New Guy looking for '01 Camry Misfire/Valve TECH help !

[LostCadillacTech]

Hellooo All -

let me preface this by saying I am a Cadillac/Chevy/General Motors tech for almost 20 years now. I have little to no Toyota experience for anything more than once-in-a-blue-moon maintenance for friends.

I have been trying to nail down an annoying p0305 misfire code on my mother-in-laws '01 3.0 V-6 Camry (w/ 126K). I swapped coils and plugs around, checked this and that -the misfire stayed on #5 - finally did a compression check and noted the #5 cyl is about 50 psi less than the rest and it also failed the leakdown test. Im pretty positive I've got a burned valve. but i read somewhere that this engine may have adjustable valves - this is nothing my cadillac experience helps me with so i will ask the stupid questions -----

can the valve be adjusted in-car? or does the head have to come off ?

and my big one: is this common for the '01 3.0? I know in my world of all things GM we see a lot of repeat problems. should i be concerned about doing a total valve job? or can it be "adjusted" away?

thanks toyota nation for your help,

LostCadillacTech

[fenixus]

2.2L 5s-fe and 3.0L 1mz-fe engines have adjustable valves. quite easy to do (engine/head in car) on 4cyl model, but access clearance may be an issue for 1mz-fe rear bank (by firewall).

you will need a special tool (like one below) for the valve job. there is some math included in calculating new/replacement shim (you can get them from dealer) thickness, etc.



but first just read the clearances with a feeler gauge. get a Haynes manual book, it describes the procedure and shows which cylinder valves can be read with each cam/crank position. compression gauge will come in handy for checking TDC.

[LostCadillacTech]

thanks for the help - i downloaded a manual which has the shim math work - AND of COURSE it has to be the #5 cyl on the back wall - working asll my toyota dealer "connections" to see if i can borrow those tools -

do those lifters have any issues? - are they solid or hydraulic? possible i have a collapsed one? cause i still have compression , its just off from the rest so i dont think the valves are wasted (hopefully) but im hoping the shim thing works....

thanks

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by LostCadillacTech

thanks for the help - i downloaded a manual which has the shim math work - AND of COURSE it has to be the #5 cyl on the back wall - working asll my toyota dealer "connections" to see if i can borrow those tools -

do those lifters have any issues? - are they solid or hydraulic? possible i have a collapsed one? cause i still have compression , its just off from the rest so i dont think the valves are wasted (hopefully) but im hoping the shim thing works....

thanks

i'm not a mechanic, so can't really tell what else is going on. gen3 & 4 toyota lifters are solid not hydraulic, and rest is something like a spring loaded bucket or whatever.

You shouldn't have much problem with it since you are mechanical professionally. it's just time consuming process, I'm sure you will do the valve adjustment job right.

have you ruled out a blown Head Gasket around cylinder #5 ? how is compression on rear bank cylinders looking when compared to front bank ones ?
any significant difference as well ?
any white smoke from exhaust or buttery sediment under oil filler cap, boiling coolant maybe ?

just shooting some ideas. good luck!

[LostCadillacTech]

no - im very certain this is a valve issue - compression great (250+) in all cyl except #5 (180) and no smoke, crud on any plugs, oil on any caps - and it failed a cylinder leakdown test - so i guess i just need to suck it up and take it apart -

thanks again

[Mister_Perkins]

well if your head gasket were bad your plugs would be clean

Good luck with the valve adjustment