So i bought my bugeye wrx a couple of month ago and love it, in the middle of buying some mods to be fitted in the new year with an andy forrest remap. Anyways, since i bought the car i noticed a kind of missfire/judder while accelerating, basically its when the turbo is spooling up and/or on full boost. Its never really bothered me as its not a major missfire, but ive sometimes noticed the engine managment light flashes when under hard acceleration in a high gear, also the boost pressure starts to vary up and down. Tonight i thought i'd have a bit fun and the engine light is now on all the time. My question is should i buy an obd scanner to find out the code or just wait until i go for my remap as the car is running exactly as it always has... no smoke and all levels are spot on

Forgot to mention the car has an andy carr remap, boost gauge, sti intercooler, decat downpipe with full system, walbro fuel pump and a panel filter

 

Ideally you need to get the cel code read to determine the fault currently there.

Post the code up when you've got it read.

Usually a flashing cel under high boost is usually a Knock sensor going out of its preset parameters or a missfire.

 

Cheers for the reply, i will order the scanner off ebay, will it be ok to drive the car in the meantime?

 

I'd keep off boost if you do drive it just to be safe

 

as above resist the temptation for anymore "fun" and drive off boost until you get it looked at. it could be just a dodgy knock sensor or whatever but then again maybe not.

 

Cheers lads i will do that!

 

Might sound strange but, odds on it's the neutral position switch. Exact symptoms I had on my Bugeye after modifications. Particularly as the CEL light flashes under heavy load and has now stayed on. On higher mileage gearboxes the wear in the bearings let the switch go open circuit under heavy load. Will show up as a misfire on the codes.

 

I doubt its the nps. My nps is faulty and its never brought up a cel. Only found out when getting the car mapped. It's a very common fault but I've never heard of it brigig the cel on. Could be wrong tho

 

not sure if it is the nps as its not just a light on the dash, i can feel a judder/misfire when on boost....

 

dont rule it out as malcb is right,a faulty NPS can bring on odd cel lights and no cel lights,
again a laptop and lead will show you the NPS working.

 

I stand corrected just never had any issues with mine being faulty

 

Got my obd scanner and read the stored code which was "cylinder 1 misfire detected" ... that could mean a lot of things? :/

 

front driverside plug, I'd first check the connector on the coil pack if thats ok take the plug out and check the condition & gap of the plug. if it's worn it could be blowing the spark out under boost. or worst case the coils fubard

 

Cheers, I may as well change the plugs now as i was going to do so before i get the car remapped anyway... I will be pleased if thats all thats wrong with it :-)
I erased the codes and have since been out for a drive, had the engine managment light flash a few times under boost but the light did not stay on, nor has it stored an error code.