MajorCB

Hey all,

just changed my spark plugs after 65K and what felt like some misfiring happening. Used the OEM plugs from CED ... removed the old one's ( they werent in too bad of shape; 1 cylinder on the right side when facing the engine bay had more carbon than the rest.) .. checked the new ones for Gap ( .32 ) .. used copper anti-seize on the threads.. installed with 15ft. lbs ..

turned the car on.. let it idol.. no problems.. Turned the RPD to the Spark advance section to watch as a started down the road..

in 500ft .. one of my cylinders is now tapping constantly hard... the RPD shows the spark advance between 40-60 and the knock is 1degree...

pulled over.. shut it down.. waited a minute.. turned it back on.. same thing.. limped back home... waiting for it to cool down now...

any ideas? do I have a bad plug even though its brand new? .. is it the gap?

any suggestions would be helpful.

tomj77

iTrader: (2)

U have 1 degree of knock on light acceleration? U stock? Cause that pretty normal.

tomj77

iTrader: (2)

What exactly do u hear ? If u actually hear a ping or something try moving that coil pack to a different cylinder and see if ur issue follows to that cylinder. If it does replace to coil pack

Powell Race Parts

iTrader: (3)

Hope it's just coked valves or something but it doesn't sound promising. Good luck do a compression test and leak down that #4. The sparkplug is telling u something. MAYBE that it looks like the piston ring lands are hurt for some reason

MajorCB

Not sure what a lot of that means lol.. leak down the #4 spark plug? .. need help with that one.. and compression test? never done one before...



the pack on the left is where I can hear the Loudest noise ... I wonder if the coil pack went bad.. .. I was told that pulling coil packs one by one while the motor is running is a way to test if its bad or not... not sure about that...

the part about the knock sensor : Im not used to seeing any numbers besides 0 .. so when I saw 1.. it was just something different and wanted to bring it up.. the MFD shows also that there is a range between -60 and +60 .. well most of the time it was in the +40 - +60 area .. I don't quite know if that's bad or not...

as mentioned.. it idoled fine after spark plug replacement.. however its possible that the coil pack was bad before hand.. and regardless of the new plug there could still be an issue..

there is no smoke coming from the exhaust.. just fyi..


--- signed -- fml

MajorCB

Tom,

I'm GMS1 and HP tuned.. stock turbo.. stock everything else right now.. all I did was change spark plugs a week after I got a CEL for a misfire ( 0308 I think it was ) , folks said probably a bad spark plug.. so I got the OEM's.. started the car up .. everything seemed fine until I got out on the main road.. normal acceleration up to 4500 to shift and then I heard the tapping noise.. limped it back home.. got another CEL.. gonna check it out .. will post the number here.. hopefully its not a compression CEL and its still a misfire.. raises my hopes at the Coil pack idea...

MajorCB

Here is the CEL list

0451 - Evap issue

0300 ( multiple cylinder misfires )
0301 ( cylinder 1 misfire )
0302 ( Cylinder 2 misfire )

ugh... ok I swear I got the right plugs lol

CED order - 2.0 LNF spark plugs 41-108 12620540

SSlobalt

Need to test evap solenoid per youtube for a vac leak. As far as the misfires, it could be anything from coked valves to a bad fuel pump to cracked pistons. If you have a good mechanic, take it to him or her.

Sl0wbaltSS

i usually accel at 20 degrees of timing. only when I get into boost do I see knock.

MajorCB

so I pulled the plugs.. re gapped to .030 from .032 ... no difference.. but I did get another CEL.. Code: 0354 for the Ignition plug malfunction...

upon inspection into the spark plug hole.. peering with a flash light.. everything looked clean to me.. cant say if that means much..

the Evap Solenoid is fine... I don't think that's an issue at this point to be honest.. its a new one from last year when I had an issue with that anyway..

this issue appeared today RIGHT after I changed out the spark plugs and within 5 minutes.. it was NEVER bad with the old spark plugs prior to changing them.. I could ride just fine in them.. no knocks .. no nothing.. so I may go back to the old plugs.. just to test that.. and then if its still doing it.. I might have to change out a Coil pack or deal with this ignition plug issue.. so logic tells me something s up with the coil.. or plug.. or my gapping.. but I corrected the gapping just now..

tomj77

iTrader: (2)

ok, first, its normal to see a little knock retard on stock tune. second, are u sure u bolted coil pack down properly? if its a new plug, u could have not bolted down coil very tight. but it shouldn't be to tight to begin with. id say trade that coil pack with another coil pack, like move cylinder 1 coil pack to cylinder 4 and 4 to 1. see if sound now goes to the other cylinder. also how may miles on ur car? may have coked valves. or u may just have got a doa spark plug. try just putting old plug back in cylinder that's making noise.

