I am driving my car on the highway the other day and it loses power, hesitates and sounds like a burbling WRX. Then after about only a minute it snaps back to normal so I think nothing of it. Well today the same thing happens only the car does not snap out of it and I turn around and go home. I have it down to the problem cylinder by pulling plug wires until there is no change in the burbling. I check the wire, spark, etc. and the spark is there. I smell gas when I pull the plug so I THINK that it's getting the correct amount of gas but I have not yet checked the injector. Eventhough I am afraid of the results, is a compression test in order before I start pulling apart the intake to get to the injector? How do I even check the injector in question, and can I check it without pulling everything apart to get to it, I have a 1994 lowport Se-r classic. The original motor does have 190,00 miles on it and has been turboed @ 8 PSI for at least 50,000 of those miles.

Do a compression test first. If it comes back good, check the injector, but you don't necessarily have to rip apart the intake manifold to check it. Get an ohm meter and test the resistance on it. I'm not sure what the specs should be, but they should be in the FSM which you can download for free at phatg20.net.

Good luck, and let us know what happens!
Rick

i think it might be a injector it happen to my friend that lives around me with his g20

ya, sounds like an injector. I had the same problem. has it also felt "flat" at high rpms recently? If so, it is very likely an injector. check resistance on all of em. i believe it should be around 12 ohms? not 100% sure though.

-identify what cylinder has the problem.
-check that cylinder for spark, if yes, check fuel, if yes check compression. if it all check out, pull the rail, see if its leaking...

-identify what cylinder has the problem.
-check that cylinder for spark, if yes, check fuel, if yes check compression. if it all check out, pull the rail, see if its leaking...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^What he said is the order you should always follow, start with the simplest things first to eliminate them and then move on in a structured manner. Usually you will find the problem before you think.

Thanks everyone. I am going to check the resistance on the injectors first. I'll update as soon as I check them, which won't be until friday morning.

I had this problem this past Sunday, it was the injector. Try swapping the injector from the dead cylinder with the injector from a working cylinder. If the problem follows the swapped injector, that is the problem.

Guaranteed it's the injector. Happened to me 3X since I have owned my 94, each time it was a different injector. Sudden onset, then would be ok for a short while. The description you have is all too familiar. FastNX has a foolproof way to troubleshoot this.

Guaranteed it's the injector. Happened to me 3X since I have owned my 94, each time it was a different injector. Sudden onset, then would be ok for a short while. The description you have is all too familiar. FastNX has a foolproof way to troubleshoot this.

Were you able to do the injector swap trick without pulling off the upper plenum on your 94? I want to do that but just from taking a quick look at it last night it is going to be difficult to get to the injectors without taking off the upper plenum.....damn lowports!

You say you smelled gas when you pulled the spark plug? Next time it happens, pull the spark plug, and shine a flashlight into the cylinder. If you see gas in there, you've probably got a bad lower O ring, and it's dumping fuel.

C

Wonder what a WRX sounds like when it loses a cylinder.

Make sure you change your oil before you start it up again. It's probably got gas in it if the injector is leaking. Pull out the dipstick and take a whiff.

Were you able to do the injector swap trick without pulling off the upper plenum on your 94? I want to do that but just from taking a quick look at it last night it is going to be difficult to get to the injectors without taking off the upper plenum.....damn lowports!

Check the resistance first before going through all of the trouble of swapping an injector around.

Make sure you change your oil before you start it up again. It's probably got gas in it if the injector is leaking. Pull out the dipstick and take a whiff.Excellent point.

C

I have a similar problem. Except I dont get any spark to cylinder number 2. I have changed the coil, wires, plugs, cap, rotor, distributor, and I dont know what else to check. Anybody have any Ideas? Could the ecu be affecting anything?

Were you able to do the injector swap trick without pulling off the upper plenum on your 94? I want to do that but just from taking a quick look at it last night it is going to be difficult to get to the injectors without taking off the upper plenum.....damn lowports!

On lowports it's a pain to do. Go through the resistance testing of the injectors for the lowport to make it easier. The highports are lucky in that the injector swap trick is easy to do because the plenum is below the injectors. Change your oil anyway after the the injector has been replaced and has been fitted with new o-rings just because there may or may not be unburned fuel in your oil. You may be able to smell it but if not do it anyway to protect your investment.

I have a similar problem. Except I dont get any spark to cylinder number 2. I have changed the coil, wires, plugs, cap, rotor, distributor, and I dont know what else to check. Anybody have any Ideas? Could the ecu be affecting anything?More than likely a bad ecu, less likely would be bad wiring between the ecu and that particular injector.

C

Same thing happened to me on my DE. Turned out I had 0 compression on cylinder #2. I have yet to open the engine to see what failed. Check your compression. It's really easy to do, and it will definitely help you in your troubleshooting.

EDIT: This was to the original poster. Not the 2nd stated problem ;)

More than likely a bad ecu, less likely would be bad wiring between the ecu and that particular injector.

C

He's got a spark issue, not injector. The ecu doesn't fire individual spark plugs, just send a signal to the distributor and the distributor fires individual plugs. Probably not an ecu problem.