Cylinder misfire. Help!

When you make it out this way, let us know and we'll schedule something. Where I live I am equidistant between the Bay Area and Sacramento. So this meetup is with the Bay Area folks.

Maybe the NorCal folks will want to do one eventually .

 

Looks like the fun is about to begin.

Don't forget the pics

 

I share your excitement from 2000 miles away!

 

She must have a hell of a leak somewhere. What goes in.......gets burned?

 

If EGR was the culprit, vs head gasket, that'd definitely the lesser of two evils. Maybe the EGR cooler gets so clogged (which seems to happen with tedious regularity, somewhere closing in on 200K miles) that what gas is getting through overheats and ultimately breaks some of the cooling passages?

Ok, see you're going ahead with engine replacement. Still, definitely look into cleaning or replacing the egr valve/cooler while the engine is out. Inspect and take pics too.

 

You call him the beast?

 

The blown cooler theory would indeed be a great alternative to head gasket failure, but I'm not sure it will turn out to be the case. AV's pic of his sister's replacement engine makes it appear that the exhaust manifold is angled down in a way which means coolant from a blown EGR cooler would have to make it's way uphill to get back into the combustion chamber. Leads me to think it would simply run back down the EGR cooler to exhaust manifold pipe and burn straight out the exhaust.

More likely, excessive top end heat leading to head gasket failure may be a direct result of high cylinder temp spikes due to detonation directly caused by the blocked EGR circuits. This appears to be a very real scenario of blocked, cooled EGR circuits. These high cylinder temps could also easily be causing the oil control ring issues by cooking oil within the cylinders and coking the oil control rings. In a private conversation with @Raytheeagle , he notes the reported head gasket failures all seem to burn oil, too. Excellent observation and raises the question of whether the oil burning itself is raising top end heat? Or to my thinking, is detonation (and resulting high cylinder temps) from the EGR issues causing the oil burning in and of itself and taking out head gaskets?... Tuff one to answer since these engines are descended from an engine design which has been no stranger to stuck oil control rings for decades now. Gen 2's burn plenty of oil with internal EGR and practically zero head gasket issues... Who the heck knows? But I know I'm more resolved than ever to keeping my EGR circuit flowing freely. My 2010 is about to get a nearly new EGR valve/cooler, it's second intake manifold de-sludge in 40k miles and a brand new electric water pump. I want my Gen 3 to do Gen 2 style high mileage with no engine problems. Looking pretty good that there will be a special guest aiding in this not-on-the-factory-service-schedule, 140k mile maintenance session, too!

 

Thanks for those insights. What miles are you at btw?

 

Upstate New York meetup.

 

Yeah, unfortunately it's all just thinking out loud, Mendel...

@Tracksyde 's dealer diagnosis of "gasket failed, no known cause" is what I expect we'll continue to get from Toyota unless the whole thing blows up to epic proportions. A clear answer as to the why(s) here might be a long time coming. And in "fairness" to Toy, perhaps it was just a production batch of faulty head gaskets.

My 2010 is just about to turn 140k miles. It's an absolute zero oil burner with no movement on the stick at all over 5k oci's. The intake manifold was de-sludged (it was fully involved) at 100k. I did not go after the cooler at that time as the valve was shiny clean. Still, I guess that doesn't mean the cooler didn't need attention, too. Just the manifold solved my driveability issues, the standard missing at low rpm, so I went with it. Even the EGR pipe only had partial build-up and only to the manifold side. It will be interesting to see how my cooler looks at 140k. It's been perplexing to me that with so many verified blockages of both the intake manifold and the EGR cooler, 2 opposite ends of the circuit, we see so few reports of P0401 from the valve in the middle. Funny that Toy is willing to throw a new EGR valve in cars that throw that code and send them on their way with the circuit still partially or fully restricted.

 

Told you its engine, good luck putting it on, btw how much you got it for??

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I totally share your frustration, AV. We hold Toyota to a higher standard but it is a standard they've created for themselves. That's why I hope at some point they'll own this one. But in general, it's happening at high enough mileage that they will likely be able to take the low road and call it "end of service life" failure.

But as @Raytheeagle says, awareness is key in this situation. Staying on top of the EGR circuit, preemptively replacing the water pump/t-stat, keeping the coolant at least factory interval fresh may be all that's needed for the 2ZR-FXE to yield a more typical Toyota service life. I am going to keep my 2010 for better or worse, and log a solid 20k miles per year. I'd like to see 300k from the rattletrap, original HV battery or not.

I too like the Volt a great deal and think GM did a great job with it. The Bolt is pretty awesome, too. I'm curious about the Ioniq, both hybrid and EV. The wife and I nearly plunked the deposit on a Model 3. I've been all Toyota since 1993 but am seriously looking at other brands for the first time since. It's a really exciting time in auto development. Wouldn't blame you if you dumped your v to check out another brand.

 

+1 to the awareness.

I will also be driving my 2010 until the wheels fall off or a major repair dooms it. But I should have what I need to keep it going for many years to come.

My professional experience has taught me the value of preventative maintenance, which I employ in other facets of life.

Some of what others may see as problems and throw their hands up, I view as a reason to understand and dig deeper.

It also leads to meet ups and sharing.