So the Yesterday, it was raining pretty hard and I was coming back home from work.

There is an area that is prone to flooding, and it was flooded but it wasn't an extended length.

I went through it because I saw other cars going through it no problem.

So Today, randomly, my car starts idling very rough almost to the point that it wants to shut off on me, but it doesn't.

Check engine light came on and TCS light came on after I turned the car off then on.

Another note: a strong smell of something burning is coming from the exhaust pipes but no visible smoke.

After some thought, I noticed that yesterday was an awful day no sun and not hot, but it was warm. After going through that puddle (probably went half way up the rim and Im dropped) my car was fine. Driving to work today my car was fine. When i got out of work it was very sunny and very hot So the temperature change may have messed with any water that may have gotten inside.


----------------------------------------------
Will this go away on its own after some time?

Will seafoam help or make things worse if I put through Vacuum line?

I will go get the codes checked out tomorrow.

 

Yea check the codes. I imagine any potential water damage would be instantaneous, so I wouldn't worry about that. I remember driving through a flooded area in an older car, and it immediately died. I had to push it out.

Water has a pretty high specific heat, so any temp changes aren't going to make it cause damage. If it got into your engine, you probably wouldn't be able to get home.

IMO, the water is unrelated.

 

Also forgot, the rough idle started at a red light; As soon as I turned on the A/C, it happened.

 

still no codes??...free at autozone man... and yes this weather sucks right now... good luck..idk how im driving with no fender liner n a cold air intake..lol..

 

^Yea I was doing that for a while. The fender clips are freaking expensive.

 

Iacv

 

Sounds like its misfiring if it seems like its going to stall. In the case of a misfire, the smell that you mentioned is unburned fuel making its way into the exhaust. You should definitely get the codes read. An easy way to find a bad coil pack, or to see if the problem is a misfire at all, is to unplug the cables going into the coils one at a time. If you notice no change in the idle when you unplug a coil, the coil is bad.

 

holy crap 01tl4tl joined in 2006 and he has 25000 posts?!!!

 

If it is a bad coil pack, would I have to change any spark plugs?

 

No, you shouldn't.

 

IF the plug under a bad coil is heavily loaded with fuel and/or carbon-
I would spend the 8 bucks to replace that 1 plug..and 50 for the coil at local parts stores..gas is 5 bucks a gal= I want full spark!!

do get the codes read for free at most parts stores and report back here
multi cyl misfire does not mean buy 6 coils!
Dont bother pulling coil power wires until you have a coil code

seafoam the gas at 2oz per gal of fuel and might be time for IACV cleaning of TB!
thats my feeling on the this car
have you done the egr cleaning diy yet--thats a good time for the TB service as well

 

paperboy- you are on track to surpass my post count if you try..660+ since feb?!!
at least I had an excuse- was stuck home with back injury for many months= this was my contact with the outside world
-during that time I read and replied to every thread of interest in gen2,, and half of gen3- to learn all I could about my TL
and to this day- I still learn something new on here~ without warning!!

 

Got codes, Cylinders 2,3,4,5,6 separate codes for each.

Also, a random misfire code

I have never changed the coil packs so I'm going to change all of them and just get all the spark plugs changed out.

At first when I turn on my car, it smells like fuel that has not been burned. After some driving it smells like firecrackers from my tailpipes.

 

Odds are only 1 coil pack is bad. Buy one and replace the coil packs one at a time, starting with the first code cylinder. Reset ECU in between until it doesn't show up again.

 

just for future reference for me^^...


does he put the new coil in one...start up..same trouble...take out the new put the old that works n repeat steps with 2... or do put new one in one..then continue leaving the new one in and just swapping the old ones... til it start normal.

 

You would move the new coil pack each time. Personally I would just unplug them one at a time and listen for the one that doesn't affect the idle. Make sure you're careful with the coil packs, they're known to be sensitive to rough handling.

 

Car is fixed.

All coils and Spark plugs have been changed and she runs smooth. Even though I probably didn't have to change all the coils or spark plugs, I still did it since I have never changed the coils in the 6-7 years I've owned the car plus whatever time the previous owner had it.

 

nice... good for u...how much did this run u...did u do it yourself?

 

Coils : 55 x 6
Plugs: 8 x 6
Labor: 60

 

for the plugs- if same age,over 70kmiles, then ready for a change !!
coils- those on a budget can find the bad one and replace it

Make sure to reset the ECU by removing CLOCK fuse on passenger end of dash for a minute
neg batt cable removal does same thing but requires radio security code entry.
fuse method doesnt blank any radio memory- just clears the code history and self test all the systems so it learns the new coil= no more misfire

If it were my car- a can of seafoam in half tank of gas to clean residue from weak combustion and gets the injectors etc,,all important to mileage

 

I'm going to remove the CLOCK fuse even tho there isn't any lights on the dash anymore.
How long should I have it removed?

I'm also going to put some sea foam in the tank tomorrow.

 

One or two minutes does the trick.

 

Probably should have SeaFoamed before the change, but either way works.

 

Yea I should have seafoamed before so all passages can be clean and spark plugs put in afterwards so it can all be fresh...but this happened out of nowhere and I had to get it fixed asap.

 

gas tank method wont affect the new plugs in any negative way
(neither will vac port/tb throat method)

reminder to all- the TB air plate/ throttle cable and return spring assembly is a seperate cleaning operation. wd or DC work well there
vac port and gas tank do not get that area clean and lubed!!

 

55 per coil....fawk.... yea one coil for me if n when..lol....

does seafoam prevent this from going bad?

 

not at all!!! congrats- you have finally found something seafoam doesnt do!!

coils are sealed electrical devices that eventually wear out,,vibration-age etc

or more often, get set down hard during plug change.. and soon after have a failure

 

clarification to post a few above where I said `wd works`--
thats for the throttle return springs ONLY--NOT to clean the TB air plate