So, there is a hill that I will no longer go up because if I don't make it thru the traffic light at the top and have to come to a stop my car will occasionally shake - almost as if it will stall - and then the check engine light comes on. On this particular hill it has never stalled out and seems to have corrected itself after a few minutes and I am able to drive it 10 more miles to my parents' house where my dad will plug it in. Every time this happens with that hill it's a code stating cylinder 4 misfire. After the first time this happened we replaced spark plugs and wires but then it happened again not too long after - so we replaced the coil - still no luck with that so I just avoided that hill since it was really steep and that was the only place I was having problems. I eventually noticed that my car would occasionally hesitate when I would start from a complete stop - even if the road was flat. Since it would happen so infrequently I thought at first that it was because I was not stepping on the gas pedal hard enough. But once I began noticing it more often I realized that it was definitely not me and that my car was indeed hesitating and it was becoming more severe. Then one evening I was driving home from my parents' and as I was going up a hill my engine shut off (I should note that the hill by my parents' house is not as steep as the hill by my house). Also, earlier that day my car did a major hesitation on the way to their house. So after that episode we did a dry compression test, fuel pressure test (both of which checked out) and replaced the fuel filter. My dad also took it to a friend who owns a shop and he cleaned the throttle body and sprayed the idle air control. Then last night driving home from my parents' I was going up the same hill passing a tanker truck when we both had to come to a fast stop at a red light. My car started shaking and the check engine light came on but it did correct itself so I was able to get it back to my parents'. When we plugged it in it came up as cylinder 1 misfire. If anyone has suggestions as to what could be causing this problem I'd greatly appreciate it as this is my main travel vehicle and with having 3 small kids in the car it is really making me a nervous wreck! Thanks!