jclemen

I have the cover off, the leak was coming from the timing chain 'hump'. The spark plug seals disintegrated when I attempted drive them out with a socket. I sprayed some PB and will try to gently get the rest of the seal out. Seems like theres a metal ring within the seals. Any tips on doing this job?

I did not replace the spark plug tube gaskets. That the culprit?

Thank benjie, I think you may be right on the redo. I forgot to say I used a brand new cover gasket and installed a brand new pcv valve as well. I just went out to check. The back of the motor is dry but the rubber mount near the cat is very wet with oil.

I had some misfire CELs appear on my 94 es300 so I replaced all the spark plugs as well as cleaned the TB and ICV. I thought I'd change the rear valve cover while I had the plenum off to address a problem where I'd smell burning oil in the cabin at idle. I did all the work and put everything back together, I had a major leak so I tore everything down again. This time I used a thin layer of high temp rtv around the head where the cover mounts. This time no major leak, no puddles on the garage floor but still the smell. I drove around to burn-off the oil from the first attempt. Still had the smell, still no puddles. I can put my hand on the back of the motor and feel up and down, my hand stays dry. I drove the car about 18 miles yesterday, still stinky at idle, no puddles/drips in the garage. I put the car out last night (-10 overnight) and then started it this morning. I let it run for a few minutes then moved it into the garage (heated to be around 45 degrees) and left for work in another car. I got home tonight and went out to 'run' the es and backed it out into the driveway. There was a puddle of oil about a foot wide. I drove it for 15 miles and its back in the garage. I'm waiting for it to drip, but so far nothing. I'm getting pretty good at tear down, took me about 35minutes last time to get to the point where to take the rear cover off. Doesn't mean I want to do it again though. ;) I can deal with the smell but not the puddle. Any tricks on the rear cover? Should I use a thick layer of rtv?

I replaced only the front three spark plugs and sprayed some carb cleaner into the TB and down the hole into the IACV. The car seemed to run better but it still has the same symptoms. I'm still getting misfire on 2 and 4 but the code for 6 hasn't returned since reset. I'm ordering the intake gasket and a new pcv valve and will do the remaining three plugs when the car comes home for holiday break this week. I'll have a chance to tear it down and perform a more robust diagnosis.

The car runs fine above idle so I'll start with the vacuum lines. I'll bring a tester too to ensure the harness is good. I appreciate the direction, no need to throw money at it just yet. I'll let you know how it goes. Best Regards

Thank GJ - Tune-up is fair, it's time. Will the tune-up/vacuum issues throw the CELs for all three cylinders? I plan on making the trip this Saturday and bringing whatever parts are necessary to get it back to pre-CEL condition so I can get it home (60 miles) to the warm garage. The kid has a non-heated individual garage stall but when its 5 degrees, its not the most fun environment to work on a car.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...sa%3DN%26um%3D1 Hmmmm. OCV perhaps?

My 94 has the OBD II port behind the fuse panel at the lower left side of the dash. My kid pulled the codes tonight. I don't know the build date off-hand, not sure if there was a change within the year.

The kid is away at college and calls me today saying the car is surging and idling rough while at a stop. I gave instructions to rent a code reader, the following codes are present: p0302, p0304, p0306 which are cyclinder misfires on cylinders 2,4, and 6 respectively. (I'll also add p0135 is there too, I was aware of this this past summer and havent gotten around to cleaning the ICV.) I'm reading that the misfire codes potentially mean coil packs. I've done some searching on this site and have found a few threads, one where the coil packs weren't at fault but the wires of the packs themselves. My question is; Is there one harness for the three packs on the even side of the motor or three individual wires to each pack? I'd look but the car is not in the driveway. I'm surprised the whole side is out and am thinking that if there's just one wire for all three then that's where I'd start. Any feedback/direction is appreciated I should add this is for a 94 ES300 with approx 130k miles. Thanks

I did the OBD I 'jump' but could not get the CEL to flash. I rented an OBD II reader from Autozone and plugged it into the OBD II connector in the fuse panel underneath the dash and was able to retrieve codes. In this case, the P0135 which is the 1 bank 1 sensor O2 sensor. There are two of these sensors pre-cat, I'll be picking up a bosch part this week to do the replacement. There are good links regarding the p0135 code and location of sensor on this site, just do a search.

I just finished trying to jump e1 and te1 both under the dash and under the hood on my 95. Same issue you had. What were you doing 'wrong'? to get the codes?

Link on pulling OBD I codes. I haven't tried it yet, seems straight forward. http://www.extreme-check-engine-light-code...1%20Decoder.htm

FYI - I brought my 94 es300 to Autozone today to pull the code for my CEL. I have the round connector, the tech said he's seen 96 models with the round connector too.

I had the same work performed on a 94 es300 with 127k miles. I had New timing belt and water pump, $670. I had the trans flushed with new gaskets and filter $280. This was at an independent shop in MN Jeff