Oh-Oh's, I Think I Broke It!
 

Hopefully some of the electronics and mechanic gurus might have a better idea of what is going on but ill post a couple of bullet points on what is going on with my car.

Feb 1-3 2013
- FEB 1-3 i got a CEL and the car went into limp mode on the second track day. The codes i got were: P219A Bank 1 Air/Fuel Ratio Inbalance, P000A Intake (a) Camshaft Position Sensor Slow Response Bank 1, P0011 Intake (a) Camshaft Position Timing - Over Advanced (Bank1)
I cleared the codes to see if they would pop up again and they did not, i continued for another day and no problems what so ever the car ran fine.

Feb 23 2013

1st Session
-Yesterday after 5 laps i lost power on the straight for a second or two and my check engine light flashed twice but went away, i kept driving and it did not do it again.

2nd Session
-Next session as i turned the car on it puffed a huge cloud of white smoke but it went away and stopped smoking, as i pulled out of the grid it puffed a cloud of smoke again according to a friend. As i came back my belt started whining but then went away after a couple of seconds.

3rd Session
-No smoke this time but i lost power on the same straight as session #1 but this time my car lost almost all power and sounded like it was misfiring and sounded like a boxer engine. I pulled up with my dash looking like a christmas tree and the car struggled to idle, i immediately turned her off and checked the codes i got P0011 Intake (a) Camshaft Position Timing - Over Advanced, and cylinder 2 misfire. I thought it might be an electronic glitch like at Cota but i cleared the codes and the car would not turn on.

Anybody have a clue what could be wrong?



Quick video:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKwaMESOfPA"]Fr-s misfire - YouTube[/ame]


Codes i got FEB 1-3
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ps705a8117.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ps5a2ab439.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ps92eaa3e0.jpg

Damn dude that doesn't sound good. When did it start doing that?

Sounds like a shitty tune. Flash it back to stock.

Gonna be super honest here man...Engines seems done, and it was due to AP pulley... J/K

I agree with above post, seems like a shitty tune.

Sorry about that. Hope you get that thing up and running soon. I've been enjoying your track day posts.

Untested tune on a car that hasn't been around long?

Sounds like my jeep liberty. When it had a stuck lifter and the rocker arms fell off.

Lol.

Of course he did.

At this stage there is zero chance of blaming on bad OEM ECU. It went to zero right after you flashed it.

Gotta pay for play.

do a leakdown.... check the plugs first!

I hope this ends up being an "easy" fix...:(

Dang, hope its nothing serious. I play to track my car as much as you have yours :eek3:

I hate to say it, but I think your pulley may have done some damage. Be sure to swap it back out if your going to try for warranty.

It started since feb 1-3 2013 but i have a tune since november 2012 and have ran the car various times since then and didnt have any problems.

Thanks man, I just hope i get her running again before the next drivers ed course. Worst case scenario Cobb has a spare FA20.

I was the test bunny but ive had the flash since november and my car has run several times and i have not had a single problem until feb 1-3


I might also test coil packs just to be sure on the misfire code. Its freaking weird on a car with 4k miles.



Here she is sitting all sad on that cold trailer :(

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ps8ad793a7.jpg

Hope you get it sorted easily buddy.
hope it doesnt cost too much or cause too much heartache

Whenever the cel flashes, it's a misfire.

I thInk your belt slipped one or two inches that's why it caused misfires and cam timing abnormalities. Realign your crank pulley(usually there's an arrow pointing downwards pulley-block) and make sure to tighten your belt just right, I supposed you over tightened it as your tensioner was moving back and fourth pretty bad

The cams are chain driven I'm guessing, driven off a gear on the crank. The serp belt isn't driving them for sure. The serp belt could not be installed at all and the car would start and run fine. The tensioner on these cars is always moving all over.

Napoleon, I got a code this weekend too. Car stumbled and picked up an ignition coil sec circuit fault. It cleared itself then came back later. Cleared itself again. All was normal before it happened?

Do not count on cheap solution. Probaby the engine has major damage now. Seems like ECU fired sparks at wrong time. Probably screwed up VVT control too. He best you can hope is crankshaft sensor failure. If if was not, get ready to pay for a new engine.

Your car sounds like an air compressor :(

I hope you can find a solution, easy or not. I would hate to see an 86 bite the dust, or end up with some stupid swap.

Edit: Also, thank you for not asking us what you can do to milk the warranty over this. It takes integrity to admit that your actions could cause problems with the car, and I applaud ya doing it. That said, I hope it's only a flesh wound!

Let's wait for the diagnose. Yup it's chain driven, but the crank rotation IMO has a direct connection with timing. Changing / replacing a pulley is critical, it should be balanced, rounded and exactly the same diameter as oem. If not, there will be problems

Tensioner should not move violently like that. That's too much play.

Are you suggesting that a different size crank pulley will alter timing by changing the speed of the crank itself?

Might be. I am not sure. That's why I wouldn't touch the pulleys.

That's pretty much how the tensioner moves. There are threads on here about it, mine looks basically identical without the added motion from the OP's engine itself shaking around due to the misfire.

