Cylinder 3 or 2 misfire?

Tiny
AWALKER121212
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  • 2003 TOYOTA CAMRY
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 270,000 MILES
Cylinder 3 misfiring, so switched out spark plugs, coil pack, and ignition cylinder with new working parts. Cylinder 3 is now good, but Cylinder 2 then misfired, even when spark plug was swapped with different working spark plug from cylinder 1. The compression test reads 120 on all 4 cylinders.
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Thursday, June 1st, 2023 AT 5:35 PM

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Tiny
AWALKER121212
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Now the misfire has jumped to cylinder 1. Going to try cleaner in the catalytic converter.
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Thursday, June 1st, 2023 AT 5:58 PM
Tiny
BRENDON S
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Hello AWALKER121212,

According to my information you should have 198 PSI for compression with no more than a 14 PSI difference between cylinders. The minimum compression you should have is 142 PSI.

So, it is more than likely misfiring because the compression is so low.

Since it is happening on multiple cylinders it is something that is affecting the entire engine.

I would re-do the compression test to confirm your findings. If you find you are getting the same readings, I would re-do the test again but this time I would try putting a capful of oil in each cylinder right before you test it.

If the pressure rises after performing the test with oil added, your piston rings could be too worn. If not, it may be the valve seats. Which means you will need to remove the head and have it rebuilt.

A head gasket is another option. If it is a head gasket you will have Nitrogen Oxides or NOx for short, in your cooling system as part of the combustion process.

You can test for this using a special color changing liquid called block tester.

Here is a link but any auto parts store will have it:

https://www.amazon.com/Block-Tester-BT-500-Combustion-Leak/dp/B06VVBSFTF/ref=asc_df_B06VVBSFTF?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80333123589171&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583932709121118&psc=1

Make sure to reduce the amount of coolant in the system so it doesn't get sucked into the tester.

Unless the compression test was done wrong or the tester you have is broken or wrong, you have a compression issue. If you are renting it from an auto parts store it could be a bad tester because people rent them and throw them around. You might want to just get your own if that's the case.

I found one for you. It' s a good brand Pittsburgh Automotive.
https://www.harborfreight.com/compression-test-kit-8-piece-62638.html?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=425671834&campaignid=425671834&utm_content=1154488236059904&adsetid=1154488236059904&product=62638&store=639&msclkid=2b4fde147aac1f88b4caba6d9e86d986

I would do these couple things and see what you find. Let me know if I can give you any additional information.

Thank you,
Brendon
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Friday, June 2nd, 2023 AT 5:52 AM
Tiny
AWALKER121212
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Thank you for the info. I think we figured out the issue. After replacing two spark plugs and coil packs, it gave a code for o2 sensor being bad. Once we replaced that, it seems to be running okay.
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Friday, June 2nd, 2023 AT 11:25 AM
Tiny
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The compression tester was rented from an auto parts store so it probably wasn’t the best read.
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Friday, June 2nd, 2023 AT 11:27 AM
Tiny
AWALKER121212
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Also, we found it really helpful to do a cylinder drop test, since the code reader was giving different cylinder misfire readings. Basically, we just put the car in idle and disconnected the wire harness from one cylinder at a time to see if the car shut off or continued the rough idle. By process of elimination, cylinder 1 was the one misfiring and so we replaced the spark plug, then also the coil pack when that didn’t fix it. That lead us to the o2 sensor code which finally seemed to solve the issue.
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Friday, June 2nd, 2023 AT 11:33 AM
Tiny
BRENDON S
  • MECHANIC
  • 653 POSTS
Hello AWALKER121212,

Glad you got it figured out. Thank you for sharing the information. It will help someone else down the road.

Have a great weekend!

Thank you,
Brendon
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Friday, June 2nd, 2023 AT 12:54 PM

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