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2002 Toyota 4Runner is , like the title states, chugging. My mom called me on her way home panicking that the car might give up on her on the road. When she brought it home, it was chugging and putting like a clunker. It’s noticeable when idling and the sound dissipates at higher REV but you can still feel it. There is no sign of smoke from the exhaust when idling and at higher REV. This started after she filled her tank with gas 24 hours earlier. When she drove home that day, it was fine. Went to work the next morning, fine. Coming home later that night, chugging. She had a quarter tank left when she filled it yesterday. Plus the car is kind of overdue for an oil change.
The car can start just fine and I’m planning on changing her oil after I come home from work to see if it ‘fix’ the problem. I need a second opinion on the matter. Because the last thing she wants to do is to dump the fuel and add a fresh tank. (Plus she paid with her debit card so she has proof of purchase of the fuel.)
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I don’t think it has anything to do with the fuel or needing an oil change. When was the last time it had the spark plugs replaced? It could also have a mechanical engine problem. Is the service engine light on?
I scanned the car. No check engine lights but I have a P300 Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire and P306 Cylinder 6 Misfire
But now that I think if it, the car had a similar experience before about 3 years ago but the symptoms were different. It idle fine. Sputters when changing from second to three gears and sputters when at highway speeds. When brought in, 2 of the 6 spark plugs were gone and another one was about to go as well.You might try removing the gas cap and giving it the smell test. I encountered a gas pump that was delivering a diesel/gas mix a few years ago.
While I was at work, my dad took the car to the dealership for an inspection. Turns out the sparkling are failing and need to be changed along with other services the car needs. This truck needs a lot of TLC.
Follow up:
Today, because of time, I changed Cylinder 2, 4, and 6 with plans to change the rest and the wires first thing in the morning. As I was changing the plugs, I just so to happen to peer into Cylinder 6 that threw the Misfire code and saw that the cylinder is black. I’m curious if this is normal or evidence that the car is burning oil?
Here are the old spark plugs: (from left to right) Cylinder 2, Cylinder 6, Cylinder 4)FYI: The electrode is not missing. It’s too dark to differentiate from the background.
Hard to tell, can you get a close up picture?
Could be running rich in that cylinder, might be a bad wire not delivering the voltage.
The wire is fine from what I can tell. After I replaced the three spark plugs, my mom drove the car on city and highway, no problems. But here is a close up of cylinder 6 spark plug
along with cylinder 2
and 4
1, 3, and 5, I was post the picture tomorrow after I change them
Not too bad, looks like the electrode is wore pretty well, what was the gap? looks like it might have been running slightly rich from a wore out plug.
After I replaced the three spark plugs, my mom drove the car on city and highway, no problems
sounds like all it needed was a tune-up, nice job.
I don’t know the gap but the plugs that was in the car was not recommended. On the engine cover, there was a sticker stating that the engine needs double ground plug not single ground. I really don’t know and I don’t have the tools to measure it. But thanks though. I did feel a sense of pride after my first tune up.
You can get a simple spark plug gap gauge at most auto parts stores for just a couple of dollars. If you are going to be doing any amount of work on cars, that is a great and small investment to make.
🙂 I am glad you have found out what was wrong with your Mom’s 4 runner. Did you replace the spark plugs with the original equipment spark plugs ? Toyota V-6’s are picky on the type of spark plug installed. On most Toyota V-6’s there are two different types of spark plugs installed. The driver’s side engine bank has Denso spark plugs and the passenger side spark plugs are NGK. I don’t know why Toyota does this, but it does seem to run better when you install the correct spark plugs. Since you only changed the passenger side spark plugs, you may want to look in the owner’s manual and install all new sparkplugs that the manufacture recommends and not some on sale from the local parts house. Good Luck.
[quote=”slotcar” post=81932]:) I am glad you have found out what was wrong with your Mom’s 4 runner. Did you replace the spark plugs with the original equipment spark plugs ? Toyota V-6’s are picky on the type of spark plug installed. On most Toyota V-6’s there are two different types of spark plugs installed. The driver’s side engine bank has Denso spark plugs and the passenger side spark plugs are NGK. I don’t know why Toyota does this, but it does seem to run better when you install the correct spark plugs. Since you only changed the passenger side spark plugs, you may want to look in the owner’s manual and install all new sparkplugs that the manufacture recommends and not some on sale from the local parts house. Good Luck.[/quote]
It’s funny since you say that. When I did some research, I found that people do put two set of plugs from two different makes. The plugs I pulled were all NGK but single ground when the engine recommended double ground. Plus I here the NGK is the best plugs you can put in your car. It’s too bad I didn’t have a service maunel to read on but until I see the need of getting one, I’ll take on the problem as they go.
[quote=”marik7410″ post=81968][quote=”slotcar” post=81932]:) I am glad you have found out what was wrong with your Mom’s 4 runner. Did you replace the spark plugs with the original equipment spark plugs ? Toyota V-6’s are picky on the type of spark plug installed. On most Toyota V-6’s there are two different types of spark plugs installed. The driver’s side engine bank has Denso spark plugs and the passenger side spark plugs are NGK. I don’t know why Toyota does this, but it does seem to run better when you install the correct spark plugs. Since you only changed the passenger side spark plugs, you may want to look in the owner’s manual and install all new sparkplugs that the manufacture recommends and not some on sale from the local parts house. Good Luck.[/quote]
It’s funny since you say that. When I did some research, I found that people do put two set of plugs from two different makes. The plugs I pulled were all NGK but single ground when the engine recommended double ground. Plus I here the NGK is the best plugs you can put in your car. It’s too bad I didn’t have a service maunel to read on but until I see the need of getting one, I’ll take on the problem as they go.[/quote]
I personally really like NGKs, seem to make for a real good spark plug
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