I only managed to get two out of four spark plugs (from the left, if you were to stand in front of my car facing the engine) before it got dark.
In the last month or so, my car at a stoplight suddenly gets a low idle and I can hear the car go blubblublub. As soon as I start from a stop the rough idle goes away until I come to another stop.
The gauge I am using is at 0.0432, even though I am aware the gap specific in the manual is 0.043, this is all Autozone had, so I went by the logic, if it can't go in then it MUST BE WORKING right?
Alarmingly there is a lot of "free play".
Here is my OBD2 readings, I managed to find a spot to park last week and take a screenshot of my RPMs when it was doing the rough idle kind of thing. The rough idle is random, but since last year its been happening more frequently.
On top is RPM with A/C engaged, last year I clearly remembered it staying consistently above 1000 RPM. The next picture is without A/C on.
Bottom frame is just the top half of picture 2.
So what exactly is going on?
Spark plug ground electrodes are worn and rounded off... Year, model, mileage, maintenance record???
2002 Corolla S Trim.
5-Speed C59 Manual transmission
151800-151900 miles
These are stock Denso SK16R11 Iridium plugs as recommended from the Toyota Owners Manual
This used to be my brother's car when he bought it under warranty, always religiously took it to the Toyota Dealership to have all the maintenance done for him during every oil change, and every 15,000 and 30,000 miles.
Both me and my brother never did our own maintenance, and just let Toyota do it for us until this moment.
When he sold it to me, I kept the same routine and had the oil changed at the Toyota Dealership every 3000-5000 miles. About six months of owning it, I noticed that it began to burn oil (this is over a year ago). Looked it up on the internet, and was told that there was a engineering flaw for the piston drain holes on the 1ZZ-FE engines. Months later it developed a rough idle, randomly dropping to 590 to 600s RPM before going back to 800 RPM. Recently its been more frequent.
I asked my Service Manager at the dealership about this (over a year ago), he told me to run Lucas Oil Treatment and see what happens. All it really did was take away the problem for the next 3 weeks before it comes back. I asked him again, and he told me that yes the engine is beginning to burn oil but the problem is so miniscule that I shouldn't bother looking into it until the consumption gets worse, and also that the rough idle is not related to oil consumption.
This morning I had enough time to open up the rest of my spark plugs and take pictures of them. My crappy iPhone had trouble focusing but these are the best shots I could take. I showed these pictures to a employee at Autozone and they said 1) Definitely oil leakage 2) Spark Plugs are "too hot" 3) The oil residue has "frosted" 4) Autozone doesn't sell stock Denso spark plugs and offered NGK "Laser Iridiums" instead, although it was out of stock at that store.
I think I am just gonna go with the following...
1) Buy those NGK plugs as soon as they are available and just do my plug change myself
2) Use my MAF Sensor Cleaner and carefully blast my MAF sensor after removing it from my throttle body (Can you show me how, like a video or picture guide?)
Only modifications I have done are... (If for some reason it may contribute to the problem)
1) Aftermarket front speakers to replace the blown ones (Audio Express)
2) Aftermarket stereo head unit (I wanted to charge and play songs on my iPhone) (Audio Express)
3) Walmart Everstart battery replacement (Mysteriously went under poor condition according to my Toyota Dealership)
My brother added the following modifications half a decade ago
1) Sirius Satellite Radio antenna and receiver (Circuit City), the Audio Express guys told me that whoever installed my brother's satellite radio system did a terrible job
2) Remote car unlock and engine killswitch (Audio Express)
That all sounds good and normal... A spark plug or two has likely started misfiring intermittently. Not surprising for original spark plugs. Oil consumption is also reasonable for a 2002 1ZZ-FE at that mileage.
Switch to high mileage oil such as Valvoline Max Life or Castrol GTX High Mileage oil. Both are semi-synthetic, and have seal conditioners which will considerably reduce oil consumption via valve seals, etc. It will also reduce strain on spark plugs, ignition coils, and catalytic converters.
Well for the last 3 oil changes, I have switched to Pennzoil High Mileage 5w-30.
But if my spark plug misfired, then how come I didn't get a check engine light or OBD2 code?
Also I have Lucas Oil Treatment in my most recent refill to get those heads hot long enough to burn the gunk off.
And by "Italian Tune-up", what gear and how much RPMs should I do this at and how many seconds duration?
Just changed my spark plugs myself guys, I learned that it gained a noticeable improvement of +50 RPMs in all conditions, but I think it can do better.
Question, I tightened my new spark plugs basically until I felt that the "resistance" was tight enough, which to me is a 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn on a socket wrench (cheapo $10 one from Autozone) with a 1/2 inch drive. Is this okay?
Since my spark plugs are brand spanking new, I was gonna test the theory of "piston slap" by driving at maximum speed allowable on my lower gears, which according to the manual, is 54 mph on 2nd, 83 mph on 3rd, and well... I am not taking 3rd (83 mph) or 4th (112 mph) to maximum before I cruise on 5th because of how many cops there are in Las Vegas equipped with POP/Direct Signal Processing Ka-Band Radar. If I am unlucky enough to be driving all by my lonesome in the lanes, I won't have any premature warning from the radar being shot at a car that is in front of me, if the radar blips, it's me.
