Faulty knock sensor

[Xist]

I was not able to work on my car and I am not sure when I will be able to.

I asked a friend to drive me, but it seems like everything takes twice as long when I have "help." At 8:27 I received a message from O'Reilly informing me that my parts were ready. I called Pep Boys at 9:05 to say that I would be picking up my car, talked to the guy at O'Reilly, who said to change the spark plugs and wires and see how my car ran, but when I arrived at Pep Boys at 10:55, they said that they did not know that I was coming, my car would not be ready until 12:30.

I had already lost too much time. I needed to go home.

Hopefully I will have time to work on it in a few days.

[Xist]

Apparently, Pep Boys ran down my battery. They also got my floor mat all dirty. I actually still had the paper one from my old shop, which they removed, and then tracked grease into my car. I had error codes P0301 and P0303--cylinders one and three misfire, but I changed the spark plugs (and air filter) and the codes are gone, but the engine is still running horribly. I guess that I will get a video of it shaking, it is bad!

I had Autozone charge my battery, but they said that it was bad. It is from AAA and says that it has a three-year warranty, while AAA says that the average battery life in Arizona is twenty-two months. There was a code on the sticker, 1108, which one guy said meant that it was made in August of 2,011, while the other said that it was made in November of 2,008, but I told him there is no way that it would have lasted five years.

I ran the car while I finished up.

I never got any error codes, though.

The girl at Autozone told me to go to the closer Pep Boys and tell them that I took my car to the other location, where they made my problems worse, and I needed to know what they were going to do to fix it.

[Fat Charlie]

Mine's doing the same: running horribly rough and throwing P0302 & P0303 all the time, and new plugs didn't fix it. The ignition switch went bad a while ago and now the clutch is going.

Everything's piling up and while I was hoping the Bobsled would see 250k, it'll hit 207k in a few days. Not looking good for its future.

[Xist]

Charlie, I am really sorry about that. Good luck!

Someone on subaruforester.org suggested that the faulty knock sensor is causing the misfire. Is there any possibility of that?

[justme1969]

Ive worked at 3 major automotive dealerships and I can attest that if you take it to Subaru you will be fixed. Little trick is ask to talk with a tech if the ramble off with solid facts ask for them by name when you bring it there. You can spend your 75 bucks an hour on a oil changer, or on a specialist even at the dealership so know who works upon your ride. look for titles like senior master or world class and minimum shop certified master mechanic.
These titles have certificates also which you may ask to see.

[Xist]

JustMe, thanks for sharing your experience. If the only Subaru dealership in the valley were not over forty miles away, I might just have gone already.

I looked around their web site. I guess that it makes sense that they would not list their employees, although I did see Peoria Subaru | Vehicles for sale in Peoria, AZ 85382, which was interesting. I do not know how thorough that chart is, if there are other local chains that charge less, and if there are other common services for which they would charge more, but I do not remember seeing a chart like that before, so that is something.

My dad has offered to loan me his F-150. It has been sitting all year (he bought it for a friend, but needed to take it back after the friend drove 100,000 miles in twelve months). He hates having it sit and depreciate, although it would depreciate faster if driven.

He also worries about me not having air conditioning in Arizona.

I have good parents.

[Xist]

Well, I replaced the knock sensor. That was easy, but it did not seem to fix anything. I did more research and wondered if my coilpack was bad. I went back to O'Reilly and the guy told me to drive until I got an engine code.

Sixty-five miles later, the light came on a few times, and it blinked for a while, but it always went away before very long. My Ultragauge showed Pending Codes P0301, P0303, and once, P0304--all at the same time!

I was not driving down the highway on one cylinder!

He told me to ignore everyone that was not in an official Subaru forum and when I talked about taking it to a Subaru dealership he told me to take where he took his two Subarus.

I think that I need to stop listening to anyone without Subaru stitched to their clothing.

[Fat Charlie]

The main problem is trying to indirectly diagnose the car. A Subaru tech is going to start at the same place as everyone else, he'll just be more likely to troubleshoot it faster and have whatever the needed part is. Since he's charging for the diag time, he'll spend the time actually testing things instead of selling you a guess.

Just yesterday I talked to a guy who has a check engine light. The forums tell him he needs a short running valve actuator- a $200 part that probably won't fix his problem. I've got it, but I also know that it's quite likely he's going to need a $700 plenum instead, as well as assorted gaskets and hardware. Now, we can't make a bad situation less bad, but at least I could stop the guy from slapping in a $200 part that wouldn't fix it or get him any closer to knowing what will.

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Now, we can't make a bad situation less bad, but at least I could stop the guy from slapping in a $200 part that wouldn't fix it or get him any closer to knowing what will.

well, it turns out that I can't. He just showed up and bought it. I'm going to save his VIN on my screen because he's going to be calling again soon.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

well, it turns out that I can't. He just showed up and bought it. I'm going to save his VIN on my screen because he's going to be calling again soon.

Could you have told him you considered that an unlawful order? :/