Which cylinder is which?

[noballoffire]

In the 2004 WRX 2.0L, which cylinder is 1? 2? 3? 4? I know that 1 + 3 are on the passenger side, and 2 + 4 are the drivers side... but which is which? LOL

I'm trying to diagnose a misfire, I suspect the coils...

TIA for the help!

[06scoobyrex]

IF YOU HAVE A MISFIRE CODE ,PLEASE READ THIS!!!
Looking at the engine bay from the front its...
1 4
3 2

Good luck man on the diagnosis, I went through this about 6 months ago and it was hell for me...

[teflon_jones]

What's the behavior/code you're getting?

[noballoffire]

I've been getting misfires in cylinders 2, 3, and 4. Replaced the plugs, no help. I suspected the coils, so I figured out there were two bad ones by switching them around a few times - waiting for the replacement coilpacks in the mail. Meanwhile, I picked up a $25 compression tester - going to use that next.

Obviously with 3 misfires, its not running well at all... But I haven't seen any blue smoke out of the tailpipe (worried about a headgasket), so I'm still commuting to work in it.... I've just about exhausted all the things I am able to do to diagnose it, so I'm prolly going to bring it in next week.... Any ideas?

[06scoobyrex]

Its usually unlikely that more then one coil pack goes bad and swapping them to a different cylinder and if the cel code(s) move to there then that's a dead give away... also check...
MAF sensor (clean it)
check for vacuum leaks
check the ground connections with a multimeter (the ground wire on the coil pack harness is in the middle)
check your turbo inlet (famous for tearing)
if you have a way of datalogging try to see if the ecu is pulling timing and readjusting the air/fuel scaling

[Donkey]

[noballoffire]

Are you sure its not
3 4
1 2 ??

[SD_GR]

Since Donkey's post includes a diagram that specifies where the nose of the car lies, I'd urge everyone to follow that diagram. An additional advantage to the diagram is that it's correct.

[noballoffire]

Bad news - I just did a compression test and got a big fat ZERO on cylinder 2. :-0 This means a huge leak, right? Am I screwed????

I'm not doing a leakdown test, so this is the point I call a professional. I would just like to be informed when I go... What are the possible problems ?

Thanks again.....

[06scoobyrex]

Donkey's diagram was right... I had 1 and 3 backwards...

If you don't have any compression in #2 then your piston ring is gone and your looking at either replacing the short block or a rebuild... good luck man, it sucks when things like this happen but nows your chance to build it better...

[noballoffire]

Hmm... Thats bad. What about the valves, tho? Couldnt they be leaking, or stuck open?

Are there any sensors that I could read that could give any hints?

[06scoobyrex]

Yeah... your valve seats could be warped as well, but if you got a 0 it is more likley the piston ring IMHO... when you did the compression test what were your numbers? The first bump should be a lower number and the 3rd should be a larger one... exsample 80 and 160 etc...

[noballoffire]

Bumps? This is the first compression test I've ever done, so I'm not quite sure what u mean. As the engine cranked, the needle would jump up to 30 and the fall immediately in between cranks. The other cylinders read at 155,155,and 150.

[06scoobyrex]

When the compression tester is screwed into the spark plug hole, when your cranking the ignition the "bumps" are when the engine is being cranked through a revolution... If I remember right your saupose to let it cycle 3-4 times and get the first and third reading off the gauge on the tester...

[noballoffire]

If I were to remove the valve cover on that side to inspect the rocker arms and stuff, would I be able to see what was wrong?