So, tonight, in the middle of driving home from college, my car just decides to start acting weird. I was driving a long at ~55mph and I suddenly get a really bad shake from the engine area. Lo and behold, if I keep the RPM's up, the shake goes away, but under further inspection, it's just a cover up.

 

I pulled into the grocery store parking lot I was headed toward, and I put it in neutral to rev it up, to see if it would clear out. Well, it didn't clear out. Instead, it just runs like crap. I can hear it hitting and missing and what not and during the neutral revs, I thought I heard it backfire a few times. Definitely signs of what my MAF did back a few months ago. It's weird because this was my 3rd trip tonight (as in trip to one place) and it was in the middle of the trip that the car started acting weird. Before that, I was holding with an STi (he was making good time) and I had absolutely no problem (as in engine acting wacky).

 

Is it another MAF? I have no posted codes, and I'm clearing the ECU tonight to make sure that that isn't the issue. Could it possibly be anything else? In the last shot, I replaced MAF, Knock, and CT sensors. So, assuming that all of those are good except maybe a toasted MAF, that doesn't leave very many sensors left to replace.

Not exotic but ... plug wires? Once, when young and in a hurry, I did a 6 hour drive averaging over 90mph and the next morning the car ran like crap... changed wires and all was good.

Reset the ECU - still horrible shaking. I can hear loud clacking in the engine like timing's all f'd up.

I've had quite a few EJ22s get water around the spark plugs, causing horrible misfires. It usually throws a code, but you never know. I'd go for new plugs and wires.

Vacuum leak? Maybe a hole in a vacuum hose? Should be pretty easy to find, listen for hissing and feel around.

 

cheers,

 

Matt

Well, resetting the ECU didn't fix it. I have a MAF on order so when that comes, I can test that.

 

I did notice an over abundance of oil leaking out one of my PCV pipes - I wonder if that's blocked and causing my issue.

 

Interesting thing though - MAF plugged in or not, the car ran just as bad. So, we can assume one of two things - either the MAF is toast again or the MAF has absolutely nothing to do with it.