legacycentral bbs

Ok...here's whats goin' down...

My Legacy, just yesterday, started idling really crappy...kinda sounds like it is firing on 3, shakes a bit and whatnot...

When I am driving it I notice no power loss, still drives nice...

Seems to be getting really really crappy gas mileage...

I yanked the spark plugs today, and one was totally carbon fouled, and the other three were clean with white insulators...

It backfires on deceleration...

So...umm...what the hell is happening?!?!

Any help would be much appreciated!!

Ok...well...now the car won't start at all!!!

It'll crank, and sputter once, but after that nothing...


So...ideas??

Hmm, Matt's engine idled like shit, but ran OK on 3 cylinders.

In fact, I don't recall him really noticing that it was running on 3 cylinders until the compression test showed that it was, in fact, a blown #4.

Run a compression test and see how she blows.

Do you know what ended up failing on that motor to cause no compression?

I am just worried that I might have a cracked piston or broken ring land or something expensive...

I can get a kit with rings, bearings, seals, etc for $278 and if these tend to break rings or whatever, than that wouldn't be too much of a problem I guess, as I have xmas break to do my motor...

Ok...my brother compression checked the cylinder that I figured to be the culprit (had the bad plug) and it came out with 140psi...so I figure that's about where it should be eh?

And since the car went from starting to no starting in the matter of 2.5 hours, I wonder if the coilpack or ignitor went out on me...

How do you test one or both components?

Thanks for the help guys!