Well i'm not sure completely dead but here's what happened:

I was dropping off my little girl at school and when I started the car, it sounding like a WRX... there was some serious misfire. So I turned off the car, waited a few seconds, and restarted it... everything was okay.

So i'mon my way to work and I need to stop and gas up. I stop about three blocks sown from my work to gas up... turn it off... gas up... turn it on, and again... a WRX immitation.... This time it doesnt go away.
During my lunch hour, I decide to go and check it out. As it starts, it continues to do the same thing. I disconnect cylinder 6 coilpack and it get wose... connect it and do the same to cylinder 4 and 2... Cylinder 4 had the same results. When I disconnect cylinder 2, it DOES NOT do anything.... so then I thought I figured out the problem.

At the end of the day, I go outside and get my tools out, unplug the coilpack and remove it, check the spark plug, and its BLACK... I mean BLACK!!! And its only 4 months old.... I know the car runs rich but DANG!! Anyways, I plug it back in and try to start up the car but nothing. It seemed like the car was dumping fuel into each cylinder like crazy.

I ended up gettting the car towed and today, I remove all spark plugs to find out they are all like that and wet(fuel). I decided to buy new spark plugs and se if that may help. Once I installed them, the car started up no problem, but the misfire was occurring. I disconnected the cylinder 2 coilpack and reconnected it and it fixed the problem. I figured probem solved... so then I turn it off, and turn it back on, and the car does not start...... once again it seems as the car is dumping fuel like crazy!!

I decided to call it quits because I had some stuff to do and I let the spark plugs sit there for a while and when I came back, I removed them, and the new ones had turned black!

Has anyone experienced any similar problems with the 3.5 swap??

I know it could possibly be the coilpacks and/or the injectors staying open... anything else?? I honestly thought it could have been the T/S ECU but it does the same thing with the sock ECU...
Any leads as to what it could be... or any similar problems you all may have had!?

 

black as in covered with oil, or black as in burnt? If black with oil, did you replace the valve cover orings?

 

Its not oil.... its definately from fuel. I'm thinking the ignition timing may be off as well but what would cause it to go off like that??

 

You should really take it to somebody that has a scan tool that can read your ignition timing and/or get a vacuum reading. I have a feeling the cam/crank timing might be off.


Where's your base fuel pressure at? If it's at 51 PSI, I'd turn it down.

 

Do you have any means of tuning and monitoring a/f? Also what is your fuel pressure set to?

 

I have the fuel pressure set to about 45-50psi, and I do have a VAFC hooked up but no WB to monitor it.... I wish i did though

I was just about to have the thing tuned this weekend and then this happened.
I need to find someone with a scan tool.... this sucks!!
I really think the ignition timing is off because its too much of a coincidence for all spark plugs to be black like that and say that all the injectors are dumping too much fuel. I even tried to hold back some fuel during start up to see if it would help with the start up but it doesnt.. its kind of like there just no spark.

It stays at about 200rpm when I crank it But never above that.. and as soon as I release the ignition, it gives a small push to about 300rpms and then just dies.

 

Did this start happening after the VAFC install?

 

I had installed the VAFC quite a while back and I ended up removing it because I wanted to see if that was my cause for losing low end power. Turns out it really didnt have to do anything with it so I reconnected it about 2 weeks ago. It has no a/f corrections on it.... and its set at 1 in 1 out, top/right arow, 6 cylinder.

I'm not really sure if this may have caused the problem but I dont see how.

 

Got any code ?

id get a wideband

 

scan codes to make sure no new ones have popped up, and drop that FP down.

 

I had the same exact symptoms and it ended up being my MAF sensor and an afpr leaking fuel into my vacuum lines.

I'm a 3.0 though.

DF

 

So yo guys dont think its a ignition timing issue??

 

Quick update****

I figured out the problem! I was able to borrow a scanner from a friend and it showed the Camshaft position sensor faulty.... I checked the voltage on it and it was within specs. I cleaned up the CPS and the crankshaft position sensor....
I removed the spark plugs and cleaned them up real good, checked the voltage on ALL coilpacks ad they were all good.... assembled everything back and ave it one more attempt to start. The car started up right away but it still had the misfire. We switched over coilpacks and it seems it was coming from cylinder 2 wiring. We ran a wire directly from the ECU to the coilpack and still no good. We shut the car off for a little while, re-started it and the car ran fine!! No freakin' misfires!!!!!

After thinking hard about this... I came to the assumption that it has to be the ignition switch. The other reason why I say this is because I have been having problems with removing the key at times and the switch seems a little loose. As we undid the steering column, the switch was very loose.. it had about 1/8 of play betwen the actual switch and the housing.

This might be the reason why there is no spark being delivered.