Two plugs black, still misfiring at idle

[misledxcracker]

So I was having a bunch of issues. Here's what I've been dealing with this weekend...

 

The 3AT's modulator was bad. I replaced it with a Napa modulator, now it shifts at lower RPM's and its smoother for the most part.

 

The transmission fluid got all in the intake due to the modulator being bad, and saturating the already dry/rotted hoses. I replaced some of the vacuum hoses, but I think I got the wrong size, as the hoses do not sit snug on anything.. What size should I be going for? I got 1/4 hose but I guess its too wide?

Then after replacing hoses with the wrong size :dead:I decided to check the spark plugs. Well, one head (the passenger side) had horrible black spark plugs, with the insulator BURNT. The other head's plugs looked OK. I was running NGK's before, and swapped all four for new NGK's.

 

Now I've got it running smooth at cruising, yet missing at idle, and now the transmission may be slipping. But, it only did it once, when I was turning sharply. Going straight, it wont slip from what I can tell. It also makes whistling noise when upshifting...

 

Here's the questions:

 

1. Can a vacuum leak cause the 3AT to slip, or shift hard, or whistle? From my understanding, the tranny is vacuum controlled, so if there IS a vacuum leak that I can hear pretty well, can it be causing the tranny to trip out?

 

2. Why in the heck would only one head's spark plugs be all burnt up? It was the passenger side.

 

3. Wasnt there some sort of recall on the early EA82's PCV system? What was it again? Maybe my car didnt get it fixed... Maybe its causing a problem?

 

4. Why the misfiring after new plugs? Everything else checks out OK and even when i DO hold the hoses in place so it doesnt have the hissing vacuum leak, it STILL misfires. What gives?

 

5. Can wiping the tranny dipstick with a rag youve wiped the front diff dipstick with, cause the tranny dipstick to REEK of gear oil, after say.... a month?

[Cougar]

I would try some new plugwires to see it that will stop the missing problem.

[misledxcracker]

Crap.

 

Drove it like 15 miles on the freeway...

 

Smelled gear oil bad. Well, bad enough. Transmission still shifted fine, though.

 

Got home, the gear oil dipstick was HOT (I couldnt even hold it!) and was popped out somewhat.

 

Looked at both dipsticks, it doesnt LOOK like gear oil/ATF mixed...

 

But, the ATF dipstick reeks of gear oil... it has for quite some time now.

 

WTF is it with me and getting the "bad egg" subarus?!

 

I dont know what I'm going to do now... I guess drive it the 2 miles to work every day, save money and go from there... :-\

[Skip]

What size should I be going for? I got 1/4 hose but I guess its too wide?

It's a metric size that is smaller than 1/4"

I'd get some from a Honda in a boneyard, the late eighties

models had miles of it.

Better take a good piece to an auro parts house

that deals in forgien cars

 

 

Here's the questions:

 

1. Can a vacuum leak cause the 3AT to slip, or shift hard, or whistle? From my understanding, the tranny is vacuum controlled, so if there IS a vacuum leak that I can hear pretty well, can it be causing the tranny to trip out?

It also makes whistling noise when upshifting...

 

That does sound like a vacuum leak, the govenour is what

controls most of the shifting. I don't think this is being caused soley by a vacuum leak (see #5)

 

2. Why in the heck would only one head's spark plugs be all burnt up? It was the passenger side.

 

This could be caused by a leak also, normaly they go lean sucking air in the intake runner for that side.

Have you ever done a compression test.

 

3. Wasnt there some sort of recall on the early EA82's PCV system? What was it again? Maybe my car didnt get it fixed... Maybe its causing a problem?

 

The recall was for sucking oil in the line coming off of the cam cover. This resulted in oil smoke after a hard turn.

 

4. Why the misfiring after new plugs? Everything else checks out OK and even when i DO hold the hoses in place so it doesnt have the hissing vacuum leak, it STILL misfires. What gives?

 

I like Cougars sugg but I don't think you could hold them all tightight enough.

Seeing how we have not been told the fuel system, maybe the carb is causing this?

5. Can wiping the tranny dipstick with a rag youve wiped the front diff dipstick with, cause the tranny dipstick to REEK of gear oil, after say.... a month?

 

This is not good at all. I hate to break this to you

and do not want to be a dire monger.

 

These tranny / diff setups have been known to loose the seal between them allowing the AFT and the gear oil to mix.

This is caused by the bearing for the inputshaft into the diff going bad, the resulting movement in turn takes out the seal.

