Pgh_Scoob Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 So in the past couple of days my mpg has plummeted from averaging 20mpg on strictly inner city driving, but now it is 12mpg and thats with stretching it. I actually ran out of gas the other day for the first time ever in any of my scoobs. Also my car is in theory running beautifully, nice smooth idle and not a scent of gas. So a little history of my car to why this might be happening... About 2k-2500 miles ago my spark plug blew out of my head on the number 2 cylinder. so with trying to same money and needing my car running again I tapped my head and heli coiled it and put in a new plug. I used wheel bearing grease on the tap to catch as much f the metal shavings that I cold (actually worked quite well) and sprayed down the cylinder walls as best as I could and got a magnet to get out the (rest) of the shavings. It ran pretty well but was a little rough at points so I put in some of the restore compression along with a fresh oil change. My car ran fine but about 2 weeks ago fouled out the spark plug on the number 2 cylinder and the heli coil did come out with the spark plug when I pulled it. I put the heli coil around the new plug and put it in and the car was running fine again. I did check my car for rediness status to get emissions done and saw that I had pending codes of cyl. 1 2 and 4 injector low voltage but no check engine light. So there is a little history of my car and Im pretty lost as where to start. I have been wanting to replace the fuel filter just for maintenance but I dont know if this could be the issue or helping with another underlying issue. Or could it be that my head is shot??? Any help would be greatly appreciated, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebugs Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 You've got a lot going on there. I have good 96 2.2 heads and intake here PM me if interested. I wouldn't waste my time with a head that won't even "keep" a plug in it. So further troubleshooting to me is pointless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstone Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I think you might want to replace the head. You can buy used heads for $100. Rebuilt for a bit more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red92 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I used wheel bearing grease on the tap to catch as much f the metal shavings that I cold (actually worked quite well) and sprayed down the cylinder walls as best as I could and got a magnet to get out the (rest) of the shavings. A permanent magnet shouldn't pick up aluminum... If you stuck a magnet inside the cylinder and metal shavings stuck to it, then you might have more serious problems with your engine than just a loose spark plug... :-\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 My thoughts as well. Magnets don't pick up aluminum, and there's no steel in these combustion chambers except for the valves and seats, and the end of the spark plug. I'd do a compression test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 So in the past couple of days my mpg has plummeted from averaging 20mpg on strictly inner city driving, but now it is 12mpg and thats with stretching it. I actually ran out of gas the other day for the first time ever in any of my scoobs. Also my car is in theory running beautifully, nice smooth idle and not a scent of gas. So a little history of my car to why this might be happening... About 2k-2500 miles ago my spark plug blew out of my head on the number 2 cylinder. so with trying to same money and needing my car running again I tapped my head and heli coiled it and put in a new plug. I used wheel bearing grease on the tap to catch as much f the metal shavings that I cold (actually worked quite well) and sprayed down the cylinder walls as best as I could and got a magnet to get out the (rest) of the shavings. It ran pretty well but was a little rough at points so I put in some of the restore compression along with a fresh oil change. My car ran fine but about 2 weeks ago fouled out the spark plug on the number 2 cylinder and the heli coil did come out with the spark plug when I pulled it. I put the heli coil around the new plug and put it in and the car was running fine again. I did check my car for rediness status to get emissions done and saw that I had pending codes of cyl. 1 2 and 4 injector low voltage but no check engine light. So there is a little history of my car and Im pretty lost as where to start. I have been wanting to replace the fuel filter just for maintenance but I dont know if this could be the issue or helping with another underlying issue. Or could it be that my head is shot??? Any help would be greatly appreciated, Greg Well, you might check/swap-out the Engine Temp Sensor (not the temp gauge sender). Sometimes it can hold the system in choke mode and won't throw a code. But, uh, you have enough other problems that, it's just a wild guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pgh_Scoob Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 Hey thanks for all the replies and yeah I was afraid that my engine was going out the main thing is that my car has severe cancer on the rr quarter panel and its not worth putting. money my engine when the body is rotting away. So I was just trying to to find some possibly quick solutions for fixes but I might be getting an 02 forester if everything go according to plan...but thanks again for all the input. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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