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I've goofed trying to replace valve gasket and spark plugs

8K views 89 replies 14 participants last post by  Idonegoofedsmh 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
2004 toyota camry 170k miles. All of this and now it wont stay on. I turn it on amd the engine immediately flutters and turns off.

Ignition coils and wires are going to be tested tomorrow. But I think I did something wrong somewhere. Maybe I didn't get all of the oil out or something.

Ignition coil wire connectors were toasty and the thing you push down yo release it broke off all of them. The bottom of the casimg of the #4 connector broke as well. And that's with me being careful as I cam after seeing people on YouTube break them as well.

I also made the mistake of putting 10w-30 synthetic blend oil in a couple of months back. Don't know if that did any damage.

I done goofed, any help will be appreciated.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Yikes, that engine looks a little sludgey. At the very least, I'd use a quality synthetic to clean it up (Such as Pennzoil Platinum 5w30). Here's an example of my old Camry's 2az-fe @ 115k (More or less anyways, this was about 2 years ago). Bought it @ 65k miles and ran Mobil 1 up to 100k miles and Pennzoil Platium up to that 115k mark. Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4

As for your actual questions.. If you're concerned about the oil, try using a little acetone on an old sponge and it should remove it. The push releases almost always break, especially at the 100k mark. Age/heat really kill them. I left mine alone and never had a problem with it, as do most of the members here who had the same thing happen. The connector you broke looks fine, wrap some electrical tape around the broken connector and the coil pack if you're concerned about it. Or, you can go the difficult route and replace all the connectors. One member here did it, but if I recall correctly, he wouldn't recommend doing it. As for the coil packs, do they all look like that? At 170k miles, I'm not too surprised. The crack will eventually expand and start escaping and hitting the block, if it's not already doing that. Don't worry about your one time use of the 10w30 oil.

Remove the negative terminal from the battery for 30 minutes. Start the car, it'll either die the first time or idle weirdly. Keep trying to let it run and it should eventually go back to normal.
 
#4 ·
I made an error by editing your initial post instead of replying to it....sorry about that. Partly a pc error mostly my fault...
nonetheless...

10w-30 oil won't by itself cause the sludge you see. Short drives exclusively and/or too many miles between oil changes would.

The engine not staying on sounds like an electrical issue....good chance it is due to poor connections between the coils and plugs from to the broken clips you mentioned.
 
#5 ·
Even with all of that sludge, the engine ran great. The only issue I've had was the car randomly shutting down. I really hope I can fix this issue. Car has been great to the family.

The first time I turned the engine on, it was rough. It would shake for a few seconds and jist go off. I thought it was because the breather hose had a crack, so I replaced it with a $1 vaccum hose from autozone. Now it won't stay on at all. I hope to diagnose the problem today, hopefully I didn't screw something up where it's really expensive.
 
#8 ·
I wonder if it could be a bad or damaged coil pack, or a defective spark plug? Swap back to the original spark plugs and see if that makes a difference. Did you return the coils to the same cylinders or did you mix them up?

Crank the car and see if it gives any engine codes, that could give you some clues as to whats malfunctioning.
 
#9 ·
I definitely mixed up the coils, but they're all the same. So i didn't think it mattered. Plus I had them off for almost a week. I was waiting on rockauto and amazon to deliver what I needed. Also had the valve cover off, with the engine covered w/ plastic.

I'm trying the 30min battery disconnect that was suggested by the 1st reply now.

I will say, every day the coil boot has oil on it, even though I wiped them thoroughly. It's like the boot sweats motor oil. And every coil is like that.


1 other thing I noticed is that the air tube by the air resonator wasn't tightened. I doubt that caused any issues like this though.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Update: I switched the c/opn and horn relay, and now it starts and the horn works, so that couldn't have been it. But it did start when I switched them.

The engine sounds like crap and scares me so I turned it off and went back to troubleshooting. The only thing I can think of is 1 or more of the coils is damaged. And or the connectors and its causing the cylinders to goof.

 
#11 ·
Update: I switched the c/opn and horn relay, and now it starts and the horn works, so that couldn't have been it. But it did start when I switched them.

The engine sounds like crap and scares me so I turned it off and went back to troubleshooting. The only thing I can think of is 1 or more of the coils is damaged. And or the connectors and its causing the cylinders to goof.

https://youtu.be/RSoqg5fL4MA
Tuff to tell but that sorta sounds like a rod knock are you sure you did not drop anything inside the motor when you had the plugs out?
 
#16 · (Edited)
Lools like the ride is on its last legs.

So I've had a CEL on for a while. It began flashing last wk. I figure it was the connection to the 4th cylinder ignition coil since I changed the coils around and was sill getting the p0304 code. The connection to cylinder 4 came apart last yr while changing the plugs. I put electric tape on, but it came apart even more.

The mechanic claimed the connection is bad, but I still have a spark. He said it was no need to fix the connection, since the exhaust was sucking in air and cause the car to vibrate at times. He claims that means theres a broken valve in cylinder 4 that needs to be replaced. $600 estimate. Am I screwed?

I ordered connectors for $13 bucks from Amazon just in case.
 
#21 ·
I think it's worth it to fix the connection, if you're still using the cracked coils it could be one is failing intermittently and needs to be replaced, replacement coils are cheap online but their quality is dodgy, I needed coils and got Denso from Rockauto, identical to the Toyota part just didn't have a Toyota number cast into them.
 
#22 ·
Get the connector fix. I'm almost betting it's not making contact.

If your connector looks like this...



Make sure they are getting contact with the pins. Sounds like one of the connector is not connecting or the coil is bad.
 
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#23 ·
LOL my connection is way worse than that. The blk casing is basically gone. And the white inner part is loose.

I just don't get why he would tell me this w/o running more tests.

Im going to pay someone $40 to install the connector. Amazon notified they've beem shipped, so now the wait. I'm scared to drive because I heard it could screw up the catalytic converter.
 
#26 ·
Just see if you can order/get [even @ dealer] a new connector, cut old one out and splice in a new one.

This is one of those connectors you don't want shitting the bed on you, mid-drive, or when you need the car.

It's not car audio where a speaker or a deck will stop working....
 
#28 ·
I ordered the actual connector only (Genuine part) from Roman. Going to do it a DIY when they come in. I don't need the wires prolong I don't break them *knock on wood* lol
 
#35 ·
Ah ok, ask them to PLEASE use heat seal crimps with a proper crimping tool or to solder and heat shrink with the correct wire knot. I see 'wire repair' from other 'shops' and it's a real shit show sometimes. If they're good they'll stagger the connections so it all bundles back up nicely without a big bulge under the tape when they're done.
 
#38 ·
I use a Mac branded crimper which is just a Crescent but rebranded and 3M makes the best heat seal crimps I've used. Solid tinned barrel made of thick copper and a good glue lined heat shrink. The cheap ones don't shrink and glue very well and the crimping barrel inside is thin and has a split down the side which doesn't hold the wires well at all, they'll come loose inside and cause havoc later on.
http://www.mactools.com/en-us/Plier.../TCT747-KIT/Master-Terminal-Crimper-Tool-Kit- (can probably be found cheaper)
 
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