I know that you may not be working on this issue anymore. But I had this issue as well. My fix was to replace the spark plugs. After about 2 days,as I did not clear by disconnected battery, the code cleared. I had copper spark plugs, replaced them with platinum plugs. No issues since. I will say, while I do know how to work on my subaru, I have watched many of your videos to encourage me that it wont take to long. Which, it still does take a while for some of the fixes. Like the rear differential took me 3 days of heat and pressure to break the fill and drain plugs free.
In the end, the problem actually turned out to be low compression on that cylinder for me. 3 days for the drain plugs? Yowza! They must have been stuck pretty bad.
MercedesDieselGuy What did the repair turn out to be? Having the same problem. Going to test the injector this week (great video, btw. thanks!) and wondering what we're in for if it's not the injector.
***** I had a misfire on that cylinder. At first, I suspected plug and wires. Replaced them and the problem remained. Then, I decided to replace the injector. Problem remained. Then I did a compression test and found compression really low on that cylinder. I took a chance and replaced the cylinder head. Cleaned the carbon off the piston while I was in there (major buildup on that piston - should have been a clue for me). Problem seemed to go away for about six months and then came back. Eventually, I figured it was damaged cylinder walls and/or bad piston rings. At that point, it wasn't worth any more of my time or energy, and I sold the car for parts.
It was extremely hard to get the old one out. I had to pull and twist for at least a half hour. Penetrating oil didn't help much. Eventually, I grabbed it with a pair of vice grips, mashing up the head of the old injector pretty bad. Pity, too, as the injector wasn't the problem.
Re-reading the above description, it sounds like the above commenter may have had head gasket problems. I suspect that from the description of white smoke.
Yeah, when you put all the evidence together after the fact, there was clearly a bad cylinder. I've found some vague references online suggesting this may be a common problem, but I can't find anything definitive.
kevokevokevo Either would work, I suppose. I prefer to pull this cover and disconnect the pump for a few reasons. There's no margin of error in respect to pulling the wrong fuse by mistake. Also, I don't like bending down and accessing the fuse panel under the dash unless absolutely necessary. But, as I said, either should work in theory.
i have a 96 legacy wagon that first threw a p0203 code. that went away now its throwing a p0303 code? fuel injector or? i am about to give up on it and just trade it in. its got 223,000 miles on it. what do you suggest?
Two different codes on the same cylinder... could be the injector. Note that I haven't worked on a Subaru in nearly four years now and am certainly not a professional technician/diagnostician. If I were you, I'd look up how to diagnose a bad injector before proceeding. Best to try to be a little more certain before throwing parts at it. Best of luck.
I am getting a "P0270-Cylinder 4 Injector Circuit Low" on my '97 Legacy Wag. When searching it brough me to your video. The motor is new to the car with just under 100k. The car has 160k. Any thoughts? Thank you in advance.
I'm not sure how you'd go about testing this. You may want to swap injectors between cylinders 4 and 2 and see if the code jumps to cylinder 2. If it does, I'd replace the injector and see what happens. If it doesn't, then the problem isn't likely the injector itself.
If I may ask, where the O-rings generic rings or factory specific o-rings? And nice video's by the way, they've helped me out a bit with my 98 forester
I have a 2008 legacy check engine light came on. P0304. I am going to replace the injector first. (In a couple days). And cross my fingers it fixes it. Could it be a spark plug? Or Ecm?
+jwebb1975 Honestly, a misfire (pretty sure your code is a cylinder 4 misfire) could be for many reasons. It can be from a worn spark plug, a bad coil, a bad spark plug wire, a bad injector, a damaged cylinder (rings/piston/cylinder), or a bad head gasket. I wouldn't throw an injector at it just yet. I'd run a compression test first and see what the cylinder is doing (and check spark plugs while you have them out). If both cylinders 2 and 4 read low, it's LIKELY indicative of a bad head gasket on that side. If cylinder 4 alone is low, it could be rings/piston/cylinder/valve. If compression is OK, then I'd check the coil, the wires, and the aforementioned plugs. I'm not saying an injector can't go bad, but I simply wouldn't jump at replacing it so soon. Best of luck.
