3VZE Fuel in tailpipe

[Maui Cruiser]

95 V6 3.0 EFI 3VZE w/ 200K miles

Liquid fuel emitting from tailpipe, very low mpg. Runs rough, engine shakes when idling.

New cap, rotor, wires and plugs.

Timing? One or two cylinders not combusting?

First thought is to get a compression test and see if I have a bad cylinder valve... anything I can check before going to a garage for that?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[fwak1234]

95 V6 3.0 EFI 3VZE w/ 200K miles

Liquid fuel emitting from tailpipe, very low mpg. Runs rough, engine shakes when idling.

New cap, rotor, wires and plugs.

Timing? One or two cylinders not combusting?

First thought is to get a compression test and see if I have a bad cylinder valve... anything I can check before going to a garage for that?

Thanks for any advice.

A quick check you could do to see if you have a; dead cylinder, dropped valve, or dead injector. Is pull the boot off of the #1 start it, if no change turn it off then proceed to #3 and keep going until you get to #6. This will give you an idea if it a single cylinder or multiple or even any at all. If the truck runs the same then the disconnected plug boot cylinder is not the culprit. Take note of any cylinder that has a change. Do you have any codes? May be an O2 (oxygen) sensor going back causing the computer to see a lean condition and dump in more fuel, which could exhibit the fuel from the exhaust symptom that you are having. Any smoke? Blackish smoke is fuel, blue is oil, and white is coolant (usually a HG on the 3.0) (correct me if I'm wrong anyone). If you do the spark plug trick and nothing changes, I would personally get an 02 sensor (and change the fuel filter, for GP). Hope this can help you out.

EDIT: MAKE SURE YOU RECCONECT THE SPARK PLUG BOOT BEFORE YOU MOVE TO THE NEXT CYLINDER.

 

[918runner]

It may sound weird, but check your oil level and see if its above the level, you have gas spilling into there, due to maybe a bad injector being stuck open...maybe

 

[918runner]

It may sound weird, but check your oil level and see if its above the level, you may have gas spilling into there, due to maybe a bad injector being stuck open...maybe

 

[flyinhawaiian01]

95 V6 3.0 EFI 3VZE w/ 200K miles

Liquid fuel emitting from tailpipe, very low mpg. Runs rough, engine shakes when idling.

New cap, rotor, wires and plugs.

Timing? One or two cylinders not combusting?

First thought is to get a compression test and see if I have a bad cylinder valve... anything I can check before going to a garage for that?

Thanks for any advice.

Question, are you sure its raw fuel coming out the tailpipe? You sure its not just water from the cat, and a really heavy smell of unburnt fuel?

Rather than go through any more work, is to just pull the new plugs and see if any of them are wet, that will tell you immediately if you have a problem with unburnt fuel and which cylinders are the problem.

If any plugs are wet, check spark on that cylinder (be careful, there could be fuel in the cylinder and it could ignite if you have the plug next to the hole while you're testing spark!). You can put the plug back in and use a timing light just to see what the spark looks like from the flashes of the light. Good way to tell if its only firing once in a while, that would tell me bad wire/boot.

If none of these help, then its time to do a compression test. You can rent one from the local parts store (not sure who's on Maui, but I know autozone in Honolulu does), its an easy test to do yourself.

 

[nicnmike]

Did it run rough before you did the tune-up? Is it possible you mixed up a couple of the spark plug wires?

And you can still probably check the timing. Even when running rough you can make sure it's still somewhere in the ballpark.