pearl93'ls

Hey guys the temps are in the teens in Ga this morning! My 2006 Es was giving me a little quiver at idle this morning and a soft knock. Sounds like it's coming from backside of motor. I needed to get to work so I put a can of seafoam in the tank and filled her up thinking I had a dirty injector. I drove my 36 mile commute to Chattanooga running speed of 80 mph. No issues.

I exit the interstate and my check engine light starts flashing and the car is barely running and skipping badly. I limp in to work another couple of miles with absolutely no power. Check engine light is flashing on and off then will stay solid then flashes on and off some more. I pull into the warehouse at work and that knock coming from the backside of the engine is more prominent. I pull the plastic cover off and noticed that the front three coils are original and they are filthy. Keep in mind my ES only has 113,000 miles and has been dealer serviced since new. it had an induction service a couple thousand miles ago and a new catalytic converter about 25,000 miles ago. My question is does this sound like a coil pack issue or is this an injector issue given the knocking sound? I know whatever the problem is it seems to be coming from the backside which looks like that is a real b**** to get to.... I am going to the part store to buy another code reader since mine is at home. Yay. I love wasting money. Thanks in advance guys

mmatheny

I THINK the flashing CEL light is the trouble code. I'd get a code pulled to see what it says.

Oro

You can just get a loaner Code reader, no need to buy one. Most large chains do that. For the future, you can purchase a cheap ELM327 bluetooth unit (~$6) to plug into the OBDII port, and leave it in the glove box. You can put free software to connect with it on your smartphone and then have a code reader (and much more) on hand at all times.

It sounds more like an oil control valve than anything else, but the code will help refine the possible source(s).

pearl93'ls

O'reilly ran the code. Cylinder 5 misfire. Bought a coil and some plugs. We will see what happens

mmatheny

Back right rear. MIGHT be able to change it without pulling intake manifold off. My #5 started misfiring, so went ahead and got 3 to replace all of them on the rear bank since they are so hard to get to - changed plugs also.

pearl93'ls

Number five spark plug unscrewed itself from the head! I guess this was done at the 90,000 mile service. The spark plug bounced around destroying the coil and destroying the threads in the head. Oh my God

Oro

I can't quite see how that could happen with the plug held down with the coil bolted on top of it, holding it down? I don't doubt what you describe, just that I think something else had to start out "wrong" for that to happen, don't you think?

mmatheny

WOW - how did you find this out?? Mirrors?? Wonder if you can hit the dealership for damages.

pearl93'ls

Not sure how it happened...coil was broken in 2. Spark plug and threads beats to crap. Threads stripped in head..used dentist mirror to look.. I don't know how this could happen. But it totally explains the strange engine knock it was making. It was never the same and inconsistent at how loud knock was. Also the knock would come and go.. This all started at 8 am this morning. It is fixed and I have commuted 36 miles home cruise on 80 mph. Mpgs coming back up and seems like no harm done. My wallet is $160 lighter now. Could be worse. May get worse if more decide to go!

mmatheny

How did you fix the stripped head threads?

Jaggernaut

That would definitely explain the bucking and CEL. I had the same thing happen with my 2000, Bucking was inconsistent and gradually got worse. Luckily, I didn't have your problem. Hope you don't have to have your block rebuilt. I would assume that is the only way to get your threading back in the socket.

pearl93'ls

It was bucking and knocking like crazy...I was going to do the work myself but when I saw that #5 coil was in back hidden underneath the intake manifold I paid my Toyota guy to do it. He was able to rethread the head with some kind of kit. Hope it holds up! It runs better now than when I bought the car....so quiet

mmatheny

Helicoil - saved MANY a mechanics ***!

Jaggernaut

Glad to hear you didn't have to rebuilt the block! Saves a lot of time and money.

pearl93'ls

I need to look at receipt a little closer to see what he used... I am very grateful that this did not ruin the head. I would have been in deep s***. I would have really gone after the Lexus dealer that serviced the car. Question? What is helicoil?