I am new to this forum, hopefully I am in the right place.

 

I have a 95 Legacy with 250,000 miles and lately cylinder 2 has been misfiring at idle (at least the diagnostic comp. says so) and when I try to accelerate quickly from any speed, though its worse when the engine is below 2000rpm, it feels like there is too much gas and the engine just bogs. Sometimes it will buck and occasionally it will actually run fine but not for long. I have recently replaced the timing belt after it broke and have triple checked that the timing marks are lined up. The TPS went bad and so I replaced that but this issue was happening before. Does anyone have an Idea what is going on?

how old are the plugs & wires? what brands/types?

I would also be checking under the hood after dark to look for arcing... altho sometimes it can be quite obvious in the daylight...

 

I have a 95 with 230K, and it started misfiring in damp weather, then it got worse to where it did it all the time... was the coil pak arcing... but bad wires will also do this.

 

installed a used coil pak and no more problems (they dont fail often, but they do occasionally fail)

 

cheap plug wires are known to be problematic on these cars... NGK wires are the standard recommended as are the cheaper copper core NGK plugs. 95 doesnt require, or need, fancy platinum plugs.

Edited May 13, 20169 yr by heartless

^^^ great post

Agree with Heartless. If the plugs and wires are old, you should start there. Generally if the timing is off, you'll get misfires on both cylinders on the side that's off.  

 

It's not common, but I have seen that engine burn exhuast valves. That would be a worst case scenario. Compression check or a leakdown test would tell you for sure. 

Thanks, I have installed new plugs and it has helped some mostly at idle, and I can press a little harder on gas before issues start now.  I'll try the wires next.  I looked at the timing and when the two cam marks line up the crank is off one tooth either forward or back, ie it wont line up perfectly.  is this an issue?  Could the belt be on backwards? Is that even a thing?

Thanks, I have installed new plugs and it has helped some mostly at idle, and I can press a little harder on gas before issues start now.  I'll try the wires next.  I looked at the timing and when the two cam marks line up the crank is off one tooth either forward or back, ie it wont line up perfectly.  is this an issue?  Could the belt be on backwards? Is that even a thing?

 

that could very well be your issue right there... all three need to line up properly

 

the belt does have an orientation it is supposed to go in - when new they will have an arrow pointing in the correct direction of rotation, but putting it on backwards, i dont think, affects the tooth placement on the cam & crank pulleys... some one please correct me if I am wrong about that...

find the tooth count for your engine. Belt marks won't line-up again for 300 revolutions or w'ever - really crazy.

 

even on a new install, I did not solely trust the belt marks, I did a tooth count also.

tooth count and the marks on the pulleys - not the belt...

ok thanks

 

tooth count checks out and I found out that since I have the 3 prong TPS there is no adjustment necessary.  So now I really have no idea what's going on.  

Edited May 26, 20169 yr by MrB

Change the wires, air filter, fuel filter, and do an oil change (oil can get contaminated from unburnt gasoline getting past the rings). Unhook battery neg. cable while doing these so the ECM is fully reset.

 

Get everything squared, reconnect battery, then take it out on the highway for a good 50 miles, or drop it a gear (4th for manual or "3" for auto) and drive it on longer rural roads at 45-50 w/o constant stops. Idea is to get engine hot and burn off any fouling on the O2 sensors, cat, etc.

 

It should run OK after the 50 miles or so. If it's still acting up, you have other issues.

Edited May 27, 20169 yr by Bushwick

I have the exact problem on my 02 suby and have done everything bushwick just told ya and im still having the same problems it's bizarre it keeps on getting worst

ok thanks

 

tooth count checks out and I found out that since I have the 3 prong TPS there is no adjustment necessary.  So now I really have no idea what's going on.  

 

like fairtax said, comp/leakdown test across all cylinders might be a good idea. Also,

dropping the exhaust to look for a 'dropped' valve guide might be a goo

idea. i have heard of the guides shifting around and that might be the

cause of the intermittent/variable symptoms you are having.

Edited May 27, 20169 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

Get with Subaru for your tooth count. I found one somewhere on one of the forums (NASIOC I believe) that wasn't correct.

Edited May 28, 20169 yr by joomanburning

I really hope it's not a bad valve guide or a compression leak.  I thought that too but was hoping denial might fix it.  Not that it has ever worked in the past but you know, (If at first you don't succeed). 

I'll try the wires and filters first and go from there thanks. Oh I noticed today that the tach jumps +- 200 rpm while driving at a steady speed with cruise on, related possibly?

I found that a plug wire had a short in it I replaced them about 9 months ago so I didn't suspect them.  I replaced them and the car seems to be running normally again.  

 

I'll wait for a few miles to get excited but hopefully this was the issue.  Thanks again to all of you

cheap wires will do that on these cars... the best wires for a Subaru are the NGK wires. I have never had a problem out of their wires, or plugs for that matter.

 

you want set part number RCFX-41 (old number was 8004) for your 95

 

$36.79 a set at RockAuto.com

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=946470&cc=1269806&jsn=437

Edited May 29, 20169 yr by heartless

So far the new wires are doing the trick.  I think I do need a an Idle control valve but that seems to be only at start up.  Engine revs to about 2200 then drops to about 500 then back to 1500 down to 600 then evens out b/w 800 and 1000

Consider removing the IACV and giving it a thorough cleaning--I did my '95 years ago and it's still running like new!