Rough Idling on 4runner 2003

[mayowa]

Hello Good People,

I have got some issue with my 2003 4runner (sports edition).

3 weeks ago, I started my engine and after driving for 5-10mins, the car began stalling and at times jerking. I spoke with my mechanic and he asked if I bought gas, coincidentally I did buy gas right before the issue, so we concluded it was a bad gas issue. Solution: we cleaned the tank and serviced the fuel injectors.

Bad thing is, the solution did not work. So we scanned the car and discovered multiple codes....all the injectors had problems (p0351 to p0356), so the mechanic took the car for servicing. After servicing (we also cleaned the MAF sensors), the car was "fairly" ok , and the injector codes where gone (Screenshot424.png was the scan reading after the servicing).

So I continued driving the car, but I noticed things were different.
The car idles roughly (gives an annoying oscillating sound).
If the car is moving slow (like when in traffic), it stalls real bad.
It accelerates poorly till it reaches 40mph. At 40mph and above, the drive is smooth.

Anyway, after 2weeks of driving, it seemed to be getting worse, so this morning, we scanned the car again, and alas, so many error codes (Screenshot424.png). My mechanic says the brain box is bad, but I seriously doubt this.

Of all the new error codes, p2135 and p0123 are entirely new (I have never seen that error triggered by the car).

Please guys, any help?

Thanks

 

[mayowa]

One thing I forgot to mention. When I first start the car in the morning, it idles fine. But once I drive for about 5mins, it starts giving the problem.

 

[aha2988]

Are you in a V8 or a V6 engine?

the p0300, p0351, p0353, p0355 indicate you have missfires on all cylinders on the driver side. The p0300 idicates you have multiple engine missfires.

the p0011, p0016 these are telling you that your crank and cam positioning sensors are getting false readings..

the fact that the one whole side of your engine isnt firing properly you have to ask yourself what to all these cylinders have in comon. answer: the cam shaft, what does the cam shaft have to do with the cylinders firing, answer it opens the valves to let fuel in at the right time and exhaust out at the right time. how would this not allow the clinders to fire? answer: the cam pully's timing is off. If you in a V8 The belt has slipped or jumped teeth causing the timing to off a few degrees. DO NOT RUN THE ENGINE UNTIL THE TIMING BELT IS REPLACED!!!!!!! the 4.7L V8 is the only interference motor toyota makes if your belt breaks or timing is off bad enough you can detroy the entire top end of your motor!!

If its a V6 the timing chain has stretched or been damaged and allowing for improper timing you need to replace the chain, the V6 is not an interference motor and its not as dangerous to run the engine in the senario just dont run it more than you have to and under stand that because the cylinders arn't firing the pistons are just sucking gas when they can and pumping gas into your exhaust this is causing the codes for all the oxgen sensors to go off.

Main point you need to change your timing belt/chain and all componants related to the timing belt drive assembly. while your in there its typically a good idea to replace the water pump as you dont want to do the same job twice later if the water pump goes out. once your timing is back on track all the other codes should go away. Any codes that remain may indicate you've damaged something by running the engine without proper timing set. if you have any issues after getting your timing belt/chain fixed keep it posted i sould be able to help you out further from there.

 

[aha2988]

By the way i had the same problem mine was a little more because I play pretty hard with my truck but any who i posted up some info on my senario if it gives you any help...

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-g...8-rough-idle-misfiring-p0300-p0301-p0308.html

 

[mayowa]

Thanks a lot Austin.
I use a V6 engine. How difficult is it to change a timing belt? Is it something a novice mechanic can do? What are the risks of it is not done properly?

Meanwhile, someone tipped the fuel pump as a possible cause, could a bad fuel pump be the issue?

 

[aha2988]

if it was a fuel delivery issue the engine wouldnt run at all.

With the V6 you have a timing chain, out of curiosity how many miles are on your truck?

The timing chain/ water pump replacement isnt to challenging i would recommend picking up a haynes manual for your year model and truck i think its 20 bucks on amazon.com it has step by step instructions to do the job as well you should be able to source all the parts in one kit for the change online for under 400 bucks. the difficult part of the job is A.) you have to disassemble the whole front belt drive assembly all the pullies, clutch fan, altenator, everything on the front of the motor (then you have to put it all back on in the right order when your done) and B.) ensuring that the timing marks on the crank pully, cam pully, and timing belt all line up properly. With it being the V6 engine you wont risk a whole lot if you wern't sucessfull in setting the chain in the right place only having to do the job twice to set it right. I would certainly say though if you have any doubts in your mechanical ability to tackle the job I'm in northcarolina not sure how far that is from you but i could certainly help as well you can ask on the forums for any near by yota fans to help out or worst case take it to a local mechanic just make sure they change all companants in the timing chain housing due to the fact they've seen all the extreme conditions your chain has and should be replaced while your in there.

edit: yeah just saw how far away you are from me lol, so disreguard my help im to far to be of assistance but the other tips still apply

 

[BOSMECH]

Start with new plugs and then we can go from there.

