Hi. I'm in a serious jam with my daughter's 2002 Lexes ES300. We are on our way from Phoenix to Manhattan KS to get her back to school. I noticed the car was taking 3-5 seconds of cranking to start and noted that the fuel pump might be on its way out. Then, in the middle of New Mexico, the car starts running rough, followed by a Check Engine Light. I nurse it to the next exit, pull codes with OBD Fusion and see P0303 Cylinder 6 Misfire. I pulled the engine cover and see oil coming from that coil seal, pull the coil to see the boot burned up, and either no spring to the spark plug, or it fell out and and I didn't see it fall. We were 35 miles from a town with an auto parts store, so I used the spring from a ballpoint pen and some tape to put the coil back together after cleaning it up as best I could. I was hoping to get it to the next town and get parts. The car ran better for 15 miles or so, but started running rougher again going up a hill, then died. I pulled over and could not get it started again. Crank, but no start. I pulled codes again and got the P0306, but also P0351, P0352, P0353, P0354, P0355, and P0356. Most of my searching for those codes indicate an ECU or ground issues, but those seem unlikely as I was driving along with the bad coil when it all just died.

At this point, I'm really hoping the fuel pump died while going up that hill, but that's probably wishful thinking. I'm tying to source a new ignition coil, but I'm in the middle of nowhere NM and it's a challenge right now.

Anything thoughts or ideas? Could that one bad ignition coil be the total issues? Could it have killed something else?

TIA

 

What do the other coils look like? Valve cover leak means oil goes into spark plug tubes if left like that the oil ruins the coil(s) as you found out. Check the other 2 coils and report back. Forget about the fuel pump they rarely go bad in these cars.

 

As he said, disregard pump theory for now. I carry two spare coils in the spare tire area for reasons like this. Fortunately you are on the front bank, not back. Best of luck in a tough situation.

 

I pulled #5 when I tried to bandaid #6. Number 5 looked pretty good. Dry, boot intact. I definitely intend to replace all coils as soon as I can, but just trying to get to KS at this point.

The oil I found on the valve cover coming from #6 seemed like it was coming through the ignition coil seal, which was also definitely leaking air.

 

Yeah, I carry a spare coil in my own daily 2002 BMW 325i. I put a spare fuel pump in my daughter's trunk because I have had to replace it before, but neglected to throw a coil in there. It would have been nice for this to happen a week ago while at home, but here we are. Thanks for the input.

 

Don't discard the coils if they are original, OEM coils last basically forever unless oil gets to them. Wouldn't hurt to put a volt meter on the battery with the engine running see if the alternator is doing its job, that many codes is suspect.

 

To be frugal, what I do is go on ebay and buy two or three coils from a salvage yard off a low-mile wreck using the same coil. $25, $30 for a couple OE coils. As he said, the OE tend to really last. Our 02 ES has 340k miles and I think I’ve replaced only one, but maybe two coils. GS and RX have are both now in 180k mile range, all on original coils (still keep a spare or two in trunk).

 

Yeah, I'm more than comfortable going to the local pull-your-part to grab some good looking spares when I get back home. I'll likely have all 6 coils and plugs replaced if we can get the thing to KS. Unfortunately, where we are stuck has two auto parts stores and no salvage yards. I'm hoping I get lucky tomorrow finding one locally.

 

You've replaced the fuel pump on the Lexus before at some point?

 

Yes, a few years ago. I was getting lean codes, fuel pressure was low at the fuel rail. New fuel pump solved it.

 

Update:

At 8a, I went out on foot to hit both auto part stores in town in search of an ignition coil on my way to the auto repair shop 1.3 miles away. Of course, I struck out at both part stores. When I got to the repair shop, a mechanic was pulling codes, which I already had from the previous day. I then asked if it was cool if I pulled the engine cover and ignition coil, which he was good with. Once the engine cover came off, I could see the #6 coil was melted on top. I tried to pull it out, and it was a long string of copper wire. I've never seen such destruction on an ignition coil. I got most of that out of the way and could see that the spark plug was destroyed, It took me 20 minutes, but I fished all the fragments out eventually. The shop owner was going to send one of his guys to a nearby town for a new ignition coil, but I mentioned if you have a Toyota V6 around, maybe we can rob one. 20 minutes later, his guy came back with a used coil in hand. I was elated.

