heartless

ok, tested opening the cap with everything fully warmed up... no air sucking, no problem re-starting partner offered to top up the tank since we had to get gas for the lawn mower as well... was about half a tank at the time... interestingly enough, no problem starting that time. the previous 2 fills, with the starting issue, happened when around a 1/4 tank left ... so... how much is left in the tank when filling seems to be a factor..

license plate lights are most likely either bad bulbs, or a problem with the wiring that goes thru the hatch. not uncommon to have broken wires at the hinge point from fatigue not sure how good you are with wiring diagrams, but you can find factory service manual for your car here starting at the back, work your way forward also, dont forget about ground wires.

all good, thanks, Bennie. watch just means to be prepared, conditions are right for possible tornadoes - warning is when a funnel cloud has been spotted and it is time to take cover. had been really hot on Tuesday, then a cold front moved in, producing thunderstorms... perfect weather for a tornado... hot air mixing with cold, strong winds, etc

pouring down rain with tornado watch right now, so poking around will have to wait i did try loosening the fuel cap before leaving the house today (no air hiss, either), and it started just fine, but that was on a cold start... want to try it again with warm engine... would have done today, but like i said.. rain. =P aside from this issue (only a problem when getting gas), the car runs perfectly - every start outside of getting gas is fine, no problems, starts right up, idles fine, drives fine - no issues at all otherwise. have been driving this car since September with no problems until it suddenly started this weird thing at fill ups. just strange...

evap canister, sure, but this is not a turbo model, just an NA, so is a purge valve even on my car? if so, where would it be located? and i dont "top off" when i get gas, pump until it kicks off, and done.

interesting thought.. will have to give it a try & see what happens

did his start acting like this suddenly as well? next time i get gas i am going to try something... rather than locking the handle (lowest position), i am going to run it a bit slower, see if that makes any difference have never had a car do this before, so quite puzzled

have not messed with anything underhood recently. slight air movement when popping the fuel cap, and it does "lock" like it is supposed to i kind of wondered the same about possible grunge, but it is just odd that it started suddenly

i did have to hit the gas pedal to get it to start yesterday, then had to hold it about 1/3-1/2 to keep it running until it straightened up. not sure if it matters or not, but both times gas level in the tank was around the 1/4 tank mark...

2004 Forester - EJ251, manual.. this has happened the last two times i have put gas in.. get gas, and the engine is difficult to start, and runs roughly for a minute or so once it is started. Once it settles in and runs nice, it is fine.. no more starting issues, no more rough running until i get gas again... is 2004 one of the ones that had the fuel pump cap issues? could this be a symptom?

yeah, chewed wiring could be an issue. a big one. was the wiring chewed close to the sensor? was the sensor replaced? motor mounts are totally unrelated to misfiring, so no, does not surprise me it made no difference.

agreed - the described symptoms definitely suggest charging system issues. you say he had the alternator checked - but was it in the car, and tested under a load? testing them out of the car is a waste of time & energy. battery should also be checked out - a dead/bad battery can kill an alternator, and a bad alternator can kill a good battery.. both need to be in good order Most chain auto parts stores can do a charging system check in the parking lot. this is best done after everything is fully warmed up, too... sometimes it can be a heat related problem. as was noted, a good healthy, fully charged battery will test at 12.6v to 12.8v at rest. with engine running, it should be around 14.4v or so.. if not (either above or below), either alt or battery - or sometimes both - is suspect.

agreed - 5/30 should help my 2004 runs 5/30 and i get around 27-28mpg overall average. Not sure what the mileage numbers are supposed to be for the FB series engines, but for the EJs that is pretty typical

spark plugs should be basic NGK copper cores, anything else is a waste of money on this car wires should be OEM or NGK brand ONLY - anything else wont last and are known to be problematic. cap and rotor???? your car does not have these items, so not sure what you think you replaced? coil - pretty rare for an OEM coil to fail.. yes, it does happen, but not that often and when they do, they usually put on a show. Aftermarket are not nearly as good. so, when did the misfire start happening? before all the work, or after? have you pulled the spark plug on cyl 4 to check for fouling or other issues?

safe journey moosens.