My sister went down to Auto Zone to get a mechanic recommendation; so they sent her to East Ave. Automotive in Norwalk, CT.  They charged her $40 for the diagnosis, due to the fact she has been having check engine notifications when she starts up the car sometimes, with temporary power loss issues.  Usually after a few minutes, the vehicle runs OK.  But she is completely dumb when it comes to cars, so is totally dependent on the advice of "experts".  

 

So the place she went to today said due to the PO301 misfire code they need to remove and replace the fuel injector; estimate is $259.

 

Is this reasonable or does she need to get a second opinion?

Kinda sounds more like it just needs a set of plugs and wires.

 

Second opinion time.

 

What year make model?

96 Station wagon;  2.2 engine.

Well, book time is an hour and I suspect they are $80 an hour which means they are charging $179 for the injector + tax (unless you don't have sales tax or that was extra).

 

I hope that is an OEM replacement otherwise that is one expensive injector.  Rockauto has them from $40 to $126.  An OEM seems to only be around $140 from the dealer (can't confirm for you car though, but that's the average).

Seems unlikely that all the fuel injectors have gone bad. More likely just dirty.

 

Before going back to that shop, and spending $259, I would pull out a spark plug to see what condition it is in . My guess, is that it needs new spark plugs. Spark plug wires may be okay, since you don't mention that the motor is miss-firing.  The plugs are easy to remove and replace on a 2.2 motor. Not anymore difficult then removing and replacing a light bulb.

 

Would also recommend adding a can of fuel injector cleaner. Buy the good stuff like Techron, that cost about $7.00 a bottle. Don't buy the cheap stuff costing around $4.00 a bottle. The cheap stuff doesn't help much. 

That sonds like a ignition coil failure between the 98 outback and 2000 imp and the 2000 forester have all had there coils fail only one cylender failed and would throw a po301 - po304 i wouldent suspect the injector unless you have been driving in mexico or are running with out a fuel filter more than likely its something simple like a plug fouled out or a plug wire isent all the way on or bad could be a vacume leak also go some where else and get a second opinion

Since the diag fee was only $40, I assume they didn't bother with the fuel leak-down test or a compression check or a spark check.

 

A P0301 - Misfire Cylinder 1 could mean a HOST of things, but if your sister hasn't had any routine maintenance done recently, it's probably time. Does the light ever blink at her? Does she notice it more when it's cold, wet, ect?

 

Like others have said, pull the cylinder-in-question's plug and see what it looks like. If it's fouled out or damaged, I'd look for a bigger issue. If not, good resistance check on the wire will quickly check it's health and the spray-bottle at night will help root out any arcing.

 

But due to the fact that it only happens for a short time at start-up, I wouldn't rule out a coil. I'd source one from a junkyard for a cheap gamble if there's no other evidence to support it's failure.

The mechanic said he was going to switch two fuel injectors.  The car when starting has a flashing check engine light about 10 minutes after starting sometimes, with some power loss.  But it goes away in extended distances.  Tune up was done not long ago.  She doesn't drive the car much.  She used Techtron, no change.

They did not charge her anything; one of the guys said he spent an hour on the car; actually they gave her a ride home this morning when she dropped the car off and drove the car to her apartment at end of day after they worked on it!  So whatever they did in terms of work is unclear.  But very impressive service.

Edited May 16, 201510 yr by ThosL

That was a lovely gesture on the part of the shop.  Any idea yet if the problem was fixed?

She'll know in a couple days probably.

That was a lovely gesture on the part of the shop.  Any idea yet if the problem was fixed?

 

The check engine light came on again last week; this time she pushed the panic button and called AAA to tow the Subaru.  I will try to speak with the last mechanic to check it out tomorrow and see what's next.  

It looks like the fuel injector went bad, they replaced it as I indicated earlier they recommended it though delayed for a few weeks with a switch of two to see if that would help, it didn't.  Since she only drives short distances like your grandmother, no real acid test likely for a while.