+MercedesDieselGuy good point. I called the subi dealer and they didn't even have injectors in parts, in fact he said he had only sold 1 for years. So I am guessing the odds of them going bad are slim. Was a different story on turbos. I will troubleshoot based on your suggestions and thoughts. I need to research appropriate compression. Appreciate the response.
+jwebb1975 No problem. Keep in mind that even if you can't find the official compression numbers, but you end up having more-or-less even compression across all four cylinders, then chances are everything's OK in that department. A significant deviation or two would likely be indicative of a problem. Best of luck. Incidentally, I say all this because I was in your shoes a few years back and replaced an injector based on a similar code. I didn't do any diagnostics. I just guessed injector and replaced it. Eventually, I traced the problem to a bad cylinder, after (unwisely) throwing parts at the car. I highly recommend testing whatever you can in your shoes. It could save you a lot of money.
hi, i have a problem with my 95 legacy. it struggles real hard to start, sounds like its being flooded with fuel, blows out alot of smoke but white smoke, and sound like a popping sound coming from either the engine or the air intake. not quit sure. would you no anything bout it? thanks
Possibly, but I my guide would have been a published repair manual. Technically, that would have been easier, but accessing the pump to unplug it really only takes a couple of minutes.
just a tip instead of disconnecting coil and fuel pump to depressurize system it is easier to just pull the fuel pump fuse then crank it over
thank you for saving me the trouble of this important comment.
I know that you may not be working on this issue anymore. But I had this issue as well. My fix was to replace the spark plugs. After about 2 days,as I did not clear by disconnected battery, the code cleared. I had copper spark plugs, replaced them with platinum plugs. No issues since. I will say, while I do know how to work on my subaru, I have watched many of your videos to encourage me that it wont take to long. Which, it still does take a while for some of the fixes. Like the rear differential took me 3 days of heat and pressure to break the fill and drain plugs free.
In the end, the problem actually turned out to be low compression on that cylinder for me. 3 days for the drain plugs? Yowza! They must have been stuck pretty bad.
MercedesDieselGuy What did the repair turn out to be? Having the same problem. Going to test the injector this week (great video, btw. thanks!) and wondering what we're in for if it's not the injector.
***** I had a misfire on that cylinder. At first, I suspected plug and wires. Replaced them and the problem remained. Then, I decided to replace the injector. Problem remained.
Then I did a compression test and found compression really low on that cylinder. I took a chance and replaced the cylinder head. Cleaned the carbon off the piston while I was in there (major buildup on that piston - should have been a clue for me). Problem seemed to go away for about six months and then came back. Eventually, I figured it was damaged cylinder walls and/or bad piston rings. At that point, it wasn't worth any more of my time or energy, and I sold the car for parts.
MercedesDieselGuy Ugh. Thanks! Here's hoping ours is just the injector.
***** For your sake, I hope it is. If it's NOT, then I highly recommend a compression test and/or a leakdown test.
It was extremely hard to get the old one out. I had to pull and twist for at least a half hour. Penetrating oil didn't help much. Eventually, I grabbed it with a pair of vice grips, mashing up the head of the old injector pretty bad. Pity, too, as the injector wasn't the problem.
A generic o-ring may work, but always stick with factory stuff for this kind of application whenever possible.
Re-reading the above description, it sounds like the above commenter may have had head gasket problems. I suspect that from the description of white smoke.
Yeah, when you put all the evidence together after the fact, there was clearly a bad cylinder. I've found some vague references online suggesting this may be a common problem, but I can't find anything definitive.
Can you perhaps post a video? Not sure I can venture a guess without seeing something.
Very helpful presentation - thank you.
Any reason that you unplugged the wire connector instead of just the fuse for the fuel pump to depressurize the line? Thanks.
kevokevokevo Either would work, I suppose. I prefer to pull this cover and disconnect the pump for a few reasons. There's no margin of error in respect to pulling the wrong fuse by mistake. Also, I don't like bending down and accessing the fuse panel under the dash unless absolutely necessary. But, as I said, either should work in theory.
In the end, the injector wasn't my problem. I had a bad cylinder that was causing the issues I had.
i have a 96 legacy wagon that first threw a p0203 code. that went away now its throwing a p0303 code? fuel injector or? i am about to give up on it and just trade it in. its got 223,000 miles on it. what do you suggest?
