2004 1.4 3cylinder help!

[kc88]

I was drivin yesterday morning everything was fine, went to go out last night but the car is misfiring, took out the coil packs and found oil on top of the spark and on side of the coil, havent been able to get the spark plug out as i dont have the right socket at the moment. Any ideas what would cause this? Thanks in advance

[oldcodger]

 

Hi,

Its the rocker cover gasket thats failed, its a one piece seal that also has the O seals that protect all the plugs, so you have to do them all in one.

See this thread for details of how to replace it.

https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/187114-rocker-cover-gasket-tsport/?tab=comments#comment-1493724

[kc88]

Sound for that, this might sound like a stupid question but, i changed the rocker cover gasket and the spark plug because it looked like oil got into it, i started the engine and let it run for about a minute, still on 3 cylinders, and getting an oil smell from exhaust, do i need to run the engine longer to burn off any oil that droppes into engine after i took out the spark plug or would it be needing a new coil? Tia

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Bit puzzled why you would run the engine on 3 cylinders ?   - assume you mean with the spark plug in, but the coil disconnected ?

A little oil from the leakage will have run into the cylinder when you took the plug out, but it needs to be ignited to be burnt off. so would reconnect the coil and give it a proper run.

Do you know how old all your spark plugs are, unless replaced quiet recently, generally better to replace all 4 together so the combustion is balanced.

[kc88]

I ran the engine after i put in the new gasket in, with new spark plug and all 4 coils were connected, thats what is leading me to think the coil is gone

Car had a full service oil plugs filters clutch throttle body and throttle cable about 6k miles ago 

[kc88]

Got a new (old tested) coil from scrapyard put it in and she is still only on 3 cylinders any ideas on what to check next lads? 

[Parts-King]

Compression test? Inexpensive to check 

[oldcodger]

Hi,

You originally said  'misfiring' but now say running on 3 cylinders, that could be two quiet different problems.

When did the misfire start, recently and suddenly or slowly over time.

Several ways you can start to test things out.

One way, use something like a Gunsons Spark  tester so you can see if a spark is being generated

Another, disconnect no1 coil, start the engine and run for a very short time, does it run very rough - if so that cylinder Was firing ok.

Do the same on the other cylinders one at a time,  the one you disconnect and has no effect ( ie still misfires as before) when you start the engine, then thats the one with the problem.

Which cylinder is the one with the oil leak problem ?  assume thats the one you put the s/h coil into.

Always be wary of s/h parts, partic electronic ones. 

As Kingo has just mentioned lots of other prossible causes, head gasket, valves , injectors, fuel system

What the oil and water levels / usage and colour .

 

 

 

[kc88]

It was driving good at night on the 19th, the next morning it was ol, bit of a hesitatiom around 3k revs in 2nd and 3rd, then went out to drive it that evening and the check engine light came on and its sound rough when i reved it a bit as if it was down a cylinder, so i removed the coils, and noticed oil on the side of the coil in cylinder 2, i removed the rocker cover and the gasket was split and dried out, I replaced that and replaced the spark plug and the coil and started it back up, but its still rough 

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Have you read out the Check light Error code/s to see what fault its says ?

Most garages will do that for a small fee or buy a cheap OBD2 plug in  tool.

 

[kc88]

I havent brought it to a garage, dont have the money for a garage to be fixing it, i got a cheap bluetopth obd2 but its not able to connect to the ecu,so waiting on a new scan tool to arrive and hopefully it will show me something ive attached a video of how it sounds hopefully it uploads

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Yes it plays back ok, though a bit difficult to detect any misfire..

Is it still driveable ? 

Hopefully the new code reader will give some useful info, worth checking that they say they work ok on Toyotas

Have used and earlier version of one of these ok on my old Avensis and old Corolla, though only basic functions, no ABS or Airbags diagnostics etc,  but sub £20.

 

 

[kc88]

Its driveable but very under powered i didnt drive it hard only to the shop and kept it under 2500rpm i probably should have made a longer video from the engine bay il try get a proper one tomorrow, code reader wont arrive until wednesday if that shows nothing i might borrow a compression tester off a mate 

[kc88]

the obd reader arrived today its showing 2 faults, P0304 cylinder 4 misfire and P0300 Powertrain, random/multiple cylinder misfire detected any ideas where i go from here?

[furtula]

Did you try removing the cyl 4 spark plug, to see if there's still any oil issues?

Have you tried switching the coil packs around, trying the one from 2 on 4 ?

How was the new coil pack tested, are you sure it's actually working? 

[kc88]

Im assuming the new coil i bought is working as it is in cylinder 2 and its cylinder 4 thats showing fault, i swapped the coils around and still showing cyl 4, the spark plug socket i borrowed is 1/4" and my ratchet is 1/2" so have to wait til later when i borrow one to check spark plug, my initial thoughts when it happened was the fuel injectors blocked, I use same garage all the time but the day before it started misfire i used a different garage in a rush (i used to work there and had customers complaining about blocked injectors all the time, but that was mainly diesel cars) i dont fill my tank i put in a tenner every few days which is about 7litres or quarter of a tank so could be **** from bottom of tank blocking injectors too 

[oldcodger]

 

Agree with Furtula..

Code P300 is just a general code saying a misfire was detected,  P304 gives the actual cylinder

Seems there are other possible causes other than ignition, but you need to rule them out first.

You say you changed 2 and 4 coils around and still got the same error, but did you Clear the old P304 error codes first with your OBD2 tool?

As your  "new"  but second hand coil is in no 2 , then it would be better to use no 3 coil in no 4 as seems that is ok, whereas your no2 coils are unknown state.

Again worth taking out all the plugs to check their condition and that they have the right gap and are the correct type ? 

My 1/2" plug socket fits fine with a 1/2" extension bar.

This ytube may help ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Srh1DCz4y8

 

 

 

 

[kc88]

After i swapped the coils and restarted the car, no errors came up turned off engine and back on and eml came on and same error, just swapped over 2 of the injectors, started her up, its still running **** between tick over and 3k revs,but no eml so i drove it up the road and back the eml flashed on when i changed to second then went back off again, no error codes showing as eml isnt on

[kc88]

Ended up using a vice grips on the end of the extension bar and found the gap in the spark plug was non exsistant, also put in a bottle of k seal to stop the coolant leak, car is back runnin the way it was 6 months ago not loosing coolant anymore and no misfire thanks for all the help lads

[Notoyboy]

All sounds good 😊