December 23, 200619 yr Lately I've been having some issues with missing or stuttering at certain rpm ranges,usually around 2500-3000 and then around 3800-4000 rpm range. What happens is thatat those ranges rpm's will still rise,although somewhat slower than normally,but the car has absolutely no power at the time...then it gets past the rpm ranges stated and all the power comes rushing back all at once. I do have a code up but haven't really had any time to get it checked out yet,I do have a spare set of spark plug wires and changing from one set to another and resetting the ecu alters the car's behavior at least breifly:One set of plug wires works better than the other and takes this sluggishness away almost completely for a while,to the point where I thought it was fixed but it eventually creeps back in. I also very occasionally get the dying catylitic converter smell. When the hesitation pops up it feels like the spark is getting cut back or shut off almost. I know without reading the codes it's hard to be sure what it is but I'm looking for some ideas as to what I may be in for. in the meantime as I have a second engine sitting around and maybe I already have the parts I need...if there are quick simple things I can just switch out to try I'd probably go ahead and just do it.
December 23, 200619 yr grrrrrrr We need to know engine mileage transmission. You need to get the code read otherwise you will get a bunch of differnt guesses. Does it do it hot, cold or both. When was the last time you changed the fuel filter. nipper
December 23, 200619 yr Sounds like knock sensor to me. My friend's 97 was the same way until the sensor was replaced.
December 23, 200619 yr Sounds like knock sensor to me. My friend's 97 was the same way until the sensor was replaced. il'd agree but the code would tell us for sure.... especialy if its the knock sensor code
December 23, 200619 yr il'd agree but the code would tell us for sure.... especialy if its the knock sensor code Yes, if the ECU is throwing a CEL then nipper is absolutely right. Read the code and we can go from there.
December 24, 200619 yr Author grrrrrrr We need to know engine mileage transmission. You need to get the code read otherwise you will get a bunch of differnt guesses. Does it do it hot, cold or both. When was the last time you changed the fuel filter. nipper Er,I thought I did type out what it is. Geuss not. 96 2.2 5 speed manual Outback,hot cold it doesn't matter,also the cel is inconsistant it will go away sometimes,flash sometimes and stay on sometimes. I'll get up the road to get the code checked one of these days,but I do kind of live in a tiny town in the middle of the woods so it doesn't always happen as soon as I'd like. I see those cheap code readers on ebay and always think I should grab one,I just don't want to get one that's crap.
December 24, 200619 yr Er,I thought I did type out what it is. Geuss not. 96 2.2 5 speed manual Outback,hot cold it doesn't matter,also the cel is inconsistant it will go away sometimes,flash sometimes and stay on sometimes. I'll get up the road to get the code checked one of these days,but I do kind of live in a tiny town in the middle of the woods so it doesn't always happen as soon as I'd like. I see those cheap code readers on ebay and always think I should grab one,I just don't want to get one that's crap. Scangauge seems to be the favorit here, including myself. nipper
December 30, 200619 yr Author Scangauge seems to be the favorit here, including myself. nipper I'll have to pick one up then. Well,since it wasn't much work and I had a spare sensor on my old/dead engine I decided to just switch them out anyhow and go from there. I had taken a look last night and could see that the plastic part of the sensor was cracked pretty badly,so going ahead seemed logical enough. CEL is gone and for the most part so is the sputtering,there's a very occasional sputter here or there but the sensor I put on is slightly corroded too so.... I'll buy a new one here after winter if it seems to stay fixed,because of the corrosion I'd just rather have a new one on there. The car definately drives much better again,and I think the 2.2 + 4.11 gears is a great combo,back to having fun on the twisty,winding hills.
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