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Yea, that makes sense. Special washer.

The threads on the plugs and heads would have to be precisely placed, unlikely to happen. According to a mechanic that was talking about it, the difference between the OEM NGK and the aftermarket NGK is that the washer is different so it crushes to a different height. In his example of 1 I saw that the OEM did land in the right area vs. aftermarket, but in the comments a few people said they bought OEM that didn't index right and aftermarket that did so it appears to be a bit of a crapshoot. The install instructions were "torque to XX, then up to XX if needed for better indexing". If the factory plug has a more compliant washer then it could allow for more turning with less torque increase, but that seems a bit far fetched also.

https://www.racdyn-usa.com/PROD/130+10+10+013.html Didn’t help. I can get my ECU flashed as part of a tune that will get rid of it. $800or yellow light???? Edited - I spoke with tech support at Racing Dynamics. It is their product and they sold me a bung that said should work but no guarantees. I have been dealing with this since I replaced the manifold/cat. I am sort of resigned. My air bag, ABS, TPI, DCS have all been on for 2+ years. I do not need dash lights.

Indexing causing the piston to melt seems a bit far fetched. The NGK has more exposed ceramic implying that it's a hotter plug, that could cause piston issues.

Even worse if the pan cracks/breaks.

Spacer as shown, or "MIL eliminator" which is a simple electronic fooler. What I usually do is cover some of the holes that let exhaust into the sensor. I've never researched how much of it to cover, I usually do about 3/4 of it, maybe more. A dot of weld on each hole with the mig welder, or use a spring type hose clamp and grind off the tabs so it'll fit in the hole.

I should have said oil pan threads as that would have made a really bad day if they came out with the plug.

I should buy a new plug. The threads appeared unhappy. I agree, having the vehicle lift is a total game changer. Super grateful for the lift just wish I had one starting about 30 years ago.. The lift is certainly a “friend magnet”. 🤣

I am glad for you that the oil plug threads survived the massive over torque. As far as you pants, I just hate that. You are just going to do one little thing and bam, something happens. But at least you didn't have to crawl out from under the car 50 times as you tried different tools and drain the oil like the rest of us peons.

Looks like they want 45 degrees vs. injector in DI engines. Wife's CX5 is DI, I'll have some copper washers laying around. Car is due for service. See what happens.

The oil filter was also super tight, fortunately I have an end cap oil filter removal tool which I was able to bust it loose with. The nice thing about the Subaru is the filter is on top right next to the filler and the filter sits upside down.

This was a fairly common practice in the muscle car era, '60s thru the early '70s. The HP/combustion efficiency improvement was very subtle at best, but it was not that subtle on some high performance/built engines (i.e.; anything with a hemi-style combustion chamber). The trick was to mark the corresponding plug gap placement on the plug's ceramic insulator prior to installation; once torqued you could see the gap's relationship to the intake valve. Copper shim washers were available in various thickness to fine tune the plug gap/intake valve angle (using more than one shim/washer was ill advised, but was done by some). You wanted to point the gap past the intake valve seat and about midway toward the area of the chamber in which the incoming intake charge/spray of fuel would swirl the most (somewhat akin to aiming for center of mass).

Wonder if it's time to simply change the intrinsic design of plugs.

Poetry.

Btw, I agree on latter part of OP. There absolutely no fucking way to know ahead position of side electrode of particular plug in particular engine.

Interesting, and not urban legend. Straight from NGK page. In DI engine, you index it toward injector?

Spacer for rear O2 would, probably, fix your engine light. Goes between pipe/cat and 02 sensor.

I will pull the codes today. I don’t look at the check engine light anymore. I put an aftermarket manifold and cat on it last year and the rear O2 sensor does not play nice. I currently have 5 lights that stay on.

It used to be a hot rodder's trick to try to squeeze out a couple HP; usually pointless, but sometimes worth while. I recently learned that with some DI engines it's a big deal so if you have one and do your own work, make sure you check the info for yours. Some manufacturers get around it by using multi electrode plugs. Many say that if you buy plugs from a dealer they index properly, vs. the same number plugs from a parts supplier that won't index the same; I'm not sold on that.

The fill cap on some cars like to stick, but it seems likely that that one had been cranked down. No story about the filter so I guess he didn't go crazy on that.

Even if it didn't trigger a check engine light there's likely to be a "pending" code that will tell you which cylinder it was. From there I'd look at the plugs to see if it might be worn plugs or something else. If you replace the plugs I recommend OEM unless there's evidence of something that's better for it. They don't have to come from a stealership, just the same brand and number plugs. It's unlikely to be a coil, when they crap out it's usually permanent. I've seen some cases where they stop working cold but work as they heat up. The inverse could happen, but I don't recall ever experiencing it.

Good idea. I have thought of doing that, but it is such an intermittent event by the time I get home I have forgotten about it. Until the dead cylinder incident. And the stethoscope is in the barn so it is even easier to forget.

I just changed the oil on Molly's Subaru Outback, (SOB) I wish I could find the Subaru Tech who touched it last… FUCKING COCK SUCKING MOTHER FUCKER. 🤬 He must have applied the oil fill cap with a specialty tool torqued to about 60 pounds. The OIL FILL CAP!! Who does that?? . After I carefully removed it with a wrench my buddy said, “I bet the oil tech got fucked in the ass for forgetting to put the oil cap on previously.” Oddly, the Subaru cap appears to have slots for a speciality tool to be inserted for tightening…I’d never noticed that before. Next, when I tried to remove the oil drain plug with a 14mm socket and a 3/8’ ratchet wrench it wouldn’t budge. So, when I moved to a 1/2’ ratchet and it didn’t budge I began to become concerned. I pulled out the “Big Gun” the DeWalt 3/8’ cordless impact. The same tool I have pulled old, rusty bumper bolts with! Nada. Fucking reefed on. ‘’Out comes the DeWalt 1/2” cordless impact gun which I use for pulling wheel lug nuts. Well, the mother fucking oil drain plug busts loose, spins off, and I got hit with projectile oil vomit from the Subaru’s 45 degree exit drain plug. A fucking geyser which drenched my pants from the hip to the knee, and these were not my shop pants. I was pretty infuriated as I hadn’t bothered to put on my mechanics coveralls as it was a one bolt job. I decided to,change the oil on the SOB shortly after putting adjustable lower control arms on my buddy’s Jeep TJ. (The one we swapped Rubicon running gear into.) So, the point of this whole story…? I looked up the torque spec for a Subaru Outback oil drain plug and torqued that bitch to a perfect 25 foot pounds. 😀