Slight stumble off idle, what's going on? UPDATED Original Post
Hey everyone, I've got a problem with my 96 LX450 I don't know what to do with.
Two days ago my wife drove the cruiser to the ballpark, ran perfect.
When she went to leave, it started but was shaking pretty bad. It sounded and felt like we were missing on 2 or 3 cylinders. It barely had any power.
I got it the mile home but it was pretty rough running.
I thought it might have been water or something in the dist. She claimed she didn't hit a puddle. I sprayed out the engine bay with a hose on Saturday and it ran JUST like this for a few minutes till the water got worked out of the distributor cap. I sprayed the engine while it was cold, not hot.
So I figured some water was in there somehow. I bought a code reader at walmart and it said it detected a misfire on cylinder 6.
I got a new cap and rotor today and pulled them off figuring they got burned by the water or something.
I replaced the cap which had a pretty bad burn on 6 and the rotor which was very pitted and corroded. I figured we'd be golden.
I started it and it's much better but there is still a stumble right off idle till you get to 1K rpm where it smooths right out.
It sounds like it's missing pretty badly on one cylinder but it's not throwing any codes. It stumbles and the engine shakes till 1K when it smooths out.
I tried pulling the wires off the distributor cap one at a time to see if any of them didn't make it worse, it seems like none of them make a difference.
When I have my wife drive it I can see the cats shake cause the engine is vibrating.
Any idea? I'd change the plugs but I can't find them.
I took the front cover off the plug wires and pulled up on the round thing that looks like its' going into cylinder one but it didn't come out. I pushed it back down in.
What should I be looking for?
OK here's an Update:
I followed IdahoDoug's advice and took off the airtube and the Mass Airflow Sensor. I sprayed water into the Mass Airflow Sensor just like he said to do and now it's even WORSE.
Just Kidding IdahoDoug! I Keed, I keed!
I did take the air tube off and per Doug's instructions blew out the MAF senson CONNECTOR with a little canned air meant for computers. It seems pretty dry in there so I just basically did it to be sure.
I also looked at the bottom of the tube where there are pleats and sure enough, there are some small cracks there. They are TINY though and I can't imagine they'd be leaking air.
Just to be sure I took some of the silicone Rescue Tape [this stuff is AWESOME] that I got somewhere and wrapped the hell outta the pleated section. I'm pretty sure it's airtight now. I used this stuff on a huge gash in my garden hose left by a lawnmower blade and it sealed it right up. It's rated to 500 degrees and I put 1/2 a roll on there so it's tight.
It's still missing like crazy though What next? I am going to pull the plugs as soon as I run down some wires and a factory service manual.
Is there a way to check the MAF and make sure it's not horked up? I have never seen a plug fail instantly like this did. I'd be tickled if it was a bad wire or something, I'm still hoping it's not the HeadGasket.
That would suck.
Hey everyone, I've got a problem with my 96 LX450 I don't know what to do with.
Two days ago my wife drove the cruiser to the ballpark, ran perfect.
When she went to leave, it started but was shaking pretty bad. It sounded and felt like we were missing on 2 or 3 cylinders. It barely had any power.
I got it the mile home but it was pretty rough running.
I thought it might have been water or something in the dist. She claimed she didn't hit a puddle. I sprayed out the engine bay with a hose on Saturday and it ran JUST like this for a few minutes till the water got worked out of the distributor cap. I sprayed the engine while it was cold, not hot.
So I figured some water was in there somehow. I bought a code reader at walmart and it said it detected a misfire on cylinder 6.
I got a new cap and rotor today and pulled them off figuring they got burned by the water or something.
I replaced the cap which had a pretty bad burn on 6 and the rotor which was very pitted and corroded. I figured we'd be golden.
I started it and it's much better but there is still a stumble right off idle till you get to 1K rpm where it smooths right out.
It sounds like it's missing pretty badly on one cylinder but it's not throwing any codes. It stumbles and the engine shakes till 1K when it smooths out.
I tried pulling the wires off the distributor cap one at a time to see if any of them didn't make it worse, it seems like none of them make a difference.
When I have my wife drive it I can see the cats shake cause the engine is vibrating.
Any idea? I'd change the plugs but I can't find them.
I took the front cover off the plug wires and pulled up on the round thing that looks like its' going into cylinder one but it didn't come out. I pushed it back down in.
What should I be looking for?
OK here's an Update:
I followed IdahoDoug's advice and took off the airtube and the Mass Airflow Sensor. I sprayed water into the Mass Airflow Sensor just like he said to do and now it's even WORSE.
Just Kidding IdahoDoug! I Keed, I keed!
I did take the air tube off and per Doug's instructions blew out the MAF senson CONNECTOR with a little canned air meant for computers. It seems pretty dry in there so I just basically did it to be sure.
I also looked at the bottom of the tube where there are pleats and sure enough, there are some small cracks there. They are TINY though and I can't imagine they'd be leaking air.
Just to be sure I took some of the silicone Rescue Tape [this stuff is AWESOME] that I got somewhere and wrapped the hell outta the pleated section. I'm pretty sure it's airtight now. I used this stuff on a huge gash in my garden hose left by a lawnmower blade and it sealed it right up. It's rated to 500 degrees and I put 1/2 a roll on there so it's tight.
It's still missing like crazy though What next? I am going to pull the plugs as soon as I run down some wires and a factory service manual.
Is there a way to check the MAF and make sure it's not horked up? I have never seen a plug fail instantly like this did. I'd be tickled if it was a bad wire or something, I'm still hoping it's not the HeadGasket.
That would suck.
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