Running Rough...Frustrating

[agkellyboy]

So about two weeks ago my car was feeling great. I took it out for a nice long run before I left on vacation and everything about the engine felt great. Now, I come back a week later and all of a sudden the motor seems to be running rougher than usual.

The only engine mods I have are NGK copper plugs gapped at .032" put in ~1000 miles ago, and a cold air cone intake w/ heat shield. In addition to feeling rougher than normal, the car doesn't feel like it pulls as hard as it has in the past and third gear seems to take forever.

At WOT, boost gauge reads a spike of 10 psi dipping and holding to about 9 psi. Mileage is only 2500. Any ideas?

[kill4surf]

make sure the plugs are torqued properly. they can cause major damage to the cylinder heads after a while.

[agkellyboy]

After I felt something off, I took them all out, checked gap, and torqued all at 22 ft/lb

[gods_kitchen]

Are you chipped?

[agkellyboy]

Nope, stock ECU.

[agkellyboy]

Bump, anyone?

[joec500]

I suggest putting the stock plugs back in and stock airbox and see how it runs...if you still have issues take it to the dealer and let them deal with it.

[agkellyboy]

I checked the plugs again and found an issue with one of them, torqued it back in and things seemed a whole lot smoother (or I'm a sucker for the placebo effect).

Now, while I was listening to the engine, I leaned in on the PCV round cap and it was making some crazy rattling noise not in sync with the engine noise...is this normal?

Finally, I think I'm going back to stock on my intake. The filter wasn't of the best quality, and while it's not oiled, I can't imagine that it's filtering out much. The sound is great, and I even would say it changed the power around a bit, but in the end I think things will go a lot smoother in the future if I keep it stock.