Ask GTP About Your Car Problems/General Questions

[Blood Eagle]

Its a 2001 4Runner with 99,600 miles. I have CEL on (Codes are P0300 and P0306 both are misfire codes) and it shakes little when idle and alot when in drive. When you first start it cold it will run good, once the needle starts to move you can hear it misfire. Can this be cause by the ignition coils, if it was the coils wouldn't it misfire when its cold too?

300 is a random misfire not identifying any specific cylinder but the 306 is the #6 cylinder. I'd probably disregard the 300 code and concentrate on Cylinder #6. It's not likely to be an ignition coil because how a Toyota 3.4 V6 ignition system works, there are 3 ignition coils on cylinders #1,3 & 5 which is the passenger side of the engine compartment and actual spark plug wires that run off those ignition coils over to the driver side to cylinders # 2, 4 & 6. It's a cylinder pairing system. It's not impossible it's a coil but if you had a bad coil you'd likely have a dominant misfire on the 2 cylinders that were paired together. #6 cylinder is the back cylinder on the driver side so trace that spark plug wire over to whichever ignition coil is paired with it and that would be your bad ignition coil assuming it's a bad coil. That said, the spark plugs on a 5VZFE (3.4 V6) are to be replaced at a 30K mile interval because they are standard copper plugs and not high mileage spark plugs like a Platinum, Double Platinum, Iridium etc. So it may well need spark plug replacement if they have a lot of miles on them. Also, I have seen 3.4s have intermittent fuel injector problems at around 200K miles. I actually had an injector go out on my old 1997 4Runner almost at 200K on the dot.

TL; DR - It's either a coil, spark plug wire, bad spark plug or a fuel injector

 

[RocZX]

300 is a random misfire not identifying any specific cylinder but the 306 is the #6 cylinder. I'd probably disregard the 300 code and concentrate on Cylinder #6. It's not likely to be an ignition coil because how a Toyota 3.4 V6 ignition system works, there are 3 ignition coils on cylinders #1,3 & 5 which is the passenger side of the engine compartment and actual spark plug wires that run off those ignition coils over to the driver side to cylinders # 2, 4 & 6. It's a cylinder pairing system. It's not impossible it's a coil but if you had a bad coil you'd likely have a dominant misfire on the 2 cylinders that were paired together. #6 cylinder is the back cylinder on the driver side so trace that spark plug wire over to whichever ignition coil is paired with it and that would be your bad ignition coil assuming it's a bad coil. That said, the spark plugs on a 5VZFE (3.4 V6) are to be replaced at a 30K mile interval because they are standard copper plugs and not high mileage spark plugs like a Platinum, Double Platinum, Iridium etc. So it may well need spark plug replacement if they have a lot of miles on them. Also, I have seen 3.4s have intermittent fuel injector problems at around 200K miles. I actually had an injector go out on my old 1997 4Runner almost at 200K on the dot.

TL; DR - It's either a coil, spark plug wire, bad spark plug or a fuel injector

The spark plug wires and spark plugs have less 10k miles ( I changed them myself) and there is no visible damage wires. I don't how old the coils are they are Toyota branded one so they can be the original ones. Cylinder #6 is connected to coil on cylinder #3, only #6 is showing a code its likey not coil then? And if it was spark plugs or coils wouldn't it not work when the engine both cold and warm?

Fuel injectors was my 2nd guess on what was wrong, you have to remove intake manifold to get the injectors thats going to be fun. And the other thing it could be was head gasket ( I read it 4Runnner forum) but if it was a head gasket wouldn't there be oil in the coolant or vice versa?I checked both the oil and coolant and there is no cross-contamination . The thing that I dont get is people are reporting this problem atleast at 175k miles my 4Runner is just under 100K miles?

 

[Blood Eagle]

The spark plug wires and spark plugs have less 10k miles ( I changed them myself) and there is no visible damage wires. I don't how old the coils are they are Toyota branded one so they can be the original ones. Cylinder #6 is connected to coil on cylinder #3, only #6 is showing a code its likey not coil then? And if it was spark plugs or coils wouldn't it not work when the engine both cold and warm?

