Misfire and CEl after plug change.
 

Ok so here is the story. I have a 04 Legacy with the EJ251 SOHC. It has around 104,000 miles. I decided to do some tune up work to it to try and make it last longer.

So, last night I changed the plugs out with NGK plugs that are listed in the Chiltons manual as being compatible. I also was trying to get the timing belt changed too. But we didn't have the right tool to hold the crankshaft pulley, and it accidently got turned counter clockwise a little bit.

I gave up after that and I finished putting the plugs in. And once that was done I fired the car up. And now it spits and sputters like crazy. I did the plugs one at a time so as not to mess up plugs wires. So i know the firing order is fine.

Now, I did suspect that Cylinder #2 was not firing. I pulled the plug on it and it was gas soaked. I swapped the plug with an old one and the same affect. I than swapped plugs wires from 2 to 4 and than it seemed like it was doing the gas soaked plug on cylinder #4. So than I swapped wires again back to #2 and put an old plug in the wire aand attempted to start it to see if I had spark. And it did. I tried both the new plug and the old one. Both had the same results.

Now I am lost. The car was running fine before this, I just wanted to do a tune up. My questions are:
1. Could the timing had possibly jumped when the crank pulley accidently got turned counter clockwise,
2. Is there anything else that I could check before jumping in and pulling everything apart to check the timing.

Any help would be great. My family and I are supposed to go back home tomorrow, so I am trying to get this fixed asap.

Thanks.

Re: Misfire and CEl after plug change.
 

Check the plug wire. The wire going in to the cap could of lost connection to the cap.

Re: Misfire and CEl after plug change.
 

I have metered all plug wires and they are within 100 ohms of each other. I do plan on replacing the wires if someone in this shit town has some.

Re: Misfire and CEl after plug change.
 

Any CEL's? My Subaru threw a code when a coil pooped out.

Re: Misfire and CEl after plug change.
 

There is a CEL but i have no way of reading it. There wasn't any place open today, and the car dont run enough to get it to a shop to read it. I have a couple looking to see if they still have their little ones.

Re: Misfire and CEl after plug change.
 

So after doing some looking tonight, I think my whole problem may be that I have the wrong plugs. I was told by the stealership and given the part number for the supposed correct plugs which are NGK BKR5EGP. And they are a Platinum spark plug.

Now I was leaving town at the time I was given the info so I wasn't able to look into it, and I guess I put to much trust into the stealership.

But I looked up the number off my old plugs and they are nothing more than a plain Jane plug. So I am gonna try to find some new plugs in the morning and hopefully that will fix my problem.

Re: Misfire and CEl after plug change.
 

Did the whole belt/pulleys spin or just the crank pulley. If you are off a few teeth it will definetly run like pewp.

Re: Misfire and CEl after plug change.
 

I wanna say it all moved, but I couldn't tell. Only had one end of the timing cover off cause you have to have the pulley off to take the rest off.

I did try new plugs and wires today and that changed nothing. So it looks like its coming apart to check timing. We'll see how that goes.

Re: Misfire and CEl after plug change.
 

Well, it had to have been the timing. Got all apart, put new timing belt in, needed that anyway, and got it back together. Now it runs great.

I just cant believe that it was that. Oh well. Now its got a new timing belt, new ac and alt belts, and new plugs. Should be good to go for awhile now.