Bump, still looking for ideas as to what would cause this! My car sounds like a ******* WRX!@

 

checked the cat? Just gutted mine and everything went back to normal just an idea though mine sounded weird to when I drove it but not like a wrx just a suggestion

 

Possibility, but I'm not throwing any codes.

 

neither was I but I had actually melted the insides of it I would gut it that's what I did U will trip a code but oh well

 

Damn.. how the **** does that even happen..?

 

Idk man these cars have issues sometimes. Since the dealer was mad that I wasn't going to pay them $1060 to fix it they didn't even put the downpipe back on and I didn't pop a code running open header lol. I have a code now but it took 5 miles or so for the check engine light to pop on

 

The porceline on the plug is way to white which indicates you are running to hot or lean.
They should be a tan color with maybe a little carbon if you took them out after idiling the car.

 

^ How would I correct this? What is the problem?

 

put some step colder plugs in ur plugs are to hot causing the air/fuel mixture to burn to fast i had the same problem

 

On a stock motor with minor mods..? Doesn't sound right..

 

this may sound extreme but do a compression and leakdowntest of the cylinders. sounds to me like your misfire or loosing compression somewhere

i dont think you need colder plugs in a stock 2.2 with minor mods

goodluck man, hope you can figure it out.

also, if the cat was plugged the car wouldnt go over 30 or so and the cat would be glowing red while the car is running

 

x2 on compression and leakdown tests, when did the problem start? and after what conditions?

 

How many miles on the car? Pull the injectors and look for sediment in the fuel rail and the see if the injectors are plugged up .

My buddies SS/SC was doing the same thing and we pulled the rail to find it plugged with crap .....he's only ran 93 from decent gas stations and still had a ton of **** in his fuels system. We blew the rail out ......swapped in my old stock injectors and flushed a huge slug of **** out of the fuel line itself. Running good as new . It's an 05 with 40K miles on it.

 

Tested compression on all cylinders..

From left to right..

181. 182. 184. 186.

 

did you do a leakdown test too. comp looks great but still may have a problem, change your fuel filter?

 

Changed fuel filter a week ago.

What is a leakdown test?

 

test the cylinders ability to hold pressure (bad valve seats, bad rings)

 

^^ This

When disconnected my fuel line from the rail so I could pull my valve cover to do the timing tensioner job I noticed a bunch of sediment collected around where the fuel line connects to the rail. I didn't have time to blow out the rail, but you can bet it's next on my to do list. I couldn't believe how much crap there was in there....it looked like sand. I bet this could be your problem.

 

How hard is this/what do I have to do? Won't gas spurt everywhere?

 

You pull the fuel pump fuse and start the car......It will relieve the pressure . You will have some fuel left in the rail and the line but it won't have any pressure .

 

Or you can relieve pressure by putting a rag over the pressure testing valve on the fuel line near the rail and pushing down on the valve core.

 

Sounds easy enough, I pulled the fuse when I changed my fuel filter so I know what it entails.

Then I just rip the rail off and check for built up ****?

 

yep, and if yours looks anything like mine you'll notice a bunch of sediment around the fuel rail connection.

 

Wait till you pull the injectors out of the rail....... I couldn't believe a car could run with 80% of the injector socket plugged off. My buddies car was that bad but ran good till around 4500-5000 rpm them would miss like a bitch ...... I still have a lot of sediment in a gas can in my garage ....I'll take some pics of the crap.. ....I have no clue how it could get past a filter .

 

Well my headlights just came to my doorstep so I'll need to do this when I'm in the garage today and let you guys know how it goes. How do I clean the injector itself?