I had one that as a result of the above let the diff lock up

at 35 MPH, seat belts are wonderful items. The only way

the car would move was to keep the tranny loaded

 

i.e. had to keep pressing on the gas even when brakeing

or going down hill.

[misledxcracker]

Thanks skip!

 

I havent done a compression check on the engine, it has 96K and it's an SPFI.

 

The gear oil and tranny fluid sure dont look mixed, but the ATF dipstick reeks of gear oil... I guess I need another 3AT tranny or something?

 

How much would a 3AT rebuild be? I actually dont mind the 3AT

[john in KY]

That miss-at-idle problem is probably just a small vacuun leak. Experienced the same problems years ago after replacing plugs in my mother's-in-law wagon. Eventually I found a small hose on the passenger side that had cracked at the base. Still amazed such a small vacuum leak could cause 2 cylinders to missfire.

[Skip]

You're most welcome Misled, sorry to be the harbinger of such bad tindings.

 

The ATF "looked" fine in mine also, dip stick -> like yours.

 

Shifted firm (gear oil may be a good hydraulic oil?)

 

Then one day, I left off the gas and BANG!!!

 

 

I don't think a rebuild is and option, too many boneyard models to choose from.

Plus some of the internal parts might be hard to source these daze (sic)

 

I liked my 3AT also untill I tried a 4EAT

(in my next car as I retired the 3AT wagon as a result).

Not a real option in your case as the wiring for it is

complex.

 

Again sorry to tell you this but what happened to me

was down right ... well good luck.

 

I hope I'm wrong again.

[misledxcracker]

I wish the misfiring were the only thing I had to worry about...

 

Unfortunately more and more I'm tempted to junk the thing. Tranny is trashed, and from my browsing, replacing/rebuilding the 3AT isnt too cheap. I'm not inclined nor motivated to do a 5 speed swap, I cant even find a single decent EA82 Subaru in any junkyard nearby anyway.

 

I dont know whats going to happen.

 

(BTW Skip, I've also had a 4EAT in my old XT6... I never knew I could do 120 in a 80's subaru!)

[Skip]

Sorry to read about the lack of usable 3AT's.

Somebody up north maybe (as in way up north = Washington ect.) Shipping would kill ya though.

 

 

Here's a wild one - the 4EAT I mention was in my XT6.

 

What-A-ride!!

[misledxcracker]

Heres a question:

 

Can that seal between the diff and tranny be replaced? Has this ever been done before with positive results?

 

I cant help it, I want to fix her, 96K and beautiful as can be (not to mention the lack of 3-doors around these parts, people give me thumbs up all the time)

 

How much do you think a transmission shipped would cost? Knowing me and the love for the car (at times, that is) I'd probably do a WA-CA tranny shipping stint

[Bucky92]

My EA82 has had a small misfire since the day I bought it 4 and a half years ago...I have one plug ( #3 cylinder) that burns hotter then the rest..I have just learned to live with it and change the plugs once or twice a year ( that $10 doesnt really hurt the wallet that much ) and I have put roughly 45,000 miles on it that way...I will look into it when the head gasket goes which should be any time now .

 

Sorry to hear you have such problems with your car..I wouldnt junk it though..if you have to get rid of it ..sell it..someone else wouldnt mind doing the 5 spd swap.

I do know how you feel...my XT6 drives me nuts ...and it only has about 28K miles on the motor..between electrical gremlins and vacuum leaks and rust...and my poor poor wagon still needs so much more to make it a decent daily driver again..but I havent given up on either...I understand your frustration though.

 

Have you tried new plugs wires AND cap and rotor yet? And it doesnt throw any codes does it? I can't help with the AT cause..to be honest ..I cant stand ATs ..for the reasons ..like what you have. That motor has far to few miles on it for the misfires to be anything much more then something small ..like vacuum.

Sorry for the ramblings ..

[misledxcracker]

I put a brand new cap, rotor, plugs and wires. I'm sure its a vacuum leak because it hisses pretty loud. I'm gonna take Skip's word and grab some metric Honda hose and take it to the local import auto part store...

 

Sadly, I'm more concerned about the transmission, that gear oil dipstick was so hot I had to drop it

[Skip]

The diff fluid may be real low, it's all in the tranny.

Thus the heating.

 

I am going to assume this is a 4wd tranny?

[misledxcracker]

Nope Skip, its a 2WD. No offroading in the city

 

The gear oil is not low according to the dipstick... It hasnt been for awhile. It was ran dry for quite some time but I filled it up. Right on the "full" mark.

