Engine Sounds Lumpy

[paulybrad]

Hello, Before I hook up my car to a toyota dealer computer for a diagnostic, please can you fire me with a fault finding plan I should try first.

A little history so far.

Car is Toyota Corolla Verso 2002 1.8. The eats oil like there's no tomorrow. It has just started to sound like a bag of spanners, however i feel NO loss of power. So far I have only changed the spark plugs, my next step is to buy a coil pack assy and by trial and error try it on each cylinder. However these are about £60 quid or £30 from a breakers yard.

At first I thought it was the exhaust but this is fine. The car passed its MOT yesterday and the mechanic was not sure, he said it might be the coil pack. It sailed through the exhaust emmisions test.

All comments welcome.

cheers Paul.

[Corolla Glynn]

I dont think you will stop your car's thirst for oil without renewal of certain internal engine parts (piston rings)

This is not to say your car has a worn engine, Toyota and most toher manufacturers work on a tolerance allowing your engine to consume 1 litre per 600 miles.

When the 1.8 vvti first started to appear back in 99, there were lots of owners of new cars with failing engines due to not checking their oil level.

The way to run a 1.8 vvti engine in was to thrash it to death for the first 3000 miles...................after this there were no problems with high oil consumption. Sorry but this does not help you case, I just feel sorry to hear of Toyota's with this problem.

A car could pass an mot with a failing coil pack, depends how bad it is. Diagnostic systems were designed to identify faults on our cars which are not readily diagnosed. You could buy a coil pack at £70, but that may not be the problem. Have a friendly chat with your main dealer, they usually reduce or omit any diagnotics charge if you have the work done with them. If it is a coil pack they do not take very long at all to fit.

[bamber]

Talk to your local toyota dealership about the oil consumption, toyota are quite good even with older cars, im sure they will still replace the short motors (block, pistons, etc) on even older cars

[paulybrad]

Talk to your local toyota dealership about the oil consumption, toyota are quite good even with older cars, im sure they will still replace the short motors (block, pistons, etc) on even older cars

Thank you for your posts. however i spend £30 quit and got a diagonstic done, and guess what? just as i though a coil pack assy on 2nd cylinder is faulty causing the engine to mis fire, which is why is sounds lumpy.

so problem 1/2 solved now i need to fix it. a new coil pack assy is aroung £70 quid, or i can get a used one for £30. I tihnks its going to be a used one. I will keep you posted if the diagnostic was correct.

A mate siad that if i got a paper clip and inserted it in the correct pin where the computer is connected and then count the number of time the Engine warning light flash, this will then tell you the error code which you can look up...how true is this and ideas?....

[paulybrad]

Purchased a coil pack from E-bay - used £9.95 which is a bargin if it works, should arrve on Monday. will keep you informed.

[Corolla Glynn]

A mate siad that if i got a paper clip and inserted it in the correct pin where the computer is connected and then count the number of time the Engine warning light flash, this will then tell you the error code which you can look up...how true is this and ideas?....

Thats asking for trouble!

[paulybrad]

A further update:

the story so far:

Engine sounds lumpy: (engine waring light constantly on) - but dosn't seem to be any power loss

1) Changed spark plugs - no effect on engine sound

2) Car passed MOT - mechanic suggested it might be a faulty coil assembly

3) paid £30 to hook car up to computer - result was fault on cylinder 2.

4) checked the spark plug it was a sutty black colour on cylinder 2 the other plugs were white powderery in colour

5) Purchase a coil pack assembley installed it on Cylinder 2 - No change on engine sound.

What are my next steps?

a) This weekend i am going to do a compression test on all four cylinders and compare results to see if Cylinder two has a lower pressure value.

B) Then hold the spark plug to the engine (earth) and turn the engine over to see the spark and repeat and compare with the other spark plugs.

your further suggestions are welcome.

[paulybrad]

Update Number 2:

The results of the compresion test are as follows:

Cylinder 1 - 12 bar

Cylinder 2 - 3 bar

Cylinder 3 - 11.8 bar

Cylinder 4 - 11.6 bar

It can be concluded that cylinder 2 has a problem

After a little re-search it could be any of the following:

1) Bent Valve (proberbly not as this car has a chain and not cam belt)

2) Oil seals (could be as it uses alot of oil)

3) Sticky exhaust valve (this is what i think it is since the lumpy sound started just befre the rear exhaust silience fail)

4) Head Gasket (could be but dounbt it - this will be replace any way if it is no. 3

5) Crack in cylinder enging block (maybe - but i would see white coolant specs in the oil)

So the next steps are:

Strip down the head and have a look.

I will let you know next week what the solution is.

[paulybrad]

Paid £300 to have the engine stripped down and changed the valve had a crack, it looked like it had seen a very hight temperature. The engine now runs on all 4 cylinders but it still sounds lumpy so i part ex it.

[msprince]

Update Number 2:

The results of the compresion test are as follows:

Cylinder 1 - 12 bar

Cylinder 2 - 3 bar

Cylinder 3 - 11.8 bar

Cylinder 4 - 11.6 bar

It can be concluded that cylinder 2 has a problem

After a little re-search it could be any of the following:

1) Bent Valve (proberbly not as this car has a chain and not cam belt)

2) Oil seals (could be as it uses alot of oil)

3) Sticky exhaust valve (this is what i think it is since the lumpy sound started just befre the rear exhaust silience fail)

4) Head Gasket (could be but dounbt it - this will be replace any way if it is no. 3

5) Crack in cylinder enging block (maybe - but i would see white coolant specs in the oil)

So the next steps are:

Strip down the head and have a look.

I will let you know next week what the solution is.

Could also be a crack in the piston, poor sealing piston rings.