Test the resistance of all your fuel injectors. My guess is you have a bad fuel injector in cylinder #1. I suspect if you test the resistance, you'll find cylinder #1s injector has a much higher resistance than the other cylinder injectors.

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I just went through a P0304 issue yesterday.

What plugs did you buy? The reason I am asking is because I discovered that the plugs that failed on me weren't the correct ones to begin with. It was recommended on RA's site, but upon further digging, the original part was not listed on the product description.

 

Resistance of Fuel Injectors were 1 12.5, 2 12.6, 3 12.6, 4 12.6

This is #1 plug, some oil on top end, but bottom looks dry. Do you think that the burn area on porcelain indicates anything?

 

Resistance of Fuel Injectors were 1 12.5, 2 12.6, 3 12.6, 4 12.6

View attachment 318820

This is #1 plug, some oil on top end, but bottom looks dry. Do you think that the burn area on porcelain indicates anything?

Is that 12.5 ohms?

Injector #1 is the variance, although not as much as I would have guessed. I would replace that injector for cylinder 1. That was the issue when I had a P0301 on another vehicle last fall. My vehicle had the same symptoms you've described.

Have you tested the ignition with a noid light?

To test the injector, you could swap the injectors of cylinders 1 and 2 and see if you then get a P0302. That would indicate the fault is following the injector.



Injector testing video:

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Valve cover gasket leaking down the spark tubes. Yes, in short it is a problem if you get oil down there and will cause issues. I always start with spark plugs first.


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Esso is right. Oil leaking onto the plugs will cause misfire issues. You need to remove your valve cover and replace the sparkplug tube seals and any sparkplugs that have oil on them. It's not a hard job and there are other threads here that describe the job.

 

OK, symptoms still there. I had the P0301 pop up about a week ago. I reset. The car would seem to run better when cold, but when hot and pulling up to a stop, it would the tach would dip down to under 6 where, it might start to shake, and then go back up to 8 and try to settle down.

So in the past 6 months,

Replaced the correct 4 NGK plugs ILKAR7B11

Replaced all 4 Coils with NON DENSO coils.

Measured the resistance of the Fuel Injectors. All seem the same (12.5 - 12.6 ohms)

So car has been this way for weeks, when I drive it. When I started to leave the house yesterday, immediately as I left my location, the CHECK ENGINE LIGHT started to FLASH. As opposed to just coming on. I turned around and parked the car, and left it.

Today I expected it to show a P301 Error code, but it did not, and the dash did not have the CEL on. Or flashing.

Currently when I check the OBDII readiness I see that the
Oxygen Sensor is INC
MIL status is OFF
The rest of scan items are N/A.

This site below, talks of the P0301, and gives a lot of possible reasons, but if it was some of the “Common Problems that Trigger the P0301”, then I would think that another code would pop up and not the P0301, which is all that this car has seen, except the one time a while ago, when I was troubleshooting and moved the coils, and the ERROR code would travel with the coil, say got a P0303. Then replaced and was fixed, until now.

P0301 Code: Diagnosis and Causes of Cylinder 1 Misfire

Explore P0301 code details including causes, symptoms, and diagnosis for Cylinder 1 misfire. Get expert troubleshooting tips and solutions on RepairPal.com.

repairpal.com

So what’s next? Noid Light I have read about. Replace Fuel Injector #1. O2 sensor?, Compression Check? I think I have moved parts around enough to say something is causing the P0301 that did get fixed by replacing the coil, but now I get the constant bad idle when warm.

Funny how one morning I pull away from the house and get that immediate jerk, and the car feels like it is missing one cylinder firing, with Flashing CEL. But next morning startup no CEL, and runs, smooth but still with idle at warm fluctuating until it settles down.

PS:, I read that timing being skipped in this VVT engine could cause this, and to be fair I have been hearing the noise at startup of my VVT chain.... as described here,

https://community.cartalk.com/t/2009-corolla-cold-start-rattle-engine-t-sb-0087-09/65726

Not sure if that noise I have been hearing for 2 years could eventually cause this.

