Idle Pulsing and Car Won't Make Power When Cold

[JL421]

I previously got this set of plug wires NAPA AUTO PARTS

I'm looking over what people are saying about subaru plug wires and that they are somewhat touchy. So should I switch them out for these? NGK 8691 - Spark Plug Wire Set | O'Reilly Auto Parts

Finally, felpro gaskets, good choice?

[JL421]

If it was the issue you were talking about with the valves sticking open, would the car have problems starting now, because for the last 5 years I've had it, except for the rare occasion, it has always been a less than half a second bump and the car started, and still is.

[cardoc]

Belden wires are good. Fairly comparable to NGK.

I'm not saying that you have a stuck valve now. I said it could lead to stuck valves if it is burning oil due to leaking valve seals. If the guides are bad, it's a good bet the seals are leaking.

Try the plugs, PCV valve, clean the Tbody and run a bottle of Sea Foam through the tank and another through a vacuum port on the intake while its running. Then see what improves.

[JL421]

Would you suggest seafoaming it first? I'm planning on replacing the spark plugs while I'm there.

[JL421]

Well, I was going to do the gasket change tonight, but then it got really cold, so it's going to wait until the weekend. For the moment, I did grab a can of seafoam that I was going to run through a vacuum line, and I put the entire can in the tank. The wife is driving it currently, and she should use the remaining 3/4ths of a tank by the weekend.

I also think one of my exhaust seals might have broken, when I changed the cats out, nowhere around me actually had the gaskets, so I made one with high temp silicone. I don't think one of them cured fully because it was extremely cold when I made the seal. It kind of sounds like I can hear an individual piston firing randomly when the engine is under load, and it's only from one side up by the exhaust manifold. I'll just clean those surfaces and make the gasket again.

If it's not that, then it might be cylinder 4 that I'm hearing. Same side the noise is coming from, and when I replaced the plug wires about 200 miles ago, that one was a little nastier than the rest. I might have also smelt a sulphury smell when I pulled the plug wire, but I'm not sure.

Regardless, I'm kind of anxious to replace the gaskets as soon as possible because the oil leak has been going on too long.

[JL421]

My wife was taking to her father and she had brought up the car.

He suggested based on a somewhat similar experience with a Pontiac, that I should replace the Vapor Canister. I call BS on that, but could that be a problem?

[JL421]

New symptom, my wife tried to start it today, but being it was subzero fahrenheit it gave her a little resistance.

She said she would have gotten it right away, but she didn't stay on the starter long enough...

After 20 minutes of draining the battery and not succeeding, she called me and I told her to immediately stop, partly because the car sounded really sick because the battery was getting significantly low, and partially because I heard this sickening whine/scraping.

I get home, give it a jump from my other subaru, and after about 3 minutes of fighting with the engine firing every 5th to 7th rev, it started to come back to life. I say started because it couldn't hold itself up.

It would putt, then the starter would take over, putt, starter, putt, starter, etc. for another minute until it finally got enough of the cylinders firing to hold itself up.

About 10 seconds after starting the whine/scrape started again. I couldn't tell if it was coming from a cylinder or a valve, but it was on the drivers' side.

I'm thinking my timing belt issue from ~10k miles ago is coming back to haunt me. It was changed before any issues happened from the belt, but the camshaft bearing failed. It made a ping as a ball bearing flew out of the assembly, then a scraping as the remaining bearings tried to cope with the misbalance for the 10 miles until it was parked for the repair.

I didn't bring it up earlier because the car didn't seem to have any residual problems after everything was replaced. No evidence of a bent valve or damaged cam shaft. Ran like a clock except for the oil on the plug boots.

Now that it seems like some of my problems are happening on the drivers' side because that's the side that the bearing failed on.

Thoughts?

[JL421]

Well I changed spark plugs and valve cover gaskets out.

The gaskets were brittle when I pulled them out, and the broke almost instantly.

The spark plug well gaskets were flat as expected, but the passenger side was a little misshapen.

In cylinder order from left to right are 3, 1, 2, 4





Spark plugs were some Bosch Platinum 2+.

3 and 1 top.



3 and 1 bottom.



1 and 2 top.



4 top.



2 and 4 bottom.

[JL421]

What is wrong with this thing?

Replaced the catalytic converter which was plugged. Replaced the spark plugs, changed every fluid this thing has. Replaced spark plug wires. Cleaned the IACV. Changed the valve cover gaskets. Seafoamed it to beat ****. New air filter. No vacuum leaks.

No change.

It's just gutless. Almost no acceleration or power. It goes when it feels like going.

Winter has never had this effect on it before.

I'm not sure what else to do.

[cardoc]

Originally Posted by JL421

What is wrong with this thing?

Replaced the catalytic converter which was plugged. Replaced the spark plugs, changed every fluid this thing has. Replaced spark plug wires. Cleaned the IACV. Changed the valve cover gaskets. Seafoamed it to beat ****. New air filter. No vacuum leaks.

No change.

It's just gutless. Almost no acceleration or power. It goes when it feels like going.

Winter has never had this effect on it before.

I'm not sure what else to do.

Judging by the looks of the old plugs, I would say its getting oil in the cylinder. How much, couldn't say. I don't know how long those were in there.

If you can, put 1 & 3 out and take a pic. That's the easy side and it would give us a comparison to the ones you pulled. Also, post approximate mileage the new plugs were in.