fiber_tek Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Just wondering if I can remove the hose from the air filter to the intake so that I can pour Seafoam straight into the engine. I think I may have a stuck/sticking valve now. I found that I have a glowing cat, and there is a noticeable tick in the engine, coming from the driver's side cylinder bank. This may be causing my stumble/misfire when the engine gets warmed up. All of my sensors have been replaced trying to run down the warm engine stutter and last night found that my cat glows a pretty orange. Any other ideas? I bought the car for $2000 and can't bring myself to taking it to a shop to do a $2000 valve cleaning job. It may not be $2000 but it won't be cheap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Collapsed hydraulic lifters are best fixed by an oil change or three with a high mileage or synthetic blend type motor oil. Depending on what engine you have, that may or may not help. Don't go pouring anything into your engine just yet. Need a year, model, engine size, and mileage on the car. Exactly which parts have you replaced? If the cat glows, you have one of two things, A plugged cat, or excessive fuel in the exhaust gas. Whether that is related to cam timing or incorrect intake air/fuel ratio I can't say without some other details, but lets get the info I asked for above before going any further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiber_tek Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Collapsed hydraulic lifters are best fixed by an oil change or three with a high mileage or synthetic blend type motor oil. Depending on what engine you have, that may or may not help. Don't go pouring anything into your engine just yet. Need a year, model, engine size, and mileage on the car. Exactly which parts have you replaced? If the cat glows, you have one of two things, A plugged cat, or excessive fuel in the exhaust gas. Whether that is related to cam timing or incorrect intake air/fuel ratio I can't say without some other details, but lets get the info I asked for above before going any further. The car is a 95 Legacy OBW, with a 2.2liter 5MT, 220K miles. I have replaced the CTS, CPS (twice), both O2 sensors (front one is OE), PCV, cleaned the IACV, cleaned the MAF sensor, ran fuel system cleaner, and Seafoam through a few tanks of gas. It has new plugs and wires, though the wires are not OE. I have sprayed the coil with water at night looking for sparklies. I am not getting a check engine light. Is it possible to have codes stored with out a CEL coming on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 (edited) It is if they are old codes or pending codes. The CEL will go out if a certain number of drive cycles are completed without the fault showing up. Does your CEL light up during the bulb test when you turn the ignition key to ON? When does the stutter occur? During driving? At idle? Under load (acceleration/uphill)? Does it not stutter when the engine is cold? The 95 2.2 does have hydraulic lifters, so using a crankcase flush such as Seafoam may help quiet the noisy ones. Drain the old oil, pour in a half can of Seafoam or Marvels Mystery Oil through the oil fill tube, along with 4 quarts of fresh 10w-40 engine oil. Let the car warm to operating temp and take it on an easy 20-30 minute ride. Don't do any hard acceleration. Drain that and refill with your favorite brand of motor oil and a new filter. I use Valvoline Maxlife 5w-30 and it has done very well at keeping a noisy lifter or two quiet in my 96 2.2. With that many miles you may need to change the oil more frequently to keep lifter noise to a minimum and that still may not cure the problem. Edited February 10, 2011 by Fairtax4me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiber_tek Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 I can see the CEL during the bulb test when I first turn the key on. And it worked when I got the P0420 code a few weeks back. The car will stutter at about 2700RPM when in the last three gears, 3-5. And it only does it when the temp gauge reaches the normal operating range. In the past it clears up when the engine gets ran for about 5-10 miles, but I haven't driven it that far since I started replacing sensors. If I keep it under 2700 RPM in the last 3 gears in won't do it. I didn't put 2 and 2 together at first, but when I would shut the car off it would smell like hot metal. I smell the same thing when following a snow plow that has it's plow down grinding on the asphalt. Well, I smelled that last night after a drive and noticed the cat was glowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I'd venture to guess the cat is plugged. Do you notice any strong fuel smell from the exhaust after the car is warmed up? How did you remedy the P0420? Did you do the non-fouler trick or did the new sensors take care of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiber_tek Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 I'd venture to guess the cat is plugged. Do you notice any strong fuel smell from the exhaust after the car is warmed up? How did you remedy the P0420? Did you do the non-fouler trick or did the new sensors take care of it? When I had the P0420 code I put in a new front O2 sensor, OE from Subaru. I don't ever smell fuel. I just had the codes read at Autozone and it has no codes stored. Any way to test for a bad cat, or a trick to do it on the cheap? If I have to get a new cat I will, but man this thing is getting expensive! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 If you just so happen to have a back pressure tester you can check it with that. (most people don't, matter of fact most shops don't). Visual check is about the only option. If you have a Bore-scope you can stick it in the o2 sensor hole in the cat to see if it is plugged, but most people don't have one of those either. The easy way out is to gut the cat and trick the second o2 sensor with a spark plug non-fouler to keep away the pesky CEL and P0420 code. After market replacements can be hit or miss. Subaru OE parts are way $$$, but you're almost guaranteed to not have trouble with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiber_tek Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 I changed the oil and have found what looks like plastic pieces in the drain pan. Valve seals? Some of it looked like blue plastic, like a valve seal, or seat, and some of it looked like white sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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