1997 Camry Misfire Issue

[Sixlim]

I have a 1997 Camry 4 cylinder that is giving me a random and cylinder 3 misfire code after having my oil changed at a shop. The car constantly hesitates and stumbles especially when initially accelerating from a stop or cold start. I have tried swapping the spark plugs, wires and coil packs (at separate times of course) to see if the misfire followed but nothing showed up. I also did a compression test and have run two different fuel cleaners (sea foam and a generic) through two different full tanks of gas to see if it would clear anything up. But nothing is working and the symptoms are getting worse. Any ideas? Thanks!

[1996camry]

when you swap spark plugs, do you have any oil in spark plug tube?

[Sixlim]

I will double check tonight. I don't remember seeing any from my initial swap but that was a month or so ago. I'll update asap.

[fenixus]

if spark plugs are fine and there is no oil leaks in cyl# 3 tube then it could be a clogged fuel injector #3. it happens that this one gets most dirty on this engine, at least it was clogged on my 4cyl 5s-fe around 70k miles only.

DIY Fuel rail & injectors removal - 4cyl i4 5s-fe gen4 camry - PICS !

[Sixlim]

Originally Posted by fenixus

if spark plugs are fine and there is no oil leaks in cyl# 3 tube then it could be a clogged fuel injector #3. it happens that this one gets most dirty on this engine, at least it was clogged on my 4cyl 5s-fe around 70k miles only.

DIY Fuel rail & injectors removal - 4cyl i4 5s-fe gen4 camry - PICS !

Thanks for your reply! I'll keep this in mind as I check.

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by Sixlim

Thanks for your reply! I'll keep this in mind as I check.

hey, one more idea appeared to me. is your car California emission specs compliant?

[Sixlim]

Originally Posted by fenixus

hey, one more idea appeared to me. is your car California emission specs compliant?

Sorry for the delayed response, my sticker reads Fed and Canada compliant. I will be looking at the spark plugs again this afternoon as it was too late yesterday.

[fenixus]

ah ok. good luck

[JohnGD]

How do the plugs look?

Look around and see if anything is knocked loose during the oil change, especially the plug wires. Then I'd swap the two coils and see if the problem moves.

[Sixlim]

Originally Posted by JohnGD

How do the plugs look?

Look around and see if anything is knocked loose during the oil change, especially the plug wires. Then I'd swap the two coils and see if the problem moves.

Thanks for the questions JohnGD. The plug looked good, no oil, gap was fine and no noticeable damage. I have swapped the coils and the issue didn't follow to a different cylinder. Any other ideas? Thanks for the help!

[fenixus]

if the issue stays on one cylinder only and nothing is able to move it (maybe try swapping wires if they are long enough, NGK aren't Im sure of that, but Denso could be) then it may point firmer to a few possibilities about it:
a) grommet around the fuel injector leaks air/vacuum
b) fuel injector #3 is dirty/clogged or faulty in other way
c) something else about it

here is general trouble area for misfire codes, I think you can safely scratch off anything that would affect all cylinders at once:

P0301
P0302
P0303
P0304

Misfiring of random cylinders is detected during any particular 200 or 1,000 revolutions For any particular 200 revolutions for engine, misfiring is detected which can cause catalyst overheating (This causes MIL to blink)

- Ignition system
- Injector
- Fuel line pressure
- EGR
- Compression pressure
- Valve clearance not to specification
- Valve timing
- Manifold absolute pressure sensor pressure
- Engine coolant temp. sensor
- Open or short in engine wire
- Connector connection
- ECM