WRX Knock: Can This 70K Mile Engine Be Saved?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 มิ.ย. 2024
- I bought a High Mileage VA WRX. The car was giving me issues since I bought it, and something seemed off. I reached out to my Tuner, Clark Turner, to see if we could get it running smoothly again.
After following some of his advice, I did some maintenance, and he re-tuned the car. However, that didn't solve all of our issues. So the hunt begins. I will be diving deeper into the car, trying to diagnose these issues to see if we can keep this FA20 running for another 50K-100K miles.
CHECK OUT CLARKS TUNES HERE:
store1148024.ecwid.com/
The WRX Is sitting at 70K Miles.
So far, I have:
- Changed Spark Plugs
- Cleaned Intake Filter
- Cleaned Maf Sensor
- Inspected Turbo Inlet
- Inspected Intake Couplers
- Inspected Boost Controller
- Inspected Intercooler Couplers
- Re-tuned Vehicle
Some of the things I think could be an issue:
- Clogged Cat
- Failing LPFP
- Failing HPFP
- Clogged Injectors
- Carbon Buildup
- Coil Packs
Hopefully, I can get to the bottom of the issue. And we can start to focus on the fun stuff. - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
I noticed something similar with my car 100k. My new rule of thumb is to replace the air filter(Grimmspeed) every 10k miles and I did a walnut blast. Car runs smooth as butter now.
Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it but carbon build up is also known to cause jerky acceleration on these cars I’d definitely look into getting a walnut blast done to the intake valves. It’s recommended to get it done every 30k miles
BRO I HAD THIS EXACT SAME ISSUE!!! ITS 100% THE INTAKE. FUCK COBB INTAKES!!!
Thanks for the input! That's the next thing I'm going to do!
Cobb SF Intake has done this to a lot of WRXs. Most recently it was someone local to me. You can see it in the AF Learning & correction as well. See If those two numbers are abnormally high or low. With clark saying its close to the fuel cut I bet its that. I helped my buddy diagnose this for WEEKS , retune after retune, took everything apart and back. I would see if you can get your hands on another intake or even stock box to test. I'm willing to put my $10 on that Cobb intake being the issue.
I have heard of issues with Cobb intakes across the board. I'm definitely going to try to source a stock intake and throw it back on the stock map and see how the car behaves. Before Clark tuned the car, the car ran rough on the cobb map, but if you tried to put it back onto the stock map, the car just refused to stay running at all. I would never do it, but loads of people run aftermarket intakes on the stock map all the time. It's not ideal but the fact that the car wouldn't even stay running really threw me off. Atleast with clarks tune the car is driving almost normal besides the pulsating here and there. But I'll see what happens with the intake!
@@StreetInspired1I have a stock 2017 intake if that would work. What’s your insta?
Or if anything get the new Cobb updated SF intake
@@StreetInspired1I can confirm this when running a grimmspeed 3 port grimmspeed gesi v2 j pipe and Cobb big sf car ran like shit and was sensitive to certain stations would even throw CEL for p0171 and p0172 but never had any vac leaks or bad injectors I even went as far as thinking the fuel filter may have been the issue nothing crazy part as soon as I switch my setup to a grimmspeed intake car ran fine after a retune chased this issue for about a good year :/
@@StreetInspired1 I have the same exact issues and my tuner has no answer. Please do post a video about it if you resolve this issues.
You will figure it out you always do. good luck
I had a similar issue back when I had my WRX. I replaced the MAF sensor and that fixed my problem. Just my experience though
Closed loop/open loop delay. It’s where the ecu transitions between closed loop fueling and open loop fueling. If it’s not dialed in you get that weird hesitation, my 15 did it.
I'm starting to learn about tuning so I can do it myself on my own car with HP Academy. They've mentioned some weird stuff Subaru does with their cruise tables to compensate for harmonics within the fuel system. I don't know how deep your tuner goes, but it might be worth a look. Also might be worth thinking about the A/F Ratio and downstream O2 sensors. Might be reading off, but not enough to throw a code.
I recently had a p0300 random misfire code , I swapped new coil plugs and spark plugs and it did not not , car kept having misfires at start ups ? Finally I took it into a shop , they cleaned the maf and map sensor, the car runs good now , 2017 wrx
I'm very interested to see what you come up with. I have a 2016 WRX with a very similar issue. Been chasing it for a long time now. Runs fantastic under boost or higher rpms, but under vacuum when just cruising, it breaks up. AF correction numbers go crazy and the AFR will go lean. I feel like the only thing i haven't tried yet is taking all the aftermarket parts off and flashing the stock tune back on the car and see how it behaves.
Tip on the spark plugs, even though they say they are pre-gapped, I always check them. I have seen the way out of spec before.
I have had the same experience. I did check them for that reason, and they were all correct.
Had this issue with my 16 FXT. Subaru reflashed the ecu several times. Got sick of it and sold it for my VB.
