slysuby

Thanks for all the good info. The CEL went off over the weekend, and on my way to work monday morning, it flashed a few times and would go off - then flash a few times and go off. It stayed off for a while and was flashing and off for 2 days, until today when it came back on. CRAZY!! I've noticed that it only starts acting up at speeds in excess of 60mph if its been off. I pretty confident that its not the gas cap issue. Put NGK plugs and new wires, changed out a bunch of sensors. The phantom theory makes sense though. Can someone please enlighten me as to what SEAFOAM THE IACV stands for? THanks again.

Hello all. I have a 99 Forrester L that I bought 3 years ago at 32K miles and it now has 137000K miles. I drive quite a bit and love this car. Never gave me any problems, aside from the regular maintenance type stuff. A few months ago, the CEL came on. No change in performance - so i took it to the dealer. Codes read were engine misfires 3 and 4. So they changed the coil pack, plugs and wires. CEL came back on in 1 day. Took it back to the dealer, where they proposed starting with a valve adjustement, then replacement of the fuel injectors, so on and so on. Make a long story short, don't have a fortune to spend. Took it to my local mechanic, tried replaceing the wires and plugs again, but still have the light. It sometimes will go off and stay off, until i get on the highway for my 40 mile one way trip to work. Once on, it flashes while driving at highway speeds. All the codes that have been generated were engine misfires cylinder 3 and 4. My mechanic is now suggesting that we try and replace the coil pack again and if that doesn't work, then he believes it could be the head gasket going. Just seems like spending lots of dough for replacements that may not be needed because we can't figure out what the actual issue is. VERY FRUSTRATED!! Anyway, just wondering if any of you out there have had or are having a similar experience. I'd love to pinpoint this down even if it this the infamous head gasket. Thanks in advance for your help/advice/etc.