04' Sport V6 Chk Engine, VSC TRAC, VSC OFF Rough Idle HELP???

[snobinge]

Chk Engine, VSC TRAC, VSC OFF Rough Idle???
I have looked at a few threads on this and even ran across a couple of the same exact situations but unfortunately no answers. I am hoping someone can help me out. I have an 04' Sport V6 with 128k. The other day out of the blue upon starting I had a very rough idle where the engine was shaking quite a bit. It settled down shortly after and I thought it was good. I drove it for 20 miles with no issues. I went for another drive later in the day and it did the same thing, but now the check engine, vsc trac and vsc off lights illuminated. I stopped at an autoparts store and they hooked it up and the computer said it was misfiring on #6 cylinder. Well today I had the plugs changed and a new coil installed on #6. I also had trans fluid, transfer cases and differential serviced. My cousin manages a Meineke and did the work for me while I was at work. Well the 4runner seemed to be running well and the check engine light was off. That was until it went back on later today. By the way the VSC lights never went off. It now seems to have a rough idle too. Not as bad as before, but not as good as it should be. Help please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[snobinge]

Anyone have any insight? This is driving me crazy!

 

[hearno]

Head gasket symptoms, get that checked.

 

[CookieRoe]

Cylinder 6? Dude, if you did ANY research, you will see that this is tall tale sign of head gasket failure.

YES, if you put new injectors, plugs, unicorn juice, etc, the engine will be fine for a little while. However, too many people have gone through this and the end diagnosis was the HG.

Take it to a good garage (or Toyota dealer) if not, you risk damaging your engine.

Hope it all works out for you

 

[Uncle_Jim]

2019 refresh to this old thread

I've had my CEL and traction lights go on before. Reading on this forum, lots of guys said "gas cap" so I replaced it and pulled the positive battery wire. Presto, fixed.

Fast forward 18 months and now......
CEL, traction lights on and rough idle. I ran to autozone for a free scan. Cylinder 4 misfire. Did some more reading and that was a common code that came back and there was lots of talk about head gasket replacement, etc.

I decided to start at the plugs and work my way backwards. I replaced all 6 plugs and it didn't seem to help. In 24 hours, the car was really sputtering. I took it to my mechanic. He scanned it and told me the code coming in was that the engine was running lean....I had knocked off a vac line. They put it back on and away I went.

24 hours later, very rough idle at cold start which went away after 60-90 seconds. CEL and traction lights came back on. Now I'm starting to fear that the head gasket replacement issue might be in my future. Ran back to the garage. Scan revealed cylinder 4 misfire.....again. They pulled the coil and it was bad.

I go in to pick up the car. Starts / idles perfect. When I put it in drive and move the vehicle 6 inches, traction lights come back on. The mechanic runs out with the scanner.... no codes, lights cleared. Go to move the vehicle, lights back on. He scans again. This time the trac off light goes away and the ABS light comes on. WTF. No codes and he can't figure it out. "Just drive it for a few days and see if it goes off" was his suggestion. What a d-bag. I took the car around the alley behind the shop and found a patch of snow. Parked on it and goosed the throttle. Rear end slid out and traction help was not working.

Drove home and found a snowy grass lot near our borough swimming pool / park. I put in 4 Lo, locked diff and then drove 30 yards. Took it out of 4 wheel (hoping it may trigger traction control to kick back on) but no change. Hit gas and spun out.

Kept reading, found zero point calibration and decided to give it a shot. IT WORKED. Replacing the plugs / cylinder 4 coil fixed the misfire and made the CEL go away. Zero point calibration turned off the lights and enabled the traction control again.

I put a sharpie mark on the coolant overflow tank and will carefully monitor it to make sure it isn't the dreaded HG issue. Without this forum, I'd be the proud owner of a catalytic converter, new oxygen sensors, head gasket and a huge credit card balance. Thanks to all that post!!