Thanks. for thoughts..



Whats next?

 

Have you tried taking off your battery terminals and resetting the ecu for like 45 minutes?

What non denso coil packs did you use? I used Echlin coil packs from Napa. They look very close to denso. Not sure if they purchased the Denso design or not. As I could not find denso coil packs locally. I would have gotten them from RA, but needed car back asap.

 

Unplugged battery, will plug back in an hour.

Also, Coils, were probably these:

Part Details - Clark's Discount Auto Parts

.

www.clarksdiscount.com

 

A flashing check engine light is for a cylinder misfire. It flashes to scare you because you are dumping raw fuel into the catalytic converter which will eventually cause it to overheat and possibly fail.
There is no code stored?
Toyotas are picky about non denso electrical parts, including coils.
At this point though, I would do a compression check to rule out a bad head gasket before you throw any more money at it. The tester is cheap and is easy to use.
My 2009 1.8l had similar issues which turned out to be a bad head gasket between cylinders.
Look up the 2009 Corolla 1.8l Rough Idle - with a new twist thread for more info.

 

I had the same exact code at 161k drove me nuts.. turned out to be the head gasket cracked between cylinders but not very badly and that's what caused the intermittent miss.. anyways almost the exact symptoms that are described.. anyway changed the gasket had the head machined now over 1.5yrs later and 20k miles later car still runs and drives perfect and gets 31-32mpg combined

 

Take coil and plug out of cylinder one and set it on the valve cover. Then crank it to see color of spark. You may have oil intrusion in the spark plug tube which is fouling the plug.

 

75aces, I will do that tomorrow, and let you know what I see. I did plug the battery back in after and hour, and she started right up. Of course dealing with the computer being out of wack, but driving around the block, idle was perfect. But I disconnected the battery before and it cured everything for a while.. So I will do a check with OBD II tool, and see if it completes a drive cycle and stays idling nice at a stop, during next few days. And try COIL PLUG smart on Valve Cover...

 

Sounds like a plan.

Mine was a cylinder 4 misfire. I swapped cylinder 1 and 4, came back with multiple misfire code. P0301 and 0304. When I pulled my plug in cylinder 4, the electrode was gone. Found that the plugs I ordered previously were the incorrect ones. Bought the correct denso plugs along with new set of coils. The misfire codes were gone.

Not saying this is the case for you, but you're on track. In the event the plug in cylinder 1 is fine and has no fouling, you will then need to check with the noid light. Then, will need to look at your fuel injectors.

 

Gonna find time in the next few days to test for head gasket leak. I disconnected the battery above, and it runs great, really great, for about a week, then slowly at idle and stopping at red light it will idle down to 500 and start to shake, and now throws the P0301 code again. Filled with High Test gas, and that was no help. So with this compression check. Do I remove all of the spark plugs and then screw in the Gauge, and turn engine over, and read value. And do this for all of the cylinders? And I suppose the value at the meter should stay stable for period of time. As in (If I have pressure in Cylinder #1) and watch the gauge I shouldn't see it drop slowly or hear it leaking into cylinder #1. Will go borrow tester at Autozone, if they have the correct threads for my plugs in the tester. Do this in between, painting the kitchen... yeah

 

To do a compression test you disable the fuel injection by removing any efi related fuses you can find. That way you're not dumping fuel into the engine. Then remove all spark plugs. Screw the tester into a plug hole, the tester will come with threads for any vehicle. Crank the engine over with the accelerator pedal to the floor. The tester will register the highest value it saw. Then repeat on the other cylinders. They should all be fairly close to each other. If not, you may have a problem. Also, there is a value they are supposed to be at but I'm not sure, maybe 190 psi. The tester should come with directions too.
If you have one or two cylinders lower than the others you can do a leakdown test to pin point where the leakage is occuring, either the valves, rings or head gasket.