I heard the aftermarket air ducts affect turbulence to the turbos. Compare the factory duct vs. the aftermarket duct
Interesting, thanks for all the detail shared. I'm no tuner but wouldn't your tuner be able to just UP the general fuel request map at cruising speed/cruising gear so that it doesn't enter this low margin region? Like say you're cruising in 5th at 45 mph and the car is flickering that fuel signal. Just add 5% trim to the fuel demand so it doesn't do that, and you won't even notice the MPG difference.
Now about the lurking pedal sensitivity, I'm actually experiencing that now with my 22'!!! It seems like every micro change of my pedal position results in the car jerking. I have the Group n mounts but this seems like an issue that became apparent after my tune to 320 whp, 350 torque. I don't know if its an issue or just normal for driving a higher torque car than when it was stock, but I assume something's not fine tuned enough because other high horsepower cars can still be driven smoothly. I think our tuners just need to reduce how much power is created at low RPM so it doesn't do that jerkiness.
TGV’s are causing your issue. The butterfly valves are at the point of opening and closing at slight throttle or about to build boost.
I thought about those also. I had to replace them on a friend's wrx because one side was stuck open and another stuck closed. However, my tuner just sent me a new map that fixed the issue. So I'll have to see what he messed with that fixed the issue. He seemed surprised when I told him it was fixed.
Could there be an issue with the high pressure fuel pump? Deff sounds like a fueling issue from what your saying. Also I would have the valves cleaned. I'm sure it's never been done and direct injection is not very nice to the valves lol
what about thermostat housing? Or coolant? I experience a similar thing but only when I'm driving from a cold start, I feel something very similar to the AC compressor kicking on right about when my oil hits 144ish degrees. Its very subtle and I dont always notice it but my assumption has always been its the thermostat valve kicking on when the engine temp hits a certain temp to start cycling coolant. On the flip side after I was tuned stage 2+ on a GS intake I had an issue where after heavy rain if I tried to get into boost my car would stumble. I learned that the GS intake box had a small hole that allowed water to get through and saturate the intake filter causing AFRs to frenzy. To remedy this a bought the hydrophobic AEM dry flow filter wrap and never had the stumbling issue again. These cars are all about trial and error and learning as we go, hence why the community around these cars is as tight nit as we are.
I have a 2018 wrx and my car does the same thing I have a video of my boost gauge showing how I’m steady at 14% throttle and I’m under vacuum no boost at all just cruising but it jumps from -5 to -2 back and forth
Same problem to my 2018 I replaced the fuel regulator no more problems is a very common issue with Subaru
Love clarky and you. Great video
I had a 2020 wrx with the cobb stage 1+ tune and i had the same issue when i would let my foot off the gas at low speeds.The car would do that when it was stock also but hardly noticeable flashed it with the tune when it had around 5,000 miles got the car new with 7 miles.
Someone said fuel pump, maybe. I would check the fuel filter first and then the sensor. If those aren't it, I would give my turbo a good tune-up and polish. I hope you find it!
👊😎🤙
I have the same issue but mine is really noticeable around the 2500-3500 range or if my filter really dirty I swap my Cobb intake for a g/s I have a upgraded turbo headers etc and it still does it at this point I’m thinking maybe the clutch is slipping or maf I was thinking maybe going speed density I already clean my map sensor… if you find the solution please keep us updated
I would replace the intake back to the stock intake. Because this is a maf based system, the maf signal is used to calculate the engine load. I have heard that Cobb intakes can be finicky (I am assuming that you still have a Cobb intake), so maybe the intake is causing the load calculation to be off slightly.
I was thinking the same thing for a bit, but with Clark returning the vehicle, it should've resolved any issue with the maf tables being off. My biggest worry was the maf extension cable, which is notorious for being an issue on the Cobb intake, but the connections looked almost brand new, so I ruled that out. But that doesn't mean it's not still a possibility.
@@StreetInspired1 I don’t believe it has anything to do with Clark’s tuning. I think it has to do with the intake itself. I have heard that even the placement of the air filter can cause changes to the maf calibration with certain intakes. At minimum I would at least test it out if possible.
@davidmills3623 for sure. But that should only be true if the car is being run on the Off the shelf cobb tune. But once a custom tune is done, it should all be recalibrated. However, if I were to remove the intake filter now and place it back on at a slightly different spot, it could definitely throw off the tune. I could be wrong, that's just want I was told by an old tuner of mine. But either way, it's worth looking into. I thought about getting a stock intake and installing it and putting the car back on the stock tune to see what happens. If it runs like normal then the problem was isolated and resolved with probably a $50 used stock intake!
@@StreetInspired1 I can’t speak about the specific tune on your car; however, not all intakes are created equal. There is another guy on TH-cam who is a mustang guy and he speaks highly on only one intake for mustangs… because other intakes cause the tune to be wonky (Coyotes are also maf based in the mustang). Maybe it is something else though. Either way, I hope the issue gets resolved and it is an easy fix!
It is one annoying part about the cobb intake. When I clean thr filter, I'll put painters tape on the pipe before I remove the filter so I can TRY to get it back on as close as possible to where it was. And when I put it back on, I know my A/F numbers are gonna need some time to correct. More on idle. But it can take a month of learning.
