CEL Checked at Autozone and...

[xxswat718xx]

came up with 5: 1's the misfire, 2 is stating the 2nd cyl. is misfiring, 3 is the 3rd's misfiring, and the last 2 are repeats. With that said the guy that checked them listed all my car symptoms without me saying a word. Then he says "just do a tune up" and walked away.

Ok, so now what? Do the sparkplugs and wires? What else is needed? What tools? I've got access to a good selection of tools so help me out here guys. Thanks.

[xtremeskier97]

How long has it been since you've done a tune-up?

I would start with:

New plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor, air filter, change oil and oil filter. Id also clean out the throttle body, EGR valve and IAC valve....just to get started.

Then..while I was doing all that, Id change the transmission fluid and differential fluid, replace the fuel filter, and Id also seafoam the engine....but id do that before replacing your spark plugs.

[ghettosled]

it seems like a lot of times a misfire comes from bad wires, plugs or worn a distributor cap. just do a tune up.

[Mike Gerber]

"New plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor"

The generation 4 Camry does not use a distributor. Just change the spark plugs and the spark plug wires as a starting point. If that does not solve the problem, there is a generation 4 manual stickied at the top of the General Camry Discussion Forum that is available for free downloading. Use that to further troubleshoot the ignition system.

The other items xtremeskier97 mentioned to do are good maintainance items, but do not usually cause misfires. All the codes you mentioned are misfire codes.

Mike

[xtremeskier97]

Originally Posted by Mike Gerber

"New plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor"

The generation 4 Camry does not use a distributor. Just change the spark plugs and the spark plug wires as a starting point. If that does not solve the problem, there is a generation 4 manual stickied at the top of the General Camry Discussion Forum that is available for free downloading. Use that to further troubleshoot the ignition system.

The other items xtremeskier97 mentioned to do are good maintainance items, but do not usually cause misfires. All the codes you mentioned are misfire codes.

Mike

Ah....did not know that about the gen4 (have a gen3 myself). Good to know.

And yeah those other things I listed were just "while you're at it" type of things...just some preventative maintenance.

[xxswat718xx]

I've tried searching but what brands do you guys recommend? I know to use NGK or Denso but do you guys have any part #'s? I've read up about Magnecor wires but I don't think I can pick those up at the local autozone. I'm doing this tomorrow, anything I can pick up on the fly?

[touringcamry]

See if you can find NGK or Denso platinum spark plugs and NGK or Denso wires.

[skewe]

sparkplugs.com for NGK cables

[xxswat718xx]

yea I checked out sparkplugs.com. They'd be great if I were had time during the week, cause I'd just get the 2 day shipping or whatever. I need some asap like tomorrow :/

[hoiskii]

Originally Posted by xxswat718xx

yea I checked out sparkplugs.com. They'd be great if I were had time during the week, cause I'd just get the 2 day shipping or whatever. I need some asap like tomorrow :/

Then go to the Autozone and get whatever wires they have, it will be anyway much better than the wires causing misfire. Regarding sparkplugs, I use Bosch Platinum +4 plugs, they are a bit overprised to my taste but I've never had any problem; and the Autozone always has these plugs.

[xxswat718xx]

**UPDATE***
I went and bought NGK's Iridium plugs at Pepboys. They didn't have any of the wires I was looking for at their store (or any other). So I ended up going to a Toyota dealership and bought , what I thought and was told, NGK wires. I take'em out of the bag and they seem to be OEM wires. They ran me $90, I thought to myself "aren't NGK wires cheaper?". I dunno, I spoke to my neighbor that's a mechanic for GMC and he said that price was "ok" and wires are wires. I'm gonna look online and see if I can find the wires (NGK) cheaper, if I do , I'll have to bite the bullet and order them, return these, and wait afew days.

What do you guys think?

[skewe]

I think I bought my NGK for gen 3 and gen 4 for like 30-40$. Got it from Sparkplugs.com

Look in the suggestion forum on TN. I posted a coupon and it;s like 10% off. not sure if it expired but it helps to offset the shipping.

If it expired, google the website and coupon. There are lots of copons out there for that site but unfortunately, TN is not working with them. So far, no complaints from their service and product for my gen 4. I bought gen 3 wires for my friend but have yet to install it.

$90 is a bit pricey. I think Denso on that site it about 50-60???

[touringcamry]

NGK or Denso probably makes the wires for Toyota. NGK wires are about half the cost of what you paid for the Toyota wires at sparkplugs.com. If you really need the car running, keep the Toyota ones because you probably can't return them if you've used them. Overnight shipping plus the cost of you going back to the dealership and not having a running car for another two days might be worth the additional cost of the Toyota wires.

[skewe]

When I last check, the Denso was like $5-10 more than the NGK on that site. Whatever you do is your business but I am just letting you know.

[xxswat718xx]

Yea, I'm just gonna take the hit and install tomorrow. Thanks for all the info guys. It really helped me out. I'll probably be posting more on this topic tomorrow being it's my first plug replacement. Any tips?