 

Which trips me out more, as the ATF dipstick smells like it, but.... no loss of gear oil on its dipstick?

 

I think this is all more confusing than anything. :-\

[Skip]

Thanks for the info.

 

I just posted the question more for some one

that may have a tranny for sale that reads this.

 

Seeings how gear oil is what about 90wt

 

and ATF is what maybe 30wt?

 

The cocktail could cause gears to get a bit warm if they are mixed.

 

 

Some cars do run ATF in their manual trannys but they are designed for it, and a diff may have different loading characteristics.

[misledxcracker]

Sun barely rose a bit (overcast much so) so I decided to go out to the old jalopy and see what's up with the fluids.

 

I may take the car to a mechanic, as I cant smell gear oil on the ATF dipstick no more, and the gear oil looks yellowish brown with no red. Seems like the ATF is a lighter weight than the gear oil by look and touch.

 

There is a chance I just didnt get the smell of gear oil from my fingers when I'm reading and smelling the ATF? I do tend to check both at once, and from this check I just did, I seem to grab the diff dipstick first.

 

I'm sorry if my stupidity seems like I'm going in a big circle, as I dont mean to :-\

 

Ahhh.... even if it WASNT mixing, I still have no understanding to why the diff overheated, the gear oil level is fine. When it heated up nice and toasty, the dipstick did pop out somewhat, same goes for ATF.

[misledxcracker]

Here's a picture (crappy, I might add) of what I rubbed off of the dipsticks, onto a piece of paper.

 

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/misledxcracker/POTO0029.jpg

 

The left side is the gear oil, and right side is ATF.

 

If they were mixing, would they still look like that though?

 

Or does the picture suck so bad that you cant tell either way?

[Skip]

"Or does the picture suck so bad that you cant tell either way?"

 

Where's the "smell-a-vision" when we need it??

[Gloyale]

I've got a good 2wd 3at from an 88 GL-10. It's from a turbo car but for 2wd 3at it's a small matter of shift points and line pressure, with the turbo being a bit beefier actually. You can have it if you will pay for shipping. Torque converter included. It has 23 spline axle stubs (only 2wd turbo, autos were 23, all other turbos 25) I swear I've also seen new(or rebuilt?) ones on ebay for $99 bucks too.

[DaveT]

I had a 3AT loose the seal between the diff and the transmission. The ATF ended up in the diff.

 

 

Wife calls - my car making bad noises. I get there, no gear lube. It seems the diff had a slow leak. Ran dry of gear lube. I wasn't checking it often enough. All I had was a quart of motor oil. Threw that in, as it's clearly shot anyway.

 

The 20+ mile drive back home was interesting, with the whole keeping the differential under load to prevent horrific noises. (mentioned above, gas applied while slowing and breaking).

 

About 2/3 of the way home, I start makeing a smoke screen. Stop & check the level, hmm, "gear lube" over full:-\ probably overflowing onto the exhaust.

 

As I pull into my garage, the transmission starts slipping.

 

Th pinion was moving forward into the diff carrier. Applying engine power causes the gears to "screw apart" from each other, engine breaking causes the pinion to "screw into" the carrier:eek:

[misledxcracker]

I just drove mine for 15 miles and it's acting horrible now, yet it isnt making noises...... yet. I work close by, so I dont think I'll be driving it much for the time being.

 

Hopefully here soon I'll have another transmission, I think I can pull off a transmission swap, as long as it isnt TOO hard to do it.

[DaveT]

Hopefully here soon I'll have another transmission, I think I can pull off a transmission swap, as long as it isnt TOO hard to do it.

 

If you are replacing with the same type, it is less technically complicated than swapping the engine. Biggest problem I had was getting the car high enough, since the tranny has to come out from underneath it.

 

I used SOLID concrete blocks 8" x 16" x 4" stacked like bricks under each tire. I think it took 3 layers. Top was 2 blocks, so the tire was on a 16 x 16 platform. I just jacked each wheel 4" at a time, adding to the pyramid each time around. Once done, I found I could back the car off by adding a block or 2 to make the slope of the steps shallower. I used a couple of jacks I have to lower the transmission onto a board. Under the board were 4 pieces of steel tubing (EMT) for rollers.

 

The biggest trick is pulling the half shafts off the tranny - there is just enough room to move the engine & transmission far enough to get one off, then move the other way to pull the other. Unbolting the engine mounts from the engine is the not fun part.

 

Be carefull of the speedometer cable. Removing it from the transmission can be troublesome. The aluminum corrosion can lock the plastic threads in pretty good.