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Cylinder 2 misfiring

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Davidude, Apr 25, 2017.

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  1. Davidude

    Davidude Junior Member

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    I started up my 04 Prius today and was greeted with a check engine light. Cylinder 2 is misfiring. I had this problem 2 months ago, and I replaced all 4 of the spark plugs(overkill I know, but they hadn't been changed in a while). Since I replaced them, the car has had some sort of smell when using the A/C, but it isn't driving roughly or anything. The smell may be from be dripping a teaspoon of oil when changing it right after replacing the spark plugs. I've put at least 5k miles on the car since the new spark plugs. I'm going to switch out cylinder 2's spark plug, but what can I do to prevent this from happening again? I want this Prius to last as long as I can. It's had no unusual maintenance done to it.
     
    #1 Davidude, Apr 25, 2017
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Maybe you should try switching the coil, see if the misfire moves to another cylinder. I don't think it's a spark plug problem.

    Has this car over heated before?

    SM-N900P ?
     
    #2 JC91006, Apr 25, 2017
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  3. Davidude

    Davidude Junior Member

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    I forgot to mention it was the same cylinder last time, so something is up with cylinder 2. It's never overheated. When I replaced all the spark plugs before the 2nd cylinder one was burnt, but the rest were in great condition.
     
    #3 Davidude, Apr 25, 2017
  4. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    You should check the codes on the car, sounds like cylinder 2 has an issue. Replacing the spark plug will only be a band aid fix
     
    #4 JC91006, Apr 25, 2017
  5. Davidude

    Davidude Junior Member

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    Yes that's what the code says, Cylinder 2 is misfiring. Trying to diagnose that. I've read that cleaning the throttle body may help, I figure I'll try that when I get a chance since it can't hurt.
     
    #5 Davidude, Apr 25, 2017
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I'm not that knowledgable, but it doesn't seem that dirty throttle body would cause misfire in a specific cylinder. OTOH, JC's suggestion to swap coils is a good diagnosis step: see if the fault moves to another cylinder, or not.

    Edit: OP says he has done this.
     
    #6 Mendel Leisk, Apr 25, 2017
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2017
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  7. andrewclaus

    andrewclaus Active Member

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    You might have a malfunctioning fuel injector (lean mixture), if you've had two burned plugs in the same cylinder. In addition to moving the coil, try moving injectors, too. Change one variable at time, though.
     
    #7 andrewclaus, Apr 25, 2017
  8. 69shovlhed

    69shovlhed Surly tree hugger

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    yes, swap coils and see if the miss moves. that's a common diagnostic check for misfiring.
     
    #8 69shovlhed, Apr 25, 2017
  9. Davidude

    Davidude Junior Member

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    That's what I did two months ago, swapped the coils in cylinder 2. Now the problem is back.
     
    #9 Davidude, Apr 25, 2017
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  10. Bens04Prius

    Bens04Prius Junior Member

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    Did you figure out what was wrong and manage to fix?
     
    #10 Bens04Prius, May 9, 2017
  11. Davidude

    Davidude Junior Member

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    Unfortunately not. It's misfiring again, I'm going to look at replacing another part for the spark plug, and pray it works.
     
    #11 Davidude, May 25, 2017
  12. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    It's probably not a spark plug issue, I would start looking into the injectors.
     
    #12 JC91006, May 25, 2017
  13. Kevin_Denver

    Kevin_Denver Active Member

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    Can you post the specific codes you're having right now? Also have you checked it with Techstream? When there are misfires, there's additional information on them that can be pulled using a VCI cable with Techstream if you have it.

    If the injector swap doesn't show that an injector is bad (or other problem), it may be worth doing a compression test on each cylinder and see what the results are.
     
    #13 Kevin_Denver, May 25, 2017
  14. Davidude

    Davidude Junior Member

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    I have ordered an ignition coil and will update when I've driven it enough to judge it fixed.
     
    #14 Davidude, Jun 8, 2017
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  15. Davidude

    Davidude Junior Member

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    I drove the car 200 miles with a new ignition coil and the check engine light came back on when turning the car on the next morning. Cylinder 2 is still misfiring. I decided to get it checked out by a shop near me for $100. They came back and showed me it threw a rod in the bottom of the engine, engine is totalled. I can put 1-2000 miles on the car before it completely dies, but I'm going to see if I can part it out as a whole.
     
    #15 Davidude, Jun 15, 2017
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