Hello NAM

I drive a 2005 R53 6sp with 204k miles. Recently, I had a mechanic that I now regret going to perform a clutch job on my r53. During this time, I figured Id throw a 17% on, after all, my last r53 had one and it had no issues.

Ever since I picked the car up after the service, it has never been right. At first, it turns out that I had the stock heat-range plugs (I thought I already had installed the JCW heat-range plugs, turns out I hadn't), so I threw the correct NGK Iridium plugs in. From what I recall, the car was mostly enjoyable to operate for a while after that, although it may have had acceleration hesistations even when I thought everything was running at its best, post clutch/pulley job.

Around June, I got rear ended by a Prius, and I feel as though the impact borked my exhaust somehow, because of how I was hit and because of how the exhaust sounds. Caliber Collision got the car on a lift, and didnt report any major damage to the exhaust, except a small crack where the modified part of the one-balled exhaust is.

What the car is currently doing, and has been doing since the colission, is running fairly rough on startup, and is unable to have more than 30% throttle applied before limp mode (SES light flashing) occurs. The DSC light and occasionally the EML light come on. The higher the gear I am crusing in, the less throttle I can give the car before it stutters, fails to build revs, and starts the SES flashing.

If I clear the p0302 (only code right now, Scangauge 2 mounted on tach) , and drive very gently ( like I essentially have to, to get to work) the light stays off. The engine idles and revs smoothly whenever I keep throttle under 30%

I have changed the order of the spark plugs (they look pretty worn for being only 1.5 months old), but the misfire code stays with cyl 2. I have replaced wires with whatever brand Oreillys sells. I have swapped my coil pack with the MSD red pack that came with the car. I have put a small bottle of seafoam in the tank (my brain is thinking injector issues). My next was going to be to swap around the injectors.

One more bit of info is that the car starts rough in the morning, and really doesnt like to build revs under 3k rpm, but will rev above 3k fine. After I have driven it a little bit, or let it warm up, I can turn the ignition off and on, and it will immediately idle smoother and allow revving under 3k to be less choppy. Going up hills on the highway is a challenge because it almost always requires more than 30% throttle in 4th-6th gear to maintain or gain speed from 50mph. In this situation, I try to delicately feather the pedal so that it will be in the sweet spot between the car still accelerating, and the car cutting power and throwing itself into limp mode.

Any advice is much appreciated. I really don't want to throw more money at this car, unless it is extremely justifiable or likely to resolve my engine. I already spent way too much money having the clutch done, I would just like this car to run smoothly until I can take it out behind the shed and put the car out of my misery.

If anyone in the San Diego car is willing to come troubleshoot my r53s various issues (mostly this one), I've got a set of brand new PowerFlex control arm rear bushings you can have. The guy who did the clutch said he could install them. He either could not or didn't try. These are what I am offering. https://www.powerflexusa.com/shop/pr...r-bushing-2006