Or maybe I should just tone it down to 35 mph on 2nd? Because my engine is almost 152,000 Miles Old.
Depends on the sparkplugs you used - usually there are instructions on how much to torque them. Easiest way is with a torque wrench - without that, usually you hand tighten them until they touch the head (finger tight), then turn an additional amount. Plugs with gaskets usually get another 1/2 turn to 2/3 turns of the wrench. Plugs with a conical seat usually get another 1/16 turn or 1/4 turn only. You can always go back and see if the plugs have backed out. I usually torque them down, drive, then after the engine cools - double check the torque on the plugs.
Not sure what you want to accomplish by driving near redline with new plugs to test piston slap. Piston slap primarily occurs on a cold engine, usually right after startup. Once the engine gets some heat in it - then the noise tends to go away. Usually manifests most when under a heavy load - just off idle, with a manual transaxle - you want to almost lug the engine at lower speeds.
Only thing that will happen if you run to the max speed in the lower gears is that you'll bang up against the rev cut and fuel cut points faster. This also helps if you want to "clean off" older plugs as higher RPMs, high heat and the engine running a safe tune (assuming you are WOT or close to it), will blow off some of the flakier deposits on the plugs.
Plug misfires may not set a DTC - as the system looks for multiple misfires and has to satisfy a two level failure threshold. If the CEL was flashing during operation - those indicate a misfire and will generally not through a code.
152K on 2002 Corolla is nothing. Mine has 205K, and there isn't a day that I baby it on my commute, just run the nuts off of it.
This morning I had enough time to open up the rest of my spark plugs and take pictures of them. My crappy iPhone had trouble focusing but these are the best shots I could take. I showed these pictures to a employee at Autozone and they said 1) Definitely oil leakage 2) Spark Plugs are "too hot" 3) The oil residue has "frosted" 4) Autozone doesn't sell stock Denso spark plugs and offered NGK "Laser Iridiums" instead, although it was out of stock at that store.
I think I am just gonna go with the following...
1) Buy those NGK plugs as soon as they are available and just do my plug change myself
2) Use my MAF Sensor Cleaner and carefully blast my MAF sensor after removing it from my throttle body (Can you show me how, like a video or picture guide?)
Only modifications I have done are... (If for some reason it may contribute to the problem)
1) Aftermarket front speakers to replace the blown ones (Audio Express)
2) Aftermarket stereo head unit (I wanted to charge and play songs on my iPhone) (Audio Express)
3) Walmart Everstart battery replacement (Mysteriously went under poor condition according to my Toyota Dealership)
Looking at those plugs pictures - the first and last pictures (looking from left to right) - look only slightly worn, the middle two pictures show heavily worn center electrodes. All look to have the gap opened up (larger than 0.044" as spec'd by the manufacturer).
As for Autozone's diagnosis
1) Definitely oil leakage
- I don't see any signs of oil leakage, oil and carbon deposits on the threads of the plugs are normal. If they mean by the deposits - then yes, looks like there are heavy deposits on the plugs. More than likely from the Lucas treatment you put in, as those look more like deposits from an oil treatment regiment. A tell-tale sign of additional additives in the fuel or oil are those fluffy deposits on the plugs.
2) Spark Plugs are "too hot"
- Totally bogus. Don't see any signs those plugs are "too hot". They do sell plugs that are "hot" and "cold" - referring to their preferential operating temperatures. Plugs that are "hotter" will run best with lots of low speed driving, shorter trips - as they will come up to temp faster and self clean more effectively with less driving time. At continuous higher speeds, they tend to glaze and sometimes blister - as they cannot shed the extra heat. Plugs that are "cooler" will run best with lots of high speed driving. They can shed heat off more effectively, staying cooler and last longer in those cases. At lower speeds, shorter trips - they can foul more easily, as they can't maintain that self-cleaning temperature as easily as a hotter plugs. You can tell the heat range by the model number of the plug - ex. Denso SK16R11 is the OEM plug, a Denso SK20R11 is one step cooler, a Denso SK14R11 is one step hotter. Generally - you don't have to mess around the heat range unless you have a very specific modification (turbocharger, supercharger, nitrous, other power adders, etc.)
3) The oil residue has "frosted"
- Frosted? Never heard of that term used, but sure, that works as well. As mentioned above - those lighter deposits on the plugs are likely from supplemental additives in the gas or oil treatments. Those are normal - as dom mentioned, you can clean those up with a little "Italian Tune up" - basically driving at higher RPMs, being generous with the accelerator pedal, etc. - just stand on the gas on a long, open stretch of road. Don't need to hit 100+ MPH, just give it some gas, run it up the gears from time to time.