Yes, the cams have a direct connection with the crank rotation for timing. The crank pulley has a locating pin that, combined with the bolt, hold the pulley and the oil seal to the crank. The crank is rotating the pulley and the belt and the belt slipping isn't going to cause the timing chain (which has no direct connection to the serpentine belt) to move at all. You'd have to provide more force onto the pulley itself than the engine itself is producing to stop rotation enough to cause an issue like that.. the belt will shred before it gets anywhere close to that force.

I agree that a replacement crank pulley should be round and balanced, it can be a different size. The crank pulley is only a source of rotation to the accessories, not the crank/engine itself. (the crank itself is the source of rotation to the pulley)

If he is, he is incorrect.

That's what I was suggesting.

+1

Those codes on the other models with AVCS are almost always due to oiling issues. If you received one of those codes on the turbo model it usually meant your turbo or engine was due to be replaced shortly thereafter...

On the turbo cars (and I believe on our engines as well) there are screens in the banjo bolts which are there to help filter out stuff, but in general they ended up getting clogged or collapsing which causes low oil pressure and starvation. Not saying it's the case here, but Subaru started removing the screens in some bolts but not all of them and it's been a source of issues for a long time now.

Some folks have had bad oil filters which clogged and caused low oil pressure and these codes. How long has it been since you changed the oil? Do you have an oil pressure gauge? I would consider it mandatory for doing track days. White smoke and bad noises you could have valve damage because the AVCS system wasn't actuating correctly due to inconsistent oil pressure. As much as I hate to say it I see an engine teardown in your future. Best case maybe something wrong in the AVCS system causing the cam to be in the wrong position and that's what is causing it to run poorly.

The crank pulley and serpentine belt have nothing to do with the cams.

Exactly. This is a chain-driven interference engine, not belt driven.

For timing, the crank has a timing gear (which is not on the crank pulley btw) which has to be timing to a mark below the timing cover (which is the part behind the crank pulley). That has to be aligned along with the gears on the cams which have their own timing marks. Once the chain is on there and the chain tensioner is installed, that is good. Then other stuff gets installed, then the timing cover and eventually the oil seal and pulley, which fit a certain way into the crank. But again, the pulley and serpentine belt in no way affect timing on this engine.

I hope you are right. Lets see the real cause. That's what I believe thus, will leave my pulleys oem.

I double checked my cars awhile ago (86 & bmw), tensioner doesn't move that much, the video above was somewhat wild / crazy. Something is wrong

I never worked on timing chain before, but is there any possibility that when OP was installing the crank pulley he forced the timing chain to jump a tooth to cause timing to be off? I have worked on timing belt before on the older EJ18/22/25 and I have had my own share of jumping a tooth to cause timing to be off. And the symptoms are very extremely similar to what the OP is experiencing.

It's being exaggerated due to the misfire. The entine engine is moving and RPMs aren't stable. Mines move a LOT, not much less than his.

The tensioner won't be affected by the crank pulley removal. The thing to be careful with when doing the pulley is the oil seal behind it. If that gets pulled out and not reinstalled correctly the pulley will wobble badly, etc. Even that won't change timing on these. The pulley on these cars is used for two things: 1. To drive the serpentine belt and 2. The bolt holding the pulley in holds the oil seal in place.

Don't forget that the OP said the pulley has been installed since October. I would imagine this issue would have shown basically as soon as he turned the car on after install if somehow he managed to jump a tooth.

If oiling is the cause then I'm wondering if he's running 0W-20. I saw low pressures than concerned me with 0W-20 in general so I switched to 5W-30 which had good pressure.

Im using 5w-30 Mobil 1. The car is still misfiring constantly in idle and the weird thing is there is no check engine light but she smoked for a bit on startup. Going to the dealer tomorrow and hopefully they can figure it out. A friend in a local shop says subarus often crack pistons and he says my car seems to have the symptoms. :iono: Im not very mechanically savvy but i hope its nothing serious.

Some notes:

-My oil level has not dropped since Feb 1st, its still full.
-Coolant seems fine as well

Did you miss a shift and over-rev the engine?

My guess is that your tuner tuned the AVCS very aggressively and for some reason some part of that system began having issues and has now failed. Could be oil pressure related since it occured at the track.

If your oil level hasn't changed, I doubt it's a cracked piston. I'm not sure how much it is smoking, but it would probably smoke profusely and consume oil if the piston was cracked. Did you do a leakdown test? That will tell you for sure. This could be something as simple as a bad crank sensor or cam sensor telling it to fire at the wrong time or messing with the VVTI. It's hard to believe that one of those sensors could malfunction at 4100 miles though.

Hope you get it figured out and back to the track, down-time sucks!

Really guys the crank pulley does not effect timing the engine is spun with an internal chain and the crank position sensor is on the flywheel side. If anything one of the VVTI came gears are damaged. Maybe you are using thicker oil then recommended and debre is in your oil blocking the passages. Or like others said a tune issue is the cause not making timing adjustment when needed.