Then I set off on foot again to track down a new spark plug. Thinking things through, I realized that when the problems started and I had the code for cylinder 6 misfire, I believe that the spark plug was loose at that time. I have no idea how. No recent work, and the car has 200k miles on it. But I recalled as I tried to MacGuyver the coil with a ballpoint spring, the rubber seal was leaking air. I now believe it was cylinder pressure and my brain just didn't process at the time. I think that cylinder pressure and heat destroyed the coil, and the bad coil burned up and took out the spark plug, or the plug died first. I'm not sure though.

Oh, before I went to get the spark plug, I loosened up the bolt on the fuel rail since there was no schrader valve and I was trying to move things along. I cranked the engine and fuel shot out, so fuel pump, check.

Once I got back with the spark plug, I tried to tighten it in the cylinder, but it just spun. I'm sure the spark plug destruction took out the threads. The mechanic on hand grabbed a helicoil and repaired the threads. He took his time, which I appreciated on one hand, but on the other I was dying to get to the next step. After 45 minutes that felt like a year and a half, I put everything back together and turned the key. Crank, no spark. Dang.

I thought things through and even though I had checked fuses the previous day, I didn't do that carefully. So I slowed down and read the underside of the fuse box cover and saw "IGN". I didn't check that one yet. I pulled it out and was elated to see it burned out. I replaced it with the spare that's been sitting in that box for 22 years, turned the key and the damn thing started up.

Buuuuuuut....

It sounded like a BB was in the cylinder bouncing around. Shoot. Had to be debris from the destroyed spark plug or coil or both.

So, I pulled the spark plug and borrowed a shop vac and a funnel and tried to suck whatever was in that cylinder out. I think it worked. Mostly, anyway. After putting the plug back in, there was still a noise, but it was much better. I went to take it for a test drive, and it was better than the day it died, but not great. Then I got a P0306 Cylinder 6 misfire. Again. How can that be? We swapped in a "new" Denso coil.

I was getting exhausted and frustrated, but I decided to swap the 6 and 4 coils and see if the code followed. It did. I asked the mechanic if he had any more used coils. He said "jump in the truck", so I did and he took me to their wrecking/storage/salvage yard where we found the Toyota Camry the previous mechanic had pulled the coil from. I grabbed the two remaining coils facing the front of the engine and we went back other the shop. I replaced the replacement coil, cleared codes, started it up and the engine sounded much better. And no code. I let it idle for a few minutes, then went for a test drive. No codes.

After settling the bill for a very reasonable sum all things considered, I picked up my daughter up at the hotel and we hit the road. We just did 7 hours of driving, I think - I'm exhausted. No codes. No engine problems. I'm not even going to check if that BB pinging sound is still happening.

Thanks for the input and suggestions. We just have another 2 hours to go in the morning, then if the thing dies in town while she's attending school, oh well.

 

Well thanks for the follow-up, and glad it did work out. A good story about some helpful folks and some ingenuity and effort. BTDT a few times. Good you are back on track!

 

That's the craziest repair saga I've heard in a long time.

 

That’s all that was left of the coil. The plastic tube had almost completely burned up.

 

I love this story. Reminds me of older hijinks.

Hosting a neighborhood happy hour tonight; If I have a few drinks later, I’ll relate the time I was stranded on a large dairy farm in northern VT a few miles form the Canada border. Alternator failed. BMW 2002, ‘76my. I used farm tools and a cut up Coors can into thin strips enough to pack the worn-out bearing race to generate enough a juice to get back to Boston (literally, barely - it failed on the Mass Pike exit but got home). I’ll post the whole story later (or maybe this is enough), @LEX2K2 should love it.

I love this story and I genuinely DO appreciate it.

Some NAPA employees did the same thing as the OP w/me years ago in Cle Elum, WA. Blew belts on a Land Cruiser towing horses. They just let me use tools to figure it out myself, since they couldn’t, and in fact weren’t even open - it was a Sunday and they were just there wrenching on their own cars. People and especially car people (or boat people, or XX people, etc.) are at heart decent when you need help - that’s what I like about this story.