NC0110100 Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 1997 Legacy Outback had occasional hesitation when feathering accelerator. Now idles rough and seems to miss at low speed. Unusual fuel or exhaust type smell just at starting (not like antifreeze smell to me). Highway speed runs fine. Check engine light comes on. Has given codes for cylinders 1-3-4 misfire so plugs and wires changed. Also code for mass air. Recently put in Amsoil air filter but put original back in to eliminate that issue. Dealer wishes for me to drive it 2-3 weeks so they can check plugs to eliminate head or gasket issues so as not to unnecessarily replace mass air part at $400. Any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n16ht5 Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 grounds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dptyrob Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 Let me add a little to this post to help explain a little more of what we've encountered while working on this vehicle. This is my dad's wagon and we changed the plugs & wires right off the get-go. It appeared from the date printed on the wires that they were the original wires. I forget the mileage on the car, but I think it has around 100k miles. When we pulled the plugs, the plugs from #2 & #4 (driver side) had an ashey residue which the shop manual explains (if I recall correctly) as being caused by excessive temperature (among other things). The #1 & #3 plugs had more of a dark, sooty appearance. He has since consulted with several different shops around here and several have indicated that they believe the head gaskets are suspect. However, he went ahead and had one place perform a check on the coolant and the test indicated no exhaust gases present in the coolant. There has also been no loss of coolant and no steam or antifreeze smell from the exhaust (though the exhaust has smelled very rich). The mechanic that did the test also said that the 02 sensors indicated that the exhaust was reading very rich. My theory here is that this is EGR valve related. The egr valve is located on the driver side of the engine and appears to feed exlusively to the #4 and possibly #2 cylinder. He has tried to manually open the egr valve. It does move, but very little. I also instructed him to manually open it with the car at idle and see if the idle changes. He tried that and there was no change. If it is stuck open, then perhaps that would explain why the 2 plugs on #2 & #4 had the gray ashen appearance that they did, while the plugs on #1 & #3 had a little bit of a dark, sooty complexion. Anyone else have any input on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oregonloyale Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 As far as hesitation is concerned. Yesterday on my VW club website one of our members who is the lead tech at a VW dealership issued a statement saying that they have been getting ALOT of VW in the shop with hesitation and fuel economy loss and just plain poor driveability! They have chalked it up to the poor fuel we are getting at the pumps as the feds have been issueing fuel from the reserve tanks which have less additives thus we are getting alittle more carbon build up , quicker in our cars.. The fix...... They have fouind that when you fill up to add a GOOD fuel additive to the gas tank and do that for at least 2 tanks then every 3-5 tanks. This has worked w/ great success. Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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