Fuel injectors was my 2nd guess on what was wrong, you have to remove intake manifold to get the injectors thats going to be fun. And the other thing it could be was head gasket ( I read it 4Runnner forum) but if it was a head gasket wouldn't there be oil in the coolant or vice versa?I checked both the oil and coolant and there is no cross-contamination . The thing that I dont get is people are reporting this problem atleast at 175k miles my 4Runner is just under 100K miles?

If you want to rule out a coil take the one in question off and swap in to a different cylinder so if the misfire migrates to a different cylinder then yes it probably is a bad ignition coil. Still could be a bad spark plug although rare. More common if you used something like a Bosch Platinum which have a lot of issues. Another note on a 3.4 V6, if you recently put spark plugs in it you have to tighten them a lot (like tighter than you feel comfortable with) or else they loosen themselves and leak compression through the spark plug tube which could also theoretically could cause a misfire. When my injector went out it was a intermittent thing sometimes it would work just fine and others would only run on 5 cylinders. It would usually misfire more if there was a load on it like going up hills. Pulling the upper part of the intake is pretty easy so it's not that big of a deal. But I'd swap the coil with a different cylinder to rule out a bad ignition coil first before worrying about injectors.

Toyota had a recall on cylinder head gaskets on early 3.4s but should have been resolved by 1999. It was more of a 1995.5-1997 thing and it was an external head gasket leak not internal. Does it use coolant or is the level always full?

 

[RocZX]

If you want to rule out a coil take the one in question off and swap in to a different cylinder so if the misfire migrates to a different cylinder then yes it probably is a bad ignition coil. Still could be a bad spark plug although rare. More common if you used something like a Bosch Platinum which have a lot of issues. Another note on a 3.4 V6, if you recently put spark plugs in it you have to tighten them a lot (like tighter than you feel comfortable with) or else they loosen themselves and leak compression through the spark plug tube which could also theoretically could cause a misfire. When my injector went out it was a intermittent thing sometimes it would work just fine and others would only run on 5 cylinders. It would usually misfire more if there was a load on it like going up hills. Pulling the upper part of the intake is pretty easy so it's not that big of a deal. But I'd swap the coil with a different cylinder to rule out a bad ignition coil first before worrying about injectors.

Toyota had a recall on cylinder head gaskets on early 3.4s but should have been resolved by 1999. It was more of a 1995.5-1997 thing and it was an external head gasket leak not internal. Does it use coolant or is the level always full?

I swaped the coils and its still misfires on #6.
The spark plugs are NGK R with dual ground electrode. I removed all spark plugs they all looked the same.
There is no coolant lose.
Guessing its the fuel injector then? And I never worked on fuel injector before, hopfully its not hard.

 

[Cowboy]

Does anyone have a recommendation as to what engine oil I should use for a 2500 V10 Ram?

 

[Ze Elephant]

Does anyone have a recommendation as to what engine oil I should use for a 2500 V10 Ram?

My guess would be whatever is in the owner's manual is best, so I'm going to assume 5W30 or 10W30. If it's an older, more tired engine, then maybe a jump to the respective XW40 oil?

Typically at work we run off of the owner's manual. Someone else may have a different opinion or more experience with Ram V10s.

 

[Cowboy]

My guess would be whatever is in the owner's manual is best, so I'm going to assume 5W30 or 10W30. If it's an older, more tired engine, then maybe a jump to the respective XW40 oil?

Typically at work we run off of the owner's manual. Someone else may have a different opinion or more experience with Ram V10s.

I browsed online and a few people recommended Mobil 1 10W30 that's built for higher mileage engines.

 

[JrDarknes]

Does anyone know of a device that produces a sound that you can put on it via laptop or usb?

Then once it receives power it will play that sound?

I want my car to have this Gundam warning sound when my revs are above 7000. I was going to get a rev light and dissasemble it and have the power go to whatever can provide the sound.

 

[RocZX]

Does anyone know of a device that produces a sound that you can put on it via laptop or usb?

Then once it receives power it will play that sound?

I want my car to have this Gundam warning sound when my revs are above 7000. I was going to get a rev light and dissasemble it and have the power go to whatever can provide the sound.

You can try something this its a warning buzzer with a customizable sound

 

[JrDarknes]

You can try something this its a warning buzzer with a customizable sound

YESSSS =))) Thank you very much. Exactly what I was looking for!!!!