 

[mayowa]

p0011, p0016 been set for about a year

Thanks Austin.
The car has 67k miles on it. I went to the mechanic this evening and discovered I had actually been driving the car with p0011 and p0016 set since I first bought the car (used) last year. Is this possible?

PS: Thanks for the help out, sadly a drive to north carolina is 80 days round the world.

 

[jimithing]

I would start with a new gas cap followed by a computer reset. If the problem reappears then I would try spark plugs next.

There's no way you should need a new timing chain yet - yours should be good for 200k or 300k miles. They start to make noise when they're going bad.

 

[mayowa]

Thanks jimithing.

The car makes no weird engine noise.

I would start with a new gas cap followed by a computer reset. If the problem reappears then I would try spark plugs next.

I just serviced the car in March, changed spark plugs and gas cap. After the servicing, the car ran excellently (very excellently infact) till 3weeks ago. Could the spark plugs have gone bad so quickly?

 

[mayowa]

Meanwhile, could all this issue have been caused by bad gas?? I am starting to believe the problems starting after buying gas was just a coincidence.

 

[mayowa]

Ok, the weirdest thing happened today. I decided to drive the car to a spare part shop. All through my journey there (1hr) the car didn't give trouble. I was surprised, and since the car wasn't giving any trouble I couldn't change any parts. So I decided to drive it around town so as to trigger the problem..... but after driving around town for about 3hrs with no problem, I gave up.

The car is now parked at home and am starring at it thinking....what a crazy car, must be scared of the spare part shop.

So guys, please what is the logical explanation to this auto fix??? am very confused.

 

[aha2988]

all the codes you described indicate the timing is incorrect (when the car is acting up apparently). It would be really weird or rare at that mileage to need a new timing chain. so im thinking it could be in your computer somewhere, unfortunately my knowledge stops at the wires that enter the computer haha. I would certainly go and have all the codes and DTC's cleared from the vehicle and reset all the computer functions to see if maybe the ECU has just stored the codes and its triping itself out because it doesnt know the problems been addressed. Not just unplugging the battery for a while but having a true OBDII scanner for the truck and clear the codes for good. If they come back then somethings deffinantly going on but if they stay gone then you may wined up lucky. The trucks computer will store DTC's dianostic trouble code's basicly it takes a snap shot of everything going on at the time of the malfunction so when the mechanic hooks the car up to his computer he knows how fast your were going, throttle position, brake position, any factors that may have lead to whatever part failure is being serviced. typically when the problem is addressed your supposed to clear the DTC's. So in saying that those p0011, p0016 have been there since you bought it tells me they never cleared those DTC's from the vehicle. If i were the owner of said vehicle my curiosity would question what caused those trouble code's before purchase? that could explain what might be going on now. Have you seen a car fax report of registered your vin number at the toyota website to see any previous service has been done?

 

[cruzmissile]

Resolution?

What fixed it?

I'm having the same issue with my 2005 V8. The truck was at 88k miles so I immediately replaced the timing belt only to find that it was still in great condition and there was no slippage (both cams were dead nuts on).

 

[e10pvmt]

i thought the engines were the other way around on timing...V6 interference...V8 non?

 

[aha2988]

i thought the engines were the other way around on timing...V6 interference...V8 non?

nope the 4.7 2uz-fe is the only interference motor toyota's produced

 

[aha2988]

What fixed it?

I'm having the same issue with my 2005 V8. The truck was at 88k miles so I immediately replaced the timing belt only to find that it was still in great condition and there was no slippage (both cams were dead nuts on).

He posted that it just stop'd acting up. the diagnosis was never determined. When you say same issues are you saying all the same error codes as the OP

 

[mayowa]

diagnosis was never determined

He posted that it just stop'd acting up. the diagnosis was never determined. When you say same issues are you saying all the same error codes as the OP

Yea, I don't know what fixed it. The problem simply went away.

 

[cruzmissile]

Same code and symptoms

My 2005 has had trouble at idle after she warms up.
The code that comes up is P0011 for Bank 1 cylinders over advanced and misfiring.
I had the same thing happen a few months ago, I simply removed the battery to clear the code and it ran for 1000 miles with no issues. Now it comes back almost immediately after I reset the code.
I already replaced the timing belt so I am sure it had not slipped.
I removed the VVT solenoid and found it in good condition but I ordered its replacement anyway @ $244!!

I sure hope this does it.

 

[krravi]

I am having the same issue. A mechanic suggested I change the Oil Control Valve(OCV) on the left and right side of the engine. When we pulled it out one of them looked bad like it was burnt.

So Oil sludge was the culprit, we thought. So flushed the engine oil with Seafoam and changed oil again. Had lot of gunk in the drained oil.

The codes are still showing up.

I guess with the bad oil the timing chain must have skipped a tooth or two.

I did use synthetic oil so I can stretch my oil change intervals to around 8000 miles. But it was dealer replaced oil, so I am not sure it was genuine oil, more like some sort of recycled crap.

Vehicle idles rough and then is smooth up to 70 mph. Then it becomes a little rough again....