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13 WRX- From Bad to Worse-Misfire to 0 compression

702 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  keegan2003
I am the original owner of a 2013 WRX 78,000 miles Cobb Stage 2, I baby my car. It all started with a random misfire, that was fix by soldering the ground connector in the engine harness. Several months later the CEL came back and it was several codes for a misfire(random, cylinder 4, and the car was shaking like crazy) I checked the harness and added some more solder to the connecter, but that didn't fix the issue. I did a compression on two cylinders( 4 and the one in front of it) due to the lack of time. Cylinder 4 made the needle move a bit but did not leave the zero area. The cylinder in front went to about 120, so i know the gauge works. I added a little oil to cylinder 4 but it did not help with moving the needle. I assumed that it might be a valve issue, so i pulled the motor. When I took the timing cover off the timing marks were off by 1-2 teeth on the belt. After taking the intake and exhaust off I inspected the valves and did not see anything odd besides some carbon build up. I Pulled the head off and it looked like all the valves are all closed, 2 exhaust valve guides looked lower than the rest, its odd because its one per cylinder that looks lower and they are in the same location in the head, not sure if thats by design. After I pulled the head off I finally got my hands on a leak down kit. I slapped the head and the head gasket back on just so i can do this test, I did not install the cams so all the valves are closed and i moved the Piston to TDC. I started on the cylinder that actually built compression, and all i could hear is air escaping from the exhaust and intake ports. I then moved on to the cylinder that had 0 compression, air only escaped threw the intake ports....I squirted some foam from soapy water in to the intake and exhaust ports and the escaping air just blew it out. I was shocked that so much air was escaping threw the exhaust and intake ports on the cylinder that actually built compression. I took out the valves and they looked pretty straight, I did a drill test and they are straight. This is where I am at... I will pop the oil pan off in a few and upload some pictures. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated Thanks!
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Have you overheated the engine? Did you check for cracks around the valves? If you send them to a shop they can actually test the heads without guesswork.
Have you overheated the engine? Did you check for cracks around the valves? If you send them to a shop they can actually test the heads without guesswork.
I didn’t have any overheating issues, only the misfire. That’s the next thing I am going to do, I just have to find a shop in the area.
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