1997ls400

I’m hoping someone can help me out here. I recently purchased a 97 ls400 and it ran great then I noticed an oil leak, and my engine light code said my car was misfiring, so after research decided to attack the valve cover gasket first. Well while I took this apart I noticed oil over my spark plug lines and decided I better clean them and fix the leak before replacing them. I put my engine back together, accidentally spilling some brake fluid when I detached a line, oops. Well now everything is back together but my engine starts then gurgles (maybe it’s knocking?) don’t know a better word for it. Should I reclean the spark plugs as I only removed the oil and didn’t deep clean or try something else?

1997ls400

For video

1997ls400

so cleaned the MAF connection and it sounds different.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Welcome.
How old are the ignition wires? My thought is re-check the ignition wires to verify they are correctly matched. If there is oil in the plug socket well that may contribute to a poor ground connection.

1997ls400

they look relatively new (aside from the oil on them) like the last owner changed them out but cannot verify. I was going to change them out when I knew the oil leak was fixed along with the spark plugs. I wired them according to this diagram that I found, which from memory and photo of the left side is how I found them but perhaps was wrong?

1997ls400

cleaned the ignition wires deeply this time but still didn’t like the sound without the MAF plugged in. Maybe this can help diagnose the issue? It sounds like something is scraping? I don’t want to keep running the engine until I get something solid

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

diagram looks to be similar to this:


did you replace the plugs eventually? make sure the wires are pushed down into the plugs nice and tight.

1997ls400

I have not replaced them as I wanted to ensure the oil leak was fixed first. But if it seems to be the spark plugs I guess I could replace them and wait to replace the leads until I know the leak is fixed. Just wasn’t sure if it would add to their wear by keeping leads that may be contaminated with oil.

after fixing the valve cover it seems it was not the cause of the leak in the first place so I’ll probably do the cam shaft ASAP since my timing belt has some oil on it now.

aptoslexus

Scraping sound might be bad bearings in one of your pulleys. It gets really loud near the power steering reservoir, so I'd be looking right around there first.

Losiracer2

Did you replace the spark plug tube seals and grommets that bolt the cover down? You should’ve done everything in that area vs. just the valve cover gasket.

deanshark

Definite bearing scraping. I can hear it most in the 3rd video. Could be any one of your pulleys but it looks to me like your fan is wobbling a little. Also sounds like an exhaust leak towards the right side rear of engine. (EGR pipe maybe)
In the 2nd video sounds like air leaking from the air intake pipe where you have all the junctions globbed together. Don't know who did that or why but the vacuum line coming from the drivers side isn't even supposed to go there. Everyone I've seen goes directly into the front of the intake manifold, yours has a cap there.