When I did my first tune-up on my car about a month ago I used aftermarket parts from to car parts store. I have also had a head gasket recall done on it since then. Everyone has been saying that I need to replace those parts with toyota parts. My engine would miss every once in a while so I decided to take their advice.

Yesterday I went to Toyota and got a new cap, rotor, plugs, and wires. I put them on yesterday afternoon and now my car misses much worse than it did before. It is so bad that I am going to have to take it to the shop on Monday.

I tried everything to figure it out. I swapped back out the cap and wires with the old ones and it didn't help. The spark plugs were pre-gapped, so it couldn't have been that causing the problem. I looked at them and the gap looked the same as the plugs that I pulled out of the car though I didn't check them with a feeler gauge. I didn't try swapping out the spark plugs because that was so much trouble. I figured it wouldn't have been that anyways. I tried wiping the dielectric grease off the plugs and wires, that didn't help. We tried looking for a vacuum leak and could not find one. I even pulled the fuse on the computer to reset it and that didn't help.

It seems to drive fine, but idles really rough. We found that if we pulled one of the spark plug wires while the engine was running and then put it back in the cap that it would idle smoothly. That would last until we pushed on the gas and it went back to idle, then it would be rough again.

I am so angry :mad:. I was supposed to put my subs in this weekend, that didn't happen. I got a ticket driving my friends Mustang GT . It has just been a bad weekend.

I really need all your help. How much do you think the dealership will charge to figure it out? Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated. I would fix it myself if I knew what it was.

Thanks

 

I know you have probably checked this..but are you sure you have the plug wires going to all of the right plugs? And that you have the cap on right?

I don't mean to be insulting - just checking the obvious.

 

Yes I'm sure. No insult taken. I forgot to mention that.
The plug wires were numbered so I just matched them up with the cylinder, 2-4-6 1-3-5. The cap can only go on one way and I matched the numbers on the cap to the wires. Thanks though.

 

"spark plugs were pre-gapped so it couldn't have been that"

You may want to rethink that statement a bit.

Gadget

www.GadgetOnline.com

 

I've got a buddy that works for Toyota and he came over and looked at my car. He thought that it was missing because the injectors were dirty. The old spark plugs were a little white. So I know that it is definitely running lean. I also have a small cut in my intake tube. It only seems to idle rough when the car is warm. What do you guys think?

I'm going to take it to the dealership and run some of the bada$$ injector cleaner through it and replace that intake tube. I hope that helps.

Thanks

 

Not sure on when ignition systems begin to drastically change, but if you did a cap and rotor, what about the coil? I had the same problem on a different older car. When the coil got hot, a wire inside must have been seperating and caused problems, but ran fine while it was cold.

Also, if it begins to idle rough like a cylinder isnt firing, pull a plug wire one at a time, and if the engine does not change, that cylinder is not firing, if it changes drastically or dies, then that cylinder was working.

Hope that helps some.