Misfire

[matt3453]

Hello all,

Was driving down the road the other day in a 1998 Camry (running great till this point), then suddenly the engine starts to rumble and the check engine light starts to flash. No acceleration and absolutely horrible acceleration going uphill. I drove it home and I'm not exactly a car guy, but I've experienced this on my older Ford Taurus before when I got rid of it (blown head).

The Camry instead of a continous air flow at the exhaust, is going kind of like: puft puft puft puft puft puft ... kind of like in increments if that makes sense. Plus the whole engine is rumbling. So I'm assuming ... a misfire.

Anyways, the first thing I was told to do is check spark plugs ... they looked fine but I replaced them since they're cheap. Is there anything else that you all can suggest that might cause this to happen to suddenly? I love the car and I really hope its not another blown head!

[fenixus]

flashing CEL means a misfire (a frequent one). if changing spark plugs didn't solve the problem then go ahead and check resistance of plug wires. they should all read same and around 25Kohm IIRC.

or go ahead and get a set of new ones from Advance Auto locally - NGK TE58 or order a set from amazon (cheaper).

another thing to check/replace is your air filter.

how many miles on car, what's the maintenance/repair history?

get the trouble codes scannd and read for free at local autozone or advance auto. post them here.

[matt3453]

Its a 98 Camry with 150k miles. The car doesn't stall or anything, but how safe is the car to drive considering the misfire? I don't want to do further damage since the nearest auto zone/advanced auto is about 8 miles away.

[fenixus]

a few miles will not make any difference to engine. it will only hurt your MPG and emissions. computer compensates as much as it can for the condition. those codes might be crucial for further diagnostics.

[matt3453]

got a code reader from autozone .... here are the codes

PO303 - Cylinder 3 Misfire

Also, I noticed in the I/M section it said the following:
htd Catalyst = n/a

Not sure how critical this is.

Could someone tell me moving from passengar side to driver's side, which is cylinder 3? I didn't check the spark plug wires, could that be something to check? Anything else? Can I narrow it down to the spark plug wire if I switch wires between cylinders, drive it for a while so I can get the check engine light back on (it was off the last time I tried to check it), and then see if the error code switches to a different cylinder? Hope that all makes sense..

[fenixus]

cylinder 3 is third when counting from the passenger side towards driver side, that's how they are numbered.

most likely you have either a bad spark plug or spark plug wire over cylinder 3.
if plugs were changed recently, then I would swap the wire set with a new one.

also possible that a fuel injector is causing the problem, but don't worry about it now.

don't worry about the Heated Catalyst,it doesn't apply to your car.

[matt3453]

All right I appreciate your help. I did the spark plugs already, guess I'll do that wires. Auto zone wants $50 for them, kind of sucks because I need to get to work Mon. Junk yard /w a friend a good idea?

Edit:

I found an aftermarket set, are the NGK's reliable?

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...S_336421084___

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by matt3453

All right I appreciate your help. I did the spark plugs already, guess I'll do that wires. Auto zone wants $50 for them, kind of sucks because I need to get to work Mon. Junk yard /w a friend a good idea?

Edit:

I found an aftermarket set, are the NGK's reliable?

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Ignition-Wire-Set-NGK_15500268-P_197_R|GRPTUNEAMS_336421084___

forget about autozone wires, they sell only crappy Bosch garbage and so-so Duralast ones.
NGK is the best you can get actually, go for it

junk yard wires is a BAD idea.

[matt3453]

Haha, OK I'm going to advanced auto in the morning. I'll let you know the results after I install.

Thanks again!

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by matt3453

Haha, OK I'm going to advanced auto in the morning. I'll let you know the results after I install.

Thanks again!

good luck! I hope it solves the trouble. if not, just post back, I'm sure someone will figure it out

[matt3453]

Replaced spark plug wires this morning and now my camry's running great! Thanks a lot fenxius and toyotanation.com!

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by matt3453

Replaced spark plug wires this morning and now my camry's running great! Thanks a lot fenxius and toyotanation.com!

great!