Cylinder Mis-Fire Advice

[Pointnino]

Good morning Nation,
I’d like to run something by you guys/girls right quick. My Check Engine light came on yesterday in my 2000 Toyota Echo Coupe, and I stopped quick to have it read. The code reader was a "nice one" according to the shop I took it to, and instead of giving me a "code" it said:

ONE OR MORE CYLINDER MIS-FIRE

Since my Echo has about 111,000 miles on it, the fact that I bought it last October with 109,000 (approx), and I don't have any recorded maintenance records from previous owners, I'm "guessing" with my limited experience and knowledge that I have one or more bad spark plugs, and since my model uses the Iridium plugs (Toyota OEM Part Number SK16R11) with a life expectancy around 100,000 miles (according to Toyota), I'm going to be safe and assume that it has never had a tune-up. I see that I don't have wires, so that eliminates the need to replace wires (obviously) too, so not much else could be going on with that code/message from the code reader, am I right?

That being said, I'm interested in replacing my plugs myself since I just had a full service oil change where they did the oil (Mobil1) and oil filter, air filter, topped off all my fluids, cleaned interior, tire pressure, etc. I just wanted to know if anyone had a step-by-step guide to changing these for a 2000 Echo? If so, can you either send it to me, or point me in the right direction? There's a guy I work with here that's kind of a gear-head/tuner type, and he's laughing at me because he said that he can change them in the parking lot of my office in less than 5 minutes if I get the plugs and bring them in, but since I have never done it before (and have OCD... real bad case), I like to have way more information than I need for things that are related to my car.

Also, I'm hearing two answers about resetting the Check Engine light. I'm told by two different chain auto parts stores that once the engine light comes on, it HAS TO BE reset or it will stay on indefinitely, even after the problem is resolved... then at the same time, they both tell me that "they're not allowed to reset the Check Engine light" and can only read me the code due to law or store policy. Assuming some type of liability issue or something. On another tread on this site, I read that you can disconnect the battery for a bit, or pull the fuse for the computer, and that will reset the check engine light too. I called a few places and asked, and they all said that won't work, but immediately after saying that disconnecting the battery won't reset the light, they tell me to come in for a "diagnostic" and cough up $90.00+, so I don't trust any of them in this case. Any advice out there?

And then finally was wondering if anybody had any other suggestion for me on what to check/replace/inspect while I was under the hood and had the engine cover off, ya know?

Much appreciated everyone. Thanks in advance for your input!

[Pointnino]

Please disregard my previous post above. I found EXACTLY what I was looking for on www.echodrivers.com DIY Forum Page. Pretty impressive actually. If anyone has had the same question as I did, check out this link. Everything you need to know:

http://www.echodrivers.com/forum/vie...p?f=16&t=15030

[denman]

Regarding the fault codes, the code readers are cheaper than ever and you can reset then whenever you want, usually after a repair. My ScanGaugeII can do that as well, plus give useful driver info the rest of the time. How are you liking the new spark plugs?

[Pointnino]

Hey Denman, thanks for the info. Yeah, I need to get one of those. I'll look into it and keep that in mind.

Ended up going with the Denso SK16R11's. They had them at Advance Auto Parts, and although a lot of people (that claim to know about these types of things) told me to spend the extra few dollars and get the NGK IFR5A11's because they're a better plug and a better brand. I searched locally for them, and the only local retailer that I could find that sold them, Pep Boys, said they were special order, and even though they could get them in 4-5 days from the warehouse, I needed to get them replaced ASAP. Went with Denso.

I prepped them and put them in, then went for a test drive, and HOLY COW! I apparently needed new plugs for a WHILE. I bought this car last October with 109,000 miles, and it seemed to run great to me, but after I put in these plugs, it's like a totally different car. Response time has doubled, and idle is now dead silent and free of any vibration at all. It's really an amazing contrast. I think it's the first time I was actually thankful I got a "check engine" light... ever. I put in a bottle of injector cleaner too, just for good measure, and even though the air cleaner wasn't bad, I went ahead and replaced that too while I was poking around in there. Good to go now. I unplugged the battery to see if I could reset the check engine light, and while it was disco'd, cleaned the terminals on the battery too, even though they were spotless already because of my OCD. Hooked it back up, and when I started the car, the check engine light didn't come back on. VICTORY!

It is officially the FIRST TIME in my life that I diagnosed a car problem, fixed it MYSELF, didn't break anything expensive, improved operation of the vehicle rather than making it much worse, or killing it all together ("sorry" goes out again to my 1994 Buick Skylark named "Desire", which was towed away never to be seen by me after I blew the engine tryng to fix it myself to save a few bucks last year. RIP) and didn't curse or cause any personal injury to myself or others such as stitches, burns, mental breakdowns, etc.

to me!

[denman]

Way to go nino!, .... this DIY stuff grows on you and even with the occasional boo-boo you'll save $$$ and have a car you know better after crawling over it a bit. Then when something else goes wrong you can go in with a bit more confidence, .... thanks for letting the forum know about the successful outcome, ....