Lexus LX470 sputtering (2 Viewers)

[beantown]

Hey all.

I haven't been on here in awhile and honestly, its because my 100 series has been great!. But, that ended yesterday. I have always had the exhaust manifold ticking noise, but yesterday it started to get worse and then started sputtering at idle. I drove it for a bit and it seemed to stay the same on the way to work. I was looking in the engine bay at work and the ticking was louder and I revved the engine and saw a puff of smoke and it smelled like exhaust. I drove it home and the problem got worse and it was sputtering more when I accelerated. It seemed that when I was at a higher rpm without load, it ran fine. But any kind of acceleration it would shake and sputter. On the way home the engine light came on with two more lights. I need to go get a code reader, but don't want to drive it more...

Would this sputtering and stalling happen with a cracked exhaust manifold? or does this sound like something else?
2002 LX470 with 228,000.

Thanks all!

 

[kevgentile]

Was the smoke out the tail pipe or the engine bay area?

 

[kevgentile]

If smoke out of the tailpipe and stumble under accel could be a no spark misfire.

 

[Ayune]

^^^^ Check codes and look for a cylinder misfire, then replace the dead coilpack with either Toyota 90080-19027 or Denso 673-1303. Simple job needing only a 10mm socket. Buy direct from dealer or Denso website to avoid counterfeits from Amazon, etc.

https://www.densoproducts.com/denso-673-1303-ignition-coil?_ref=ca-wtb&_refv=2428976446

 

[dbleon]

Coil likely.. pull the code

 

[beantown]

It did smell like exhaust all around the car, but didn't see any smoke. other than the little puff I saw in the engine bay when revving it.

So you guys think it is a dead coil pack? I dont have any experience with those. What code will it push for that?

 

[kevgentile]

It did smell like exhaust all around the car, but didn't see any smoke. other than the little puff I saw in the engine bay when revving it.

So you guys think it is a dead coil pack? I dont have any experience with those. What code will it push for that?

Sounds like also an exhaust leak. Would have to be a massive hole to effect the fueling to cause a misfire though. The primary O2's would have to see a significant change or loss in "unmetered" air out of the crack to throw off the mixture to cause a misfire. A crack or hole that large would be hard to miss.

If you have limited experience and mechanical skills I suggest you post up in the clubhouse section and see if you can find someone local to help you out. There are a lot of good folks here that would be willing to meet up and lend a helpful hand at getting you going in the right direction.

 

[beantown]

I have mechanical skills, but non with coil packs. My skills are more aimed to classic cars. I have a code reader coming, and will report back once I have the codes that it is showing. I am hoping that it is a coil pack, because I hear that dealing with the exhaust manifold leak is difficult, time consuming and expensive.

 

[kevgentile]

I have mechanical skills, but non with coil packs. My skills are more aimed to classic cars. I have a code reader coming, and will report back once I have the codes that it is showing. I am hoping that it is a coil pack, because I hear that dealing with the exhaust manifold leak is difficult, time consuming and expensive.

Once you obtain the faults. If misfire just switch around a couple coils to see if the mis moves with the coil switch.
And, like Ayune mentioned get only qaulity/oem coils. The budget stuff will eventually bite.

 

[beantown]

Update: I read the codes and got a PO305 which is a Cylinder 5 misfire detected. Should I start with replacing the cylinder 5 Coil Pack?

Thanks all.

 

[kevgentile]

Update: I read the codes and got a PO305 which is a Cylinder 5 misfire detected. Should I start with replacing the cylinder 5 Coil Pack?

Thanks all.

Switch the coil with another cylinder to see if the misfire moves with it. if so, I'd replace all the coils since if one goes then others will soon follow. Save the known good ones as emergency replacements.
If the misfire remains on cyl 5 after the switch then it could be a plug too.

 

[dbleon]

Always do plug when you do coil

 

[beantown]

what kind of plugs do these engines like?

 

[kevgentile]

Always do plug when you do coil

Definitely if no record of recent replacement.

 

[beantown]

welp, looks like I found the problem. Anyone seen anything like this? Spark plug was loose, and the end of the coil pack is gone. I vacuumed it out as much as I could and tried to put a new plug in, but I think the threads are messed up. My fear is that some of the debris from the coil pack is in the block.
Whats next, shop? I guess they would try to re-tap the plug hole.

Thoughts?

 

[Ayune]

Oh man.... This is the thread you're looking for: Spark plugs Alert Alert Alert!

 

[kevgentile]

welp, looks like I found the problem. Anyone seen anything like this? Spark plug was loose, and the end of the coil pack is gone. I vacuumed it out as much as I could and tried to put a new plug in, but I think the threads are messed up. My fear is that some of the debris from the coil pack is in the block.
Whats next, shop? I guess they would try to re-tap the plug hole.
View attachment 3507004View attachment 3507004
Thoughts?

There are some threads regarding blow out of loose plugs.
You can do a time-sert or helicoil repair with the head on.

 

[kevgentile]

It's been running like that for a while so if it's been running well up till now I'd say you should be ok and that no damage was done within the combustion chamber. You can borescope it to verify though. Me personally, I'd time-sert it and go.

 

[beantown]

So, I could do the Time-sert with the head on, but the valve cover needs to come off, right?

Thanks everyone for their help. I will report back when I get it running.

 

[beantown]

So, the spark plug that came out did not pull the threads out from the head, and the threads on that plug were only messed up a little bit. Do y'all think cleaning the existing threads up with a tool like this would be better than putting in an insert?

https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-and-specialty-tools/thread-repair/p/duralast-m14-x-1-25-thread-chaser/1266635_0_0?spps.s=495&cmpid=LIA:US:EN:AD:NL:1000000:TLS:19489353547&CATARGETID=120054150001289970&CADevice=c&gad_source=1&gclsrc=ds