Sparkplug debacle (1 Viewer)

[LowDrag82]

Do your own spark plugs, they said, it’ll be easy, they said. Well I got OEM denso plugs for my 06 LX - same as the ones that came out of the truck, we made sure they were gapped right (his 1.04mm) gapper went through it barely. We triple checked the work, made sure all hoses were connected. Now its idling really rough and stutters massively during acceleration, when it comes to a stop and goes back to idling it feels like its going to stall. We checked the plugs and retightened to 18lb ft, still same symptoms.

We then put the old plugs back in, but the same symptoms kept happening - before we did the work, the vehicle was doing great, super smooth no issues at all.

The only other odd thing that happened is when I did a oil change while he was doing the plugs and it only took 5qts before it above the dip stick line but we thought that wasn’t right so i added two more in to make 7 qts with new filter - and now its way above the dipstick but i waited to close drain pan plug and put on new oil filter until it was barely dripping once every few seconds so I don’t think there isn’t too much oil in it.

Ive had to leave to come back to town to work tomorrow morning, so the truck is at my friends house, and he is going to try switching out a new ignition coil to each of the cylinders to see if that resolves the issue, testing each time he moves it to a new cyl.

I should note that we unhooked the battery when retesting, didn’t make a difference. I should note I’m a complete novice but my friend knows what he’s doing. I think we may have inadvertently messed something up but there has been zero errors coming up on the scanner, however it feels like the engine is misfiring. Sorry for rambling, just want to try and be as thorough as possible. I have to go to bed but I’ll check back tomorrow.

 

[Bisho]

Sounds like a coil pack or two are disconnected.

 

[LowDrag82]

Sounds like a coil pack or two are disconnected.

Reseated everything three times. There’s a new coil pack in the back of the truck, he’s going to move it around to each cyl to see if there’s a bad coil pack but I doubt it.

 

[jsloden]

Make sure all of the coil pack plugs are plugged into the appropriate coil pack. Don't remember if there is enough slack to get two of them mixed up but it's entirely possible.

 

[suboptimusprime]

Reseated everything three times. There’s a new coil pack in the back of the truck, he’s going to move it around to each cyl to see if there’s a bad coil pack but I doubt it.

If you can check for codes with OBD2 reader, it will tell you which cylinder is the problem. Agree that coil pack was my first thought (have had the same problem).

 

[Mike NXP]

I'd work on getting your oil level down to the proper level before you have other issues then worry about your running rough problem.


Wouldn't a bad coil or misfire trigger the check engine light? idk

 

[dbfw]

I think techstream will read out a per cylinder misfire count as live data while you're running, that might point to which cylinder may be misfiring before it throws a code?

 

[LowDrag82]

Update: guys I’m the idiot. I shouldn’t be allowed near heavy machinery again. I friggin drained the AT drain pan not the oil pan. First time doing this with the vehicle and I should not of assumed anything. He drained the oil back down to dipstick level and it’s running smooth again he says. Looks like the AT drain pan only holds two quarts so we are going to put two new quarts back in and then I have an appointment at OTRAMM anyways in a week or two and have them check everything.

I should just stick with my day job…

 

[nissanh]

Check the trans fulid level without assuming it is 2 quarts.

 

[LowDrag82]

Check the trans fulid level without assuming it is 2 quarts.

We tried, but don’t have any of the special tools to since it’s the 06 model. Has to be towed to a transmission place 10 mi away tomorrow. Could not find the fill inlet either on top of the transmission, even if we did, probably wouldn’t be able to fill it.

 

[Rhetoric]

I will give you $100 for it to save you a headache. I have the special tools.

 

[LowDrag82]

I will give you $100 for it to save you a headache. I have the special tools.

At least $150

 

[Rhetoric]

I dunno. You ran that motor with 14 quarts of oil and covered it in armor all. Now it has ??? transmission fluid.

$125 is my final offer. Have a trailer and ready to pickup.

 

[excessive]

One time on my old 4Runner i was doing some work (spark plugs i think) and i had the same type of issue. Truck ran terrible after the work i did. i double and triple checked everything,and i didnt mess anythnig up. Long (Very long) story short, my MAF had gone bad during the repair work. Replaced the MAF, and I was back in business. the only thing i can think of was that the MAF was about to break and the plugging / unplugging of it caused it to finally give out.

 

[Jack90210]

Dood. I'm in Charlottesville, HMU if you need a hand. I have the Motive fluid pump which makes trans fill a breeze, there's no dipstick or underhood fill point on the 5-speed transmissions. (Typically I add 3 quarts after a pan drain, then bring it up to temp and about 8 ounces will come out of the overflow tube drain.)

Also, when these radiators turn brown like that they are on borrowed time, and when they blow on the road it ain't cheap to fix the motor.

Edit, I sent you a PM.

 

[LowDrag82]

I dunno. You ran that motor with 14 quarts of oil and covered it in armor all. Now it has ??? transmission fluid.

$125 is my final offer. Have a trailer and ready to pickup.

I’ve never used armor all on… anything. What are you talking about?

 

[nissanh]

He is referring to the shinny motor and hoses! Man, I never wash or polish the engine bay except once in a while some compressed air to clean the valley and radiator/AC cooler fins. .

When did you last replaced the radiator?

 

[LowDrag82]

He is referring to the shinny motor and hoses! Man, I never wash or polish the engine bay except once in a while some compressed air to clean the valley and radiator/AC cooler fins. .

When did you last replaced the radiator?

That was the pic when I first bought it 2 months ago

 

[medtro]

Title should be updated to "Oil change debacle"

 

[BnvS]

Lol seriously one of the most

Title should be updated to "Oil change debacle"

For sure @medtro but it could be more like "let's not touch things without proper knowledge" and "how to leave sh*t alone" Lol

I'm just kidding to OP. Always gain the knowledge before you actually do it to to gain the experience.