 

Tried to go to Autozone to do that Loan Tool, but their kit only includes two sizes for Spark Plug threads, and the threads on the 2009 Corolla, are narrower. Not sure of the exact size, but the two adapters in the kit were bigger. I could go to Harbor Freight and buy a test kit, I notice they are not pushing their coupons as much. So Compression Check, Leak Down Tester, or buy a Fuel Injector for Cylinder #1. And I read that those cheapies are "you get what you pay for", although my local discount auto parts has a rebuilt for the $45 range.... not sure if they would be any better. Just have to park it, until I have the time, leaning toward replacing #1 Fuel Injector, however..... or those two tests, if I can find a thread that fits my spark plug to do the test(s)

 

I went and bought a leakdown tester from harbor freight with a coupon for less than $50, you need an air compressor to use it though. A compression tester will be even cheaper than that and should come with the right adapter like the leakdown tester I got did. If not then return it. You should still be able to get a coupon from their website, and if you sign up for whatever their rewards program is you get a 30% coupon on your birthday, which could be coming up for you!
Or try another auto parts store for a loaner that fits, I'm surprised that one didn't.
Personally, I would rule out a bad head gasket before I spent any money on parts that might or might not not fix the issue.

 

You could also swap the injectors to different location and see if the problem follows or not.

 

OK, Harbor Freight, is no longer sending out coupons in the mail, or newspaper. They at first said they were going Digital, about 6 or so months ago. But they no longer have those coupons as well. So no free items with purchase, and no 20% off coupons. Only discount is their club. So the one item I wanted, think it was their $79 leak tester would be $59 if I belonged to their Club, and then there was the Compression tester that was $27 after joining their club. I looked at an open box, and I think the threads, match, and all I have to be covered about is where the length is of any concern when screwing the tool into the spark plug hole. Anyway, need to decide which test to perform first, Maybe the cheaper of the two test equipments, And as for suggestion above, to switch Fuel Injectors Like I did with COILS when It was making sense, as it would change where I was having problems, as in 1 to 3 causing a P0303, but fuel injectors a little bit harder but not that bad on this car to get to. I was thinking of a list of items I need for my grandsons car, as well, as my van, and go to the PICKAPART auto wrecking yard, and pull a Fuel Injector out of the same model engine, and just swap one of those, I suppose there must be a market for them, as they charge quite a bit for them at the junk yard. I just don't want to go the cheapie route on 4 for $39 on Amazon, just yet or never. Will be interesting when I get this figured out, just hope its not the head gasket, and maybe just the fuel injector. Funny this really started to happen badly after I got gas about 6 weeks ago, and had added that Techron FI cleaner... but I don't know..

 

I agree with switching the injectors before buying another one, unless you don't care about losing a couple $$ if that's not it. If you do mess with the injectors, make sure you order new o rings as the originals will have become hard and will be a pain and maybe not seal well. Make sure everything is CLEAN when you reassemble and use lots of lube. If you have a leak, take it apart, clean it, lube it and try again. If it feels like you're having to push way too hard to reassemble, do the same.
You're more likely to get more use out of a compression tester, but a leak down tester gives you more information, that's the trade off between the two.
I bet Harbor Freight will go out of business if they don't keep handing those coupons out like candy! That's the only reason the junk they sell is worth buying!

 

OK, I bought the Leak Down Tester, and the Compression Tester at Harbor Freight.

Started with Quick Connect Compression checker $26.99 with my $29.99 membership to get the $79.99 Leak Tester for $59.99. Total out the door was $128.96. Just today in my email as an FYI , I see a 10% off everything Feb 26, to Mar 1, and inside track saves double 20%. So here are results of Compression test., and I may end up taking back the unopened leak down tester because of the results of the compression test.

Cylinder #1 75, 80
Cylinder #2 78, 85
Cylinder #3 130, 128
Cylinder #4 130, 130

So the bad idle, and the P0301 is probably or definitely a problem between Cylinder #1 and Cylinder #2.