4) Those NGK Laser Iridium plugs are decent plugs - just keep in mind that they are a fine wire electrode setup - meaning it will likely run really well in your car, but not last as long as the OEM plugs. I've only got about 30K-40K out of NGK Laser Iridium plugs on my cars - possibly can push it out to 60K miles, but the degradation in performance is very noticeable.
For your rough Idle - cleaning the MAF/IAT and throttlebody are good place to start. Lots of examples online, here one that I did on those as well as theVVT-i OCV filter.
As for other possible sources of poor idle - the recent electronics installation - if they were done poorly, you could have introduced ground loops and/or degraded chassis grounds. This car is pretty sensitive to electrical noise - a weaken battery, bad alternator, bad cables, incorrect stereo or alarm install, etc. - can also cause excessive noise to injected into the electrical system. If they get too bad, the car can run very poorly, as the ECM will get confused from spurious sensor readings and drop into a "limp home" mode.
If they mean by the deposits - then yes, looks like there are heavy deposits on the plugs. More than likely from the Lucas treatment you put in, as those look more like deposits from an oil treatment regiment. A tell-tale sign of additional additives in the fuel or oil are those fluffy deposits on the plugs.
So what do you say of the Lucas Oil Treatment? Is it useful or no? Because even my Toyota Service Manager at the shop told me to use it :/
As for other possible sources of poor idle - the recent electronics installation - if they were done poorly, you could have introduced ground loops and/or degraded chassis grounds. This car is pretty sensitive to electrical noise - a weaken battery, bad alternator, bad cables, incorrect stereo or alarm install, etc. - can also cause excessive noise to injected into the electrical system. If they get too bad, the car can run very poorly, as the ECM will get confused from spurious sensor readings and drop into a "limp home" mode.
As a matter of fact I found it suspicious that my Everstart battery (a old 5 year one) died a few months ago after a few weeks of the Audio Express stereo installation. I mean, the battery was past at least five years, should I have someone take a look at my electronics?
Oil additives are hit or miss, If the car "needed" those additives - then it would have been included in the routine oil changes. If you look at the chemical makeup of the Lucas oil treatment (look up the MSDS) - it is mainly a light petroleum oil and an olefin copolymer for heat resistance. You'd likely get the very similar performance by adding a quart of lightweight synthetic motor oil.
Myself, I never saw any tangible gains from using Lucas products. Used them on a number of occasions, but they don't seem to have any tangible benefits to me. Even in an older muscle car - they didn't seem to do anything. I got better results with Rislone and MMO vs Lucas additives.
As for the electronics - might have been just a coincidence that the battery died after the stereo system install. Once a battery gets up there in age, they can just die, without warning. If the battery was already on its last legs, the increased electrical demands on the new system could have pushed it over the edge.
But it couldn't hurt to have someone qualified, to look over the electronics. Poor aftermarket electrical installations is one of the top causes of these spurious electrical "gremlins" that seem to be intermittent and hard to chase down. Most of those installers have only very basic training - relying on their electronic install notes to warn them of potential install issues. Audio Express is a chain mainly on the western/south western portion of the US. When I used at AZ, lots of my co-workers that got systems installed at Audio Express have a mixed review. From fast, clean installs, perfect wiring to broken clips, poor wiring, and refurbished equipment instead of new.
Alrighty this morning I cleaned my MAF Sensor and IAT sensors. Top left is the dirty IAT. Top right, is a badly focused picture of a clean IAT, but after spraying it, it looks like a cotton swab that has a red colored tip connected to a black stick. Middle picture is lowest RPM at idle, bottom picture is lowest RPM with the A/C turned on.
Now I just ran into a situation where I nearly shat my pants. I turned my car on, and 1 second later the engine dies. For the next 10 minutes I was panicking, until I realized I forgot to reconnect the wire back to the sensor! I did a trouble code scan on my iPhone and the computer spat at me trouble codes P0100 and P0110, which a quick google search turns up as "MAF Sensor Malfunction" and "IAT Sensor Malfunction" respectively. I simply deleted the codes.
I'm about to head to school a bit, so I am gonna turn on my OBD2 reader back on and drive around to see if I can find any more codes or any instances of rough idle, then its the Idle Air Control Valve next!
Well as it turns out. Spraying down my MAF sensor pretty much didn't do anything.
Now are my readings by any means NORMAL? Otherwise i'm off to work on my intake, throttle body, PCV valve, IACV valve, and OCV. And if none of those things work, then i'm just gonna take my car to the shop, give them a list of what I did, and then hope they can find out why my car is having a rough idle.
I looked up some terms, and realized that the car is "idle hunting".
You didn't clean the MAF sensor, you cleaned the IAT. The MAF is inside the black tube and two small wires.
I already cleaned the two wires inside the black tube. I just blasted it repeatedly with the cleaner fluid and let it dry.
The car is still having the rough idle, not as frequent as before. I'm thinking about just cleaning the intake and throttle body before moving on on to PCV and OCV.
It could be bad intake manifold gaskets, not that uncommon.
