97 camry 4 cylinder missing, sputtering

[philhead1]

I have a 97 4 cyl, Le. we have noticed a small sputter on take off for the last 2-3 months but nothing big, I changed the plugs about a month ago, the wires last year. a few days ago my wife was driving it going to the doctor. drove there fine, she went to go start it leaving abd it started misfiring and sputterung bad, took it to a guy with hand held diagnostics machine. it showed misfire cylinders 2-3. so he told her to by a coil pack bank #2 , I got home a replaced it and nothing same thing. she then took it to auto zone to have to daignostics second opinion, it showed 2-3 misfire. he told he to replace plugs 2-3 so I did, still missing. I pulled all 4 plugs ( one at a time) and checked the spark and they seem to have a good spark. at low end it misses and is under powered bad, get it up to hoghwway speed and its not as noticeable, if you floor it it accelerates fine, slight hesitation but pretty much normal. what else could it be???

[Mike Gerber]

If the codes were misfires on cylinders 2 and 3 (P0302 and P0303) and you just replaced the spark plugs, then my next guess would be the spark plug wires. I understand they were replaced a year ago, but I have seen cheap aftermarket wires last as little as 1 year or 20,000 miles. After that I would suspect the fuel injectors on cylinders 2 and 3, but it rare that they would both go out at the same time and cause this problem. There could be other factors like the mechanical condition of those 2 cylinders, but since you didn't include the mileage on your car it would be hard to even guess at those factors. In short, I would suspect plug wires if aftermarket wires were used the last time. If you know someone with another Toyota 4 cylinder 5SFE engine, you could switch their number 2 and 3 plug wires on to your engine for a test. If not, I would go to the dealer and get a good known set of Toyota OEM plug wires and try them.

In future posts always include the current mileage and any recent work done on the car, and at what mileage. Also, when codes are read by places like Autozone, get the actual code numbers and post those here, not what the counter guys says they are. Their primary function is to sell you parts; needed or not.

Mike

[philhead1]

ok thanks, we looked at the spark plug boots when looking them over and found a white / burnt area near the bottom. we taped it up with some balck tape and it runs great now. will be getting some new "GOOD" wires in teh morning, and also taking the coil pack back too, that will save $94. thanks again

[Mike Gerber]

Glad you found the problem. Now you know what I mean by cheap aftermarket plug wires lasting as little as 1 year. I hope you can return the coil pack. Most electrical parts are not returnable.

Mike

[philhead1]

they did take it back, thankfully. that saved us $94. have the plug wires on order now.