Car: 2009 legacy 2.5i SOHC I believe it is the ej253. History: Bought the car back in December and have had a P0303 Cylinder 3 misfire code on every cold start. After warming up the car and clearing the code; engine seems to run sort of fine; i was able to pass emissions. next day cold starts rough misfires yet again and throws CEL P0303. Replaced Spark plugs, wires, and ignition coil. Problems: P0303 cylinder 3 misfire Sort of a newb Brought it to Japanese auto repair in Suwanee. They told me i need a new motor. $5400 lol Brought it to Subaru of Gwinnett and they told me i need headgaskets. The cylinder 3 spark plug is clean and they think that coolant is leaking when the engine is cold. They need to tear down the head to make sure. If my heads are warped i need new heads and thats waaay to expensive through the dealership for me right now. I asked ALL Pro for a quote and they told me around $3000 with the timing belt, and water pump, plugs etc. so that is an option. Does anyone have or know where i can get some heads? Junk yards In the Gwinnett area? I want a head so i can get it resurfaced so i can slap the good one on and not wait more for the machine shop. My plan is to do the headgasket myself along with the timing belt and water pump. That way i save some cash just in case the head is warped or the headgasket isn't the issue after all.
Does anyone know a good place to have a headgasket done? so far i have found ALLPRO and Six Star subaru
We do it at Classic for about $2200 with new timing belt. If the heads or block are warped then you'd be looking at a bit more.
Brought it down to classic today thanks for letting me know. Now to find out if the heads are warped or not
It has been a long time since i had this fixed but i thought i would update the thread just in case some one else has cold start issues along with the check engine light problem i was having. Classic Subaru for the WIN! So the valves needed to be adjusted and a fuel injector needed soldering. They did one side of the head gasket too in order to change the valves apparently. So glad i went with Classic Subaru. I highly recommend them! DO NOT GO TO "JAPANESE AUTO REPAIR" or "JAR". They wanted $5,500 for an engine swap after barely checking the car and telling me the engine must be replaced. They had no proof that the engine needed to be replaced and their communication was horrible. I asked what lead them to believe it needed a new motor and the manager just told me it was a fact that the motor was bad. No reason or actual proof he just "KNEW". Acted like i was stupid and did not understand anything and insulted me over the phone. Just trying to pressure me as much as possible to change my engine and fork over $5,500 on a hunch. Avoid that place like the plague.