I had the same issue with my 91 Supra Turbo. I know its not the same era, but I just did 2 things. A few fills of good gas (believe it or not, but Costco gas helped fix the issue) with a bottle of highmileage Sea Foam. I use peemium Costco gas now on all my cars. I think it cleaned the catalytic converters as well.
That worked for me. Not sure about the VA.
Since the car is used/salvage title. It probably ran with bad gas. Maybe 🤷♂️
My money is on the Cobb Intake. Happened to mine. Sorry if I missed it but are the turbo compressor wheel fins still intact?
Yeah the turbo still appears to be in goof shape. I did check that when I inspected the turbo inlet for cracks amd didn't see any abnormal wear on the compressor wheel.
2019s are a recall year for fuel pumps. I'm not saying that's the culprit though. Mine ran fine with zero issues for 55k before it was replaced under the recall.
Might have to check into that. Definitely feels like a fuel pump issue so that would make sense to look into.
I have a 2018, E85, all the shit fbo whatever, around 130k miles..I had an AOS put on at maybe 15k miles.. did intake, deletes, 93 octane..Had your same issue, cleaned my CAI and the MAF...Came back 2 more times over the years, same solution
Yano I oddly might be feeling the same thing in my STi…
I have that same problem 😳
Never resolved it either
I'll be sure to post the solution if I find it!
I was having this issue a couple years ago. Some seafoam and injector cleaner did the trick
Check your ocv valves
Can you ever catch a break? You are a lot more patient than I am. I'm literally blacklisted at dealerships from what should have been warranty issues, that I lost my patience over.
I try to keep my cool, but my first few cars growing up were total junkers that were constantly breaking, so I built up that patience pretty early haha
Dude what happened to your VB? Why go back to a VA when you get more HP for the $?
Does he not have both?
@@RushroyaleAddictsno he sold the VB awhile ago
@@RushroyaleAddicts He got in an accident in the VB and was just having tons of problems in general so he got rid of it and got a paid for VA.
Fuel pump and that crappy air intake duke.
sooo what's the verdict??
My Tuner smoothed it out in the tune. He had me add EGR values to the datalogs and immediately fixed it. So I'm assuming it was the EGR valve.
Might be the stock boost control solenoid.
Thought about that, but I noticed it's usually when the car is in vacum. Once It starts building boost, it smooths out completely
@@StreetInspired1 This is from Phatbotti's sight for recommended parts: I prefer the Grimmspeed Intake because it has a stopper on the MAF sensor flange to butt the filter up against. So everyone installs the filter in the same spot. All other intakes have "floating" filters, meaning that each customer can install the filter in a different spot on the intake pipe....this causes fueling issues and makes troubleshooting more difficult (and by more difficult I mean nearly impossible). On other intakes moving the placement of the filter by just a 1/4 inch can change the fueling by 20-30%, which makes troubleshooting very difficult.
I’m thinking your fuel pump is crapping out.
That's what I thought too. Buy it doesn't appear thr fuel pressure is fluctuating when I'm feeling the sputtering. But it definitely feels like fuel is cutting out. Thought I might just do the lpfp with a dw300c and get the car ready for Ethanol. And if I'm still having issues then I may look into the hpfp
I just dont trust anything seafoam has to offer.
Id do a walnut blast. Cheap, might help, probably needed anyways.
Odd issue you want corrected tho
Walnut blast is definitely coming at some point. And it's a weird issue but without riding in the car no one will understand. The car does not feel right. It feels like it's going to stall while driving and definitely isn't normal after driving plenty of these cars stock and heavily modified. It feels like the fuel oscillations I would occasionally get on my FA20s that were on flex fuel.
@@StreetInspired1 I feel ya.
Been a while, hasn't happened since my most recent phatbotti tune, but I would be cruising on the highway... 70ish... cruising. Then a like "bump" or "stutter." No idea on earth what it was.
But it just "went away" early last year. (So like jan of 2023)
I think I know the feeling. Just no idea what it was.
@-16-wrx- yeah for sure! Sounds just like my old setup. I ended up replacing the dw300c with another one and it fixed it.
Me personally, I would run the full spectrum of Seafoam treatments. Fuel, intake and oil if you are close to a oil change.
Just did an oil change, but I thought about trying seafom.
@@StreetInspired1 don't use Seafoam in the engine oil. Subarus don't do good with it. Fuel cleaner is good to use.
@FunTimeWithSouls Yeah I'd be scared to put anything in the oil lol
I used seafoam it was good
Check ur fuel line and check ur fuel pump
Try to source a stock intake and maybe an oem filter, those Cobb SF intakes have all kinds of bad reviews online so I stay away.
Doesn’t sound like engine knock, tired or miss leading titles. Unsubscribed
The car was knocking on the Cobb map. That was the first problem. Changed the spark plugs and Clark retuned it, which fixed the knocking issue. The other issue is the one I'm still trying to address. But okay, sorry for all of my countless "misleading titles"
@@StreetInspired1 Ignore kendrick, lol