Help! From check engine light to fouled plugs back to check engine + plugs refouling

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Smells cattle excrement they feed to their average customer so they can charge what they want. Fouled spark plugs stopped being common 5 years before I was born........

.........and .......if they ask you if you have been filing down the ignition points with your mothers cardboard finger nail file or you have been fiddling with the carburetor's idle screws .......... take it to a different dealer ......


humfrz

[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by mixtape

Shell V-Power is 93, if I am not mistaken.


Either way, I am sure your car will be fine. Pay attention to it when you get it back - just do not let that morph into paranoia.

Originally Posted by go_a_way1

+1 91 here. I used to run it until I went full retard and use 94 now

Originally Posted by humfrz

It's 91 in these parts ........


humfrz

Yup, I'm pretty sure "GTA" is in California, and they only have 91 or lower....

[roddy]

Originally Posted by FRSBRZGT86FAN

Yup, I'm pretty sure "GTA" is in California, and they only have 91 or lower....

GTA=Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Common mistake. I'm a courier, and Ontario CA could mean either the city in CAlifornia or the province in CAnada.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by FRSBRZGT86FAN

Yup, I'm pretty sure "GTA" is in California, and they only have 91 or lower....

Originally Posted by roddy

GTA=Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Common mistake. I'm a courier, and Ontario CA could mean either the city in CAlifornia or the province in CAnada.

The fact that is profile says he has a BRZ Sport Tech is telling in it's self. Anybody in Cali have a Sport Tech?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Smells cattle excrement they feed to their average customer so they can charge what they want. Fouled spark plugs stopped being common 5 years before I was born. Ask for the code that was stored on the ECU that caused the check engine light. There is zero reason why they should deny giving you that number. If they don't have it then they can't fix a problem they aren't aware of and are, again, bullshitting you by keeping your car if they aren't doing anything about it.

For background fouled spark plugs mean that the air fuel ratio is incorrect, this is tightly controlled by your ECU, O2 sensors, timing and fuel injection systems. If your spark plugs are fouled and they aren't replacing or changing one of those things they're either feeding you bullshit or being lazy about fixing it. For any one of those things to go bad before 150k miles on a modern car at the earliest is nearly unheard of.

Throttle body and injector cleaning are snake oil.

I was hoping somebody would mention this (I should have know who would). I haven't seen a fouled plug in 20 years. Sure it used to be an issue but more with carbureted engines and pretty much went away with injection. If plugs are actually fouling there is something very odd going on. Sounds like a feeble excuse on the tech's part. Besides how old was that tech?

[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by roddy

GTA=Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Common mistake. I'm a courier, and Ontario CA could mean either the city in CAlifornia or the province in CAnada.

Originally Posted by Tcoat

The fact that is profile says he has a BRZ Sport Tech is telling in it's self. Anybody in Cali have a Sport Tech?

My bad, when I think GTA I think California, I'm from the USA

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by FRSBRZGT86FAN

My bad, when I think GTA I think California, I'm from the USA

Born and raised Californian, only relevant acronym I could think of is Grand Theft Auto and the only way that's relevant is the video game.

I didn't know GTA was Toronto until this forum either.

[larchamb]

Update:


Got the car back same day as original post. They said with the new spark plugs, and vigorous testing, that the car appears to be running as it should be. I didn't ask for the code that triggered the engine light, but I will next time I get it serviced.
Car appears to actually be running a little better than when I took it in, based on when my RPM is hovering at certain speeds (no actual idea if this is a good gauge for that lol). I appreciate all the feedback, and will be keeping a close eye on things. May consider switching to petro if I hear anything fishy going at on at shell, but I would miss my airmiles :/
Only other thing is the steering feels a bit stiffer than I remember, but maybe just adjusting back from the use of my mom's civic.
Anyway, thanks again all - and I will remember to investigate the code.

[larchamb]

Update:


Check engine light came on AGAIN. Steering feels a little more forced that it used to, I think. Will see what happens when I deal with the Mississauga dealership again tomorrow.
Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

[gtslow]

Originally Posted by larchamb

Update:


Check engine light came on AGAIN. Steering feels a little more forced that it used to, I think. Will see what happens when I deal with the Mississauga dealership again tomorrow.
Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

Before you go in, go to an Autozone or Canadian equivalent and borrow an OBDII scanner to check the code. The early cars had some issue with cam angle sensors I believe so I wouldn't be surprised if that is the sort of issue you are running into. That issue is detailed below.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45844

[larchamb]

Got the code, will update with it later (wrote it down, but no access to it atm).


Definitely some power drain, mileage is dieing, and jerking when down shifting - some very noticeable drags (between gears?) when decelerating - most noticeable from 25km/h to 15km/h. Its automatic btw.


I reset my avg fuel consumption when I got the car back, was at 7.5k/100l thru the winter, and with summers on now I'm at 7.9...so something is definitely going on. Not happy right now, worried I'm gonna end up paying for this more down the road.

[Ashikabi]

Originally Posted by larchamb

Got the code, will update with it later (wrote it down, but no access to it atm).


Definitely some power drain, mileage is dieing, and jerking when down shifting - some very noticeable drags (between gears?) when decelerating - most noticeable from 25km/h to 15km/h. Its automatic btw.


I reset my avg fuel consumption when I got the car back, was at 7.5k/100l thru the winter, and with summers on now I'm at 7.9...so something is definitely going on. Not happy right now, worried I'm gonna end up paying for this more down the road.

Sounds like an issue with the electronics: bad sensor or something and the ecu doesn't know what to do with it. My .02$

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by fumanchu1

WTF you can't go at sea level??(I'm puzzled by that statement).

I don't think anybody ever responded to this. Altitude has an effect on the octane required. Because the air is less dense at higher altitude, the engine is less susceptible to knock. As a result, you can use a lower octane gasoline at high altitudes with any detrimental effect on your engine. If you ever go up to Taos, Santa Fe or Los Alamos (around 7000' elevation), "regular" gas is 85 or 86 octane, and at some stations the highest you can get is 89.

The opposite is true going down to sea level, where you'd need a higher octane for the denser air. If go_a_way1's location is correct, he lives at an elevation of about 3400'. If he's tuned for 94 and it's as limited as he says, he might need 96 or 97 octane at sea level to avoid knock. Since you can't buy that at the local corner station, he might have some problems.

[larchamb]

Original code was P219A
They also threw GHQ42 at me, not sure whether its related.
Will find out more on Tuesday!