p301 code, 97 brighton wagon

I've had cylinder misfires occur for 2 apparent reasons on my wife's Outback. Once it seemed to happen after a fill-up. It was cleared and did not return.(water? vapor recovery?)

Another time I got misfires and they DID return after clearing. It eventually seemed to be due to a bad battery (dead cell).

I had a cylinder misfire code when my spark plug wires needed to be re- greased. Car would start fine, but as soon as I would try to pull away, it would nearly stall and the CEL would blink. Then at the last possible microsecond car would regain control and everything would return to normal. Horrifying when you're trying to pull out into traffic! First time, simply regreased the coil contacts. Eventually, replacing the wires solved the slight hesitation I used to get on a take-off from zero.

Good post, a '97 could def be needing new plug wires or have other high-voltage problems like cracked coil w'ever.

\Sometims looking around under the hood at night will show arcing, or spraying with water while idling might find a sensitive wire that's shorting out with condensation w'ever.

No further misbehavior...a one time occurrence....and car passed its emission test today. (Auto Zone had reset the CEL 5-6 weeks ago)