I have a 1998 4runner with 380,000 miles. I went to drive it today and it was running really rough with jump accelerating. The check engine light started flashing. I turned the car on/off and the CEL went off, but the car was still running somewhat rough.

I plugged in a scanner and got p0300 p0302 p0304. Random misfire, and misfire on #2 and #4.

I just got back from a 2000 mile round trip drive. On the drive my darn K&N oil filter started leaking like crazy. By the time the oil pressure light came on, I was atleast 3 quarts low. I immediately put more oil in and kept topping it off every 30 minutes until I got home and could put on a new filter. No leaks now

Plugs and wires are < 1 year old.

Does anyone have advice on where to start? Could driving around so long with low oil of caused an issue? I am about 40 minutes away from my friends house who has a garage that I use, would driving there in this state cause damage/

Thanks,

Scott

 

Running low on oil is never a good thing, Although I believe it is unrelated to your misfire.

There are a few things you can do to narrow down the culprit, ::spoiler:: (My money is on injectors)

Since it is cylinder specific, try moving parts around. Swap the coil packs around and see if the miss moves. Next exchange the plug wires around, make sure you keep the firing order intact. Do the same with the spark plugs. Lastly move the injectors around to see if the miss moves. The coils, wires, and plugs can be moved without any cost. The injectors will require new upper and lower intake gaskets when you split and pull the clamshells.

 

V6 right? Not a 4 cylinder?

Which happened first - the oil leak and then the misfire or?

Less than a yr on plugs and wires, but how much mileage put on them...? Can at least do a visual check on 'em.

Plug wires may be tricky to swap around since the lengths tend to be specific to their cylinders.

At your mileage, long life parts like injectors and coil packs are definitely suspects, but it might only be a couple, though easier to replace all. But troubleshoot first.

Coil packs - you can check for corrosion at the wire-pack connections and carbon buildup at the boots. If you know how to use a multimeter, you could do a few tests.

P0300 sucks...could mean any cylinder, but definitely start at cyl 2 and 4 (and their respective opposites).

Drive to your buddy's garage should be ok as long as no more flashing CEL. Driving around with a misfire won't cause significant damage since it looks like you're addressing the problem immediately. But I'd minimize driving as much possible.