[Echo 2004] Car Stuttering

[Ferraz]

Hi, please bear with me for my long essay, just looking for some advice here on what I could check. Today I took my friend to his mechanic and the drive to and back (30 mins or so combined) was fine. I turned on the AC on the way back. Then we had a 15 minute stop off, then when I restarted the car, put on the AC, then tried to reverse I noticed it was struggling a bit to go back.

Anyway I didn't think much of it until I went into first gear, and noticed it was stuttering a bit. The same happened in second and third. So I took off the AC (assuming that it was drawing too much power) but the car was still stuttering.

We thought it might be one of a few things: spark plugs, MAF sensor needs to be cleaned, fuel pump on it's way out, fuel filter needs to be replaced.

I checked the spark plugs (didnt remove them btw, just removed the connections one by one and listened for a difference in the engine) and they seemed to be ok. We took out the MAF sensor and it definitely needs to be cleaned. Don't know why that would be the problem though as the car was working fine until we stopped that last time. Didn't do anything with the fuel pump or filter.

Anyway took it to the mechanic, I told him I'd only driven 13000 km since the last spark plug change so he ruled that out. He then wanted me to do a computer test and bring back the results.

In any case we ended up back at my friend's mechanic (as he called us in) so I asked someone else there. He had a look at things took out some hoses when the engine was running (replacing them within a second or so) and basically told me it's the spark plugs.

Since they're relatively cheap to replace I went and got new ones, haven't stuck them it as yet though. Are there any other possible reasons as to why things may have happened they way they did?

Edit: Forgot to mention, the Scangauge II shows no error codes, yet the mechanic insists I do a proper computer test (what's the difference btw?).

[Ferraz]

[In case anyone cares] it turned out to be an ignition coil. Not the cheapest thing to replace, but running smoothly now so no complaints.

One thing though, would it be advisable to change all four coils together (only one needed replacing)?

[ECHOKnight2000]

Glad you figured it out. I can take an educated guess and say it probably would be good to replace all of them if you could. But don't take my advice too a T. usually with most stuff like that or automotive you want to replace the others. Obviously there are exceptions to the rule and there are many variables. Like if you just got new tires and one is blown, you obviously don't need to get a whole new set of tires. Just use common sense.

[ericlp]

If you used Toyota OEM spark plugs, I wouldn't change the plugs since you already did it @ 8K miles. OEM plugs should last 80-100K miles.

How many miles are on the car? How did you determine it was the coil?

Best thing to do clean throttle body and MAF. Change out air filter and drop some fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank! That all common maintenance anyway.... so just do it.

Happy driving.

[Ferraz]

OEM plugs last 80K miles? Thought they were closer to 28K (dunno where I read that)? The car has about 205000 km on it. Btw the mechanic just tested the coils while the engine was running by removing each coil individually and listening for a ticking/clicking sound. If there was none then that coil wasn't good.

Of course they way he did it was so easy, I could have done it myself (if I knew anything about cars!). Guess, as they say, you learn something new everyday. Did clean the injectors and replaced the air filter just about two weeks or so before this happened. Cleaned the MAF after, though.

I suppose my next step is to sort out the throttle body.

[ericlp]

The echo came with special iridium spark plugs that do not have to be changed for at least 100,000 miles.

Most Echo owners consider the Denso (Part #SK16R11) or NGK (Part #IFR5T11) Iridium plugs to be the best replacement and they can both last for 100,000+ miles. Don't forget to put anti seize on the threads.