Coolant in spark plug chamber

[bender]

Need help figuring out my next step.

I have a 1994 Camry (2.2 5S-FE) with about 200,000 miles. There is a small amount of coolant leaking into the #3 chamber - maybe 1/4" from the bottom of the chamber. I noticed this after the car started hesitating and misfiring like crazy a few weeks ago. When it's dried out, the car runs and accelerates fine for about 10-15 miles, then acts up again and coolant leaks back into the chamber.
I had my mechanic look at it, and he believes the head is cracked (but no one he spoke to, including a Toyota service rep, ever heard of a crack developing there). I tried 2 different block sealants a few weeks ago, but no change after using them. Until a few days ago, when it seemed to be accelerating fine again.

Rather than spend $500+ to replace the head when the engine has so many miles, I'm leaning towards replacing the engine with a low-mileage Japanese engine - most likely a 3SFE since I'm having a hard time finding another 5SFE with low miles or close to the same price as the 3SFE.

Before I shell out the money, does anyone have any idea of what the problem is? I'd hate to replace the whole thing - and lose hp with a 3SFE - if it isn't necessary.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Eye8Pussies]

sorry, can't help you with the coolant peoblem, but...

if it helps, you'll end up spending more money fitting the 3sfe into your engine bay with the proper motor mounts than as if you were to keep looking for a 5sfe or spend a bit more on one and just do a direct drop in

[88 LE]

Pull the cylinder head and see whats going on.

[Gary_602Z]

Originally Posted by 88 LE

Pull the cylinder head and see whats going on.

Wouldn't pressure testing the system be easier to start with?

Gary

[88 LE]

He already knows theres a leak. So doing a compression and/or leakdown test in this case would be kinda useless.

He needs to find out whats causing coolant to leak into the #3 cylinder. Could be a cracked block, cracked head, or blown headgasket.

[tonic]

I have the exactly same issue on my Camry 1996 - 160,000miles. but is for cylinder 2 - misfire ... if I drie inside and put a new spark plug will work fine for 5-10-15 minutes ... and than it starts again, coolant accumulating slowly in there ...
Did you figured out what it was? cracked head/block? or head gasket?
It seems Toyota have no explenation regarding this, I actually can't believe it that they never heard about this situation- since I found alot reporting the same issue. Anyhow ... those cars are overated! I will go back to german engineering. Moving forward! :-D

[tonic]

sorry I was trying to say' way overated' ...

[02whiteLE]

Originally Posted by tonic

I have the exactly same issue on my Camry 1996 - 160,000miles. but is for cylinder 2 - misfire ... if I drie inside and put a new spark plug will work fine for 5-10-15 minutes ... and than it starts again, coolant accumulating slowly in there ...
Did you figured out what it was? cracked head/block? or head gasket?
It seems Toyota have no explenation regarding this, I actually can't believe it that they never heard about this situation- since I found alot reporting the same issue. Anyhow ... those cars are overated! I will go back to german engineering. Moving forward! :-D

What are you expecting of your 15 year old Camry?
A german engineered car would just have a short somewhere, so it would just catch fire. Is that somehow better?

[tonic]

all I can say is brainwashing really works here ...

[AlmightyCamry777]

The water getting in the combustion chamber is, i suspect, being pushed by engine compression (150 psi or so) and not coolingsystem pressure (14 psi)...so chances are we are not talking about an easy repair here. What do you have more of, time or money? It's possible that the problem may be only the cylinder head, if so you may be able to simply do a valve job and replace the head with a rebuilt one. I'd advise against paying anything to anyone offering to weld the crack etc. these are tricky repairs to do, easy to do wrong, and the chance of success is les then 50/50. A rebuilt head is around $300-400, if the problem is in the cylinder head, the bottom end is ok for now, and you just want a few more years out of the car, this might work.

I have swapped in ONE used japanese engine, to my old 1985 Nissan 200 SX. It did work, but was by no means simple or easy. In the end it cost me about $1200 in 2002 to do this.
Be advised from the get-go, most of the used japanese engines are perfectly fine machanically, with good compression etc. There's a problem though, many of the engines are slightly different from their American counterparts! On my nissan 2.o engine i noted the following important differences: The intake manifold holes in the cylinder head were square whereas the old ones were oval.
-the large engine block coolant pipe (the one to the b ottom of the radiator) came out of the block at a 30 degree angle whereas the old one was straight - this meant the old intake manifold would not fit on the new block! (It is a press fit part it wound up getting sweated out with heat and somehow pressed back in - i didn't do this part).
-EGR mounting was different.
-flywheel bolt pattern was different.


You CAN do a successful used-japanese engine swap, people do it all the time. And not all used japanese engines are so different from their American counterparts - but caveat emptor, if you go this route take pictures of your old engine to compare all the important fitment areas or better yet, haul it along with you in the bed of a truck if you can to compare, and inspect your potential replacement engine BUT GOOD before handing over the cash!

Make sure they do a compression check or better yet, a cylinder leak down check before you give them your money (most decent used engine place will do this without you having to ask, and will do it right in front of you so you can see the results.)