Two different codes on the same cylinder... could be the injector. Note that I haven't worked on a Subaru in nearly four years now and am certainly not a professional technician/diagnostician. If I were you, I'd look up how to diagnose a bad injector before proceeding. Best to try to be a little more certain before throwing parts at it. Best of luck.
Can the fuel injector plug up without setting off check engine codes? Thank you
Not that I know of, but I suppose that's a possibility
2:35 my subaru "same year and model" is kicking over like that, but I just replaced the fuel filter. Any idea to what it could be?
Possibly the fuel pump? Hard to guess without seeing the car in person.
Do you know if your coworker ever figured out the problem?
I am getting a "P0270-Cylinder 4 Injector Circuit Low" on my '97 Legacy Wag. When searching it brough me to your video. The motor is new to the car with just under 100k. The car has 160k. Any thoughts? Thank you in advance.
I'm not sure how you'd go about testing this. You may want to swap injectors between cylinders 4 and 2 and see if the code jumps to cylinder 2. If it does, I'd replace the injector and see what happens. If it doesn't, then the problem isn't likely the injector itself.
If I may ask, where the O-rings generic rings or factory specific o-rings? And nice video's by the way, they've helped me out a bit with my 98 forester
I have a 2008 legacy check engine light came on. P0304. I am going to replace the injector first. (In a couple days). And cross my fingers it fixes it. Could it be a spark plug? Or Ecm?
+jwebb1975 Honestly, a misfire (pretty sure your code is a cylinder 4 misfire) could be for many reasons. It can be from a worn spark plug, a bad coil, a bad spark plug wire, a bad injector, a damaged cylinder (rings/piston/cylinder), or a bad head gasket.
I wouldn't throw an injector at it just yet. I'd run a compression test first and see what the cylinder is doing (and check spark plugs while you have them out). If both cylinders 2 and 4 read low, it's LIKELY indicative of a bad head gasket on that side. If cylinder 4 alone is low, it could be rings/piston/cylinder/valve. If compression is OK, then I'd check the coil, the wires, and the aforementioned plugs.
I'm not saying an injector can't go bad, but I simply wouldn't jump at replacing it so soon. Best of luck.
+MercedesDieselGuy good point. I called the subi dealer and they didn't even have injectors in parts, in fact he said he had only sold 1 for years. So I am guessing the odds of them going bad are slim. Was a different story on turbos. I will troubleshoot based on your suggestions and thoughts. I need to research appropriate compression. Appreciate the response.
+jwebb1975 No problem. Keep in mind that even if you can't find the official compression numbers, but you end up having more-or-less even compression across all four cylinders, then chances are everything's OK in that department. A significant deviation or two would likely be indicative of a problem. Best of luck.
Incidentally, I say all this because I was in your shoes a few years back and replaced an injector based on a similar code. I didn't do any diagnostics. I just guessed injector and replaced it. Eventually, I traced the problem to a bad cylinder, after (unwisely) throwing parts at the car. I highly recommend testing whatever you can in your shoes. It could save you a lot of money.
hi, i have a problem with my 95 legacy. it struggles real hard to start, sounds like its being flooded with fuel, blows out alot of smoke but white smoke, and sound like a popping sound coming from either the engine or the air intake. not quit sure. would you no anything bout it? thanks
why don't you just disconnect the fuse to the fuel pump? wouldn't that be way easier?
Possibly, but I my guide would have been a published repair manual. Technically, that would have been easier, but accessing the pump to unplug it really only takes a couple of minutes.
that's a shame! I mean it looked like the car had a fair amount of problems but I think with a re manufactured engine it would've been pretty solid
Maybe, but it's probably for the best.
He let the car sit, got bored, and then resold it as a parts car, at which point it was dismantled.
The way things were going with this engine I could tell that the piston rings were just worn out!
That's really bad. Probably what I got but I will try replacing the injector first. Thanks for the video.
Iac valve will cause it to idle up and down
Seems like nearly the exact same thing is happening with my '07 Outback. What a nasty and expensive problem.
Well, best of luck anyway.