MajorCB

tom,

- I have the GMS1 tune and on top of that an HP tune. At this point, Im not really concerned with any knock sensing junk on the MFD.. this is a hyper loud constant with RPM banging that starts as soon as the car starts... and with all of the codes currently being popped.. I think I couldnt rely on the MFD's gauge at the moment anyway. so for me knock sensing and tunes arent the problem. since before this, with the older plugs, I wasnt having this issue at all.. except for the one CEL for the cylinder misfire, which started this whole mess in the first place... caused me to buy new plugs.. based on recommendations from here.. and here I am

- the coil packs were tightened 1/4 turn past snug.

- I could try trading the coil packs as you mentioned, however am I causing any more damage by running the car with a bad coil during this testing phase?

- where is cyl 1 located .. furthest on the right or left.

tomj77

iTrader: (2)

I don't rememer anymore what cylinder is what. Lol just trade the noisy one with a different one. If u are really worried , take it to a shop and have them check it out

MajorCB

I went ahead and ordered new coil packs for all 4 cylinders... im not playin around..

I plan on seeing if there is a way to use a volt meter to test the leads for the coil packs as well as the plugs from the harness to the coil pack.. I don't think that's really the issue.. but im gonna be thorough. once I do this and nothing's changed.. i'll assume Ive dropped a cylinder for some reason. but I never really get on it hard.. so.. i'll update tomorrow or fri.. when I get and install the parts.

Sl0wbaltSS

Maybe it needs to adjust.

JapEatr

iTrader: (9)

your sure your not hearing the HPFP ticking?

taintedred07

iTrader: (1)

Is there a compression test how to for the op?

JapEatr

iTrader: (9)

buy/rent compression testor, perform test per each cylinder, record results

raver0789

Gotta be honest here.

If your motor was popped that plug would have lots of oil on them. These motors are notorious for carbon deposits. Dont freak out because you see carbon on the plugs. You'd be smoking pretty good on throttle. These cars part throttle knock all over the place under light loads. Take off the intake manifold. Look at the valves with a flashlight. How coked up are they? They can get so coked up that they don't allow a full seal and hence misfiring.

What do your fuel trims look like? Are they skewing +/- by a huge amount? Indicator of a big leak post maf. Would make the car run like ****.

Coming from a guy who has thought he had popped his motor numerous times.

MajorCB

I honestly don't think I've popped the motor.. again this happened as a result of what I thought to be a bad spark plug based on the original CEL. and talking to people on here.

-I'm not smoking at all.. but the noise from the engine bay might as well be me putting a ball peen hammer to the intake manifold its THAT loud. not the HPFP standard purring sound. the entire car shutters from it being out of harmonic sync due to the cylinder not firing ( is what I am assuming it to be) .. and the fact that the CEL's seem to surround it being misfiring cylinders..

that said, not getting any smoke.. to me its a sign that the other cylinders are ok.. and one is just compressing because the crank is forcing it too.. but its just slapping metal to metal.. no combustion..

I checked inside the spark plug holes.. no gas.. no real major carbon problems on the old plugs.. I mean some slight wear.. but nothing terrible... so it leads me to believe that the Coil went bad... I'm just not sure which one.. and I don't really want to experiment with moving them from one cylinder to another.. I'd rather wipe the slate clean.. new coils.. new plugs.. its not an expensive fix.. over say replacing the upper block or pistons!! lol ..

so Thanks to ZZP for having the coils..

taintedred07

iTrader: (1)

Oh you know when you pop your motor! Lol coming from a guy who never found the other half of the ejected rod even after following the trail of oil on an overpass at 3am....

MajorCB

^ Yikes

SSlobalt

Take the valve cover off. See if you have broken lash adjusters. Search for "Subaru" in this forum to see what I'm talking about.

MajorCB

thanks for that link was it the Subie noise of death thread?.. I read it.. Im gonna book mark it.. sad that the GM dealer was so harsh on all that crap..

if after the parts come in and install . I turn it over and still get the noise.. I'll go back to reading this thread and work on the next solution. which would be pulling the valve cover.. intake manifold etc..

one thing at a time.. one thing that's bad about this site in a way .. is that you get lots of suggestions of trouble shooting etc.. and not always a sense of the "best place to start" and you can get lost in it if you're not careful.. so im being patient and starting with the simplest of things first.

SSlobalt

First technician's rule (KISS): Keep It Simple, Stupid.