So what's it cost to fix something like this, and if it is taken apart so much , it would be a time to fix that VVT gear that makes noise at cold startup. I believe I put a link in one of the first posts.

Not good news. Runs fine, until it doesn't.

Thanks for any thoughts. on this 181,000 mile Corolla. But all would agree to take back the leak tester.

 

May have to pull the pistons and measure the gap on the rings in the piston lands.

 

Well, if you are mechanically inclined it's possible to do the head gasket yourself. You'll need a fel pro gasket set, I would do the water pump, pcv valve, thermostat, and if you plan on keeping the car for a while, the timing chain, tensioner and guides. Once you get everything apart you can send the head out to be resurfaced. You'll also have to check the surface of the block for pitting where the leak occurred and flatness, to check that you set a flat edge across the block and try to slide a .0015" feeler guage under it.
If the block is bad, the motor will have to be pulled and disassembled to be machined just like the head. However, you can go out on a limb like I did with mine and flatten it with sandpaper glued to a flat piece of metal or glass.
When I did my head gasket, I replaced all of the parts I listed except the timing chain, tensioner and guides. The parts cost me around $300. Others can chime in on machining and labor costs since I did everything myself.

 

So do we think that its a leak between 1 and 2 or both Pistons and rings are showing the same symptom. I am not capable of following the directions to replace the head gasket. At my age, and back, there are things I can do and others I cannot. Was thinking of throwing the leftover bottle I have of that Blue Seal head gasket sealer in the radiator, after two flushes and removing the thermostat. Just need the car to pass smog in June (California), and be able to run to the store (2 mile trips) , etc... and maybe the Blue Seal would prevent the coming back of the bad idle after resetting car battery. Its amazing that the car will run perfectly after disconnecting batter for an hour, for about a week, then the low compression in those two cylinders throws the P0301, after experiencing the bad idle for days ahead of that.

 

Try getting a piece of rubber hose that will fit over the spark plug hole. Blow some compressed air in there and see if you hear it coming out of the next plug hole. That way you can return the leak down tester but still be certain of where your leak is. My money is on a break between the cylinders.
Unfortunately head gasket sealer into the cooling system will be a waste of time since the leak isn't anywhere near any cooling jackets. The cylinders are less than 1\4" apart with no jacket in between. The gasket burns out right at the most narrow part between the cylinders.
If you want the car to still be running this time next year I would suggest you have the gasket changed since the longer you run it like this the more damage is being done. I ran mine until all of the sudden the car would barely run and it ruined the surface of the block. Others have only had to have the head resurfaced.
Look up "09 toyota corolla rough idle - with a twist" for some pictures.

 

Good thought that attempting to put the BLUE SEAL head gasket repair in the cooling system. That is my problem is like the picture earlier with the leak between 1 and 2 and that 1/4" spot, there would be no cooling system close to repair the leak. So will not do that. I did try to see if I could blow in 1 and see if there was anything coming out of 2. I used the hose from the Compression Check, and screwed it into 1. I then fired up the DeWalt compressor, and fed a little compressed air into the quick link connection, but honestly couldn't determine via SOUND, or SIGHT, whether there was anything coming out of Cylinder 2 spark plug hole, in terms of AIR. I suppose I could remove all 4 plugs again, and do a compression test on 1 and 2, and see if it holds that 80 or 75 pounds of pressure, or drops. I left the #4 cylinder compression tester on all night, as I forgot to release, the pressure button, and it was still up there above 120, if I remember correctly. Will try and see if I can get a drive cycle in, and have it not get off the CEL. And be an a READY status for SMOG Check due in 4 months. If I can get it to that point, I will let it sit, and drive the 2 miles to my Smog Guy, and see if it passes. I don't think it has to be running, DYNO Test , anymore , so just hook up to a clean no CEL computer via OBDII connection.