Basically was running fine, maybe a slight stutter at idle. The check engine light came on - checked the code and it indicated misfire on #4. Once the light is on the engine starts running very rich (smell of fuel and black stuff coming out of the tail pipe) and it burns a lot of fuel.
I've changed: plugs wires coil
Every time I change a part I reset the code and it seems to run fine for a while (40km) then the light comes on again and then the car starts to run very rich again though even before the light comes on it is still burning a lot of fuel.
I can't think of anything else to change. The O2 sensor was recently changed as well (I got an O2 code for that one). Any ideas?
Yes there are such places but not in 'rural North Georgia'. :o) You said 'off the car' so someone is going to pay to remove them. It's very easy if you are slightly mechanically inclined but most people will get talked into thinking it's a big job and will pay big bucks just to remove them. The only thing you need is a new gasket for the upper manifold and a wrench.
Well as I look across the dirt road I see cattle on the 2500 acre ranch. Yes in rural Georgia we do have cattle ranches. I use UPS to get to places like Michigan. I get stuff from all over the US via UPS. Even though Atlanta is just 40 miles away as the crow flies they almost never have what I want at the price I want. Oh, now I see a smiley face, sort of. I keep saying I need to send of the injectors from the Toyota to see if the lack of power is clogged injectors or something else. I guess I need to get a wild hair and just do it via UPS.
I have not found a scientific >Yes there are such places but not in 'rural North Georgia'. :o) You said
Thanks guys. Actually, the coolant temp. sensor is an interesting suggestion since this whole thing started about the same time as my thermostat went. I assumed once I got it changed that the problem would go away but it didn't.
I'll slowly work down the list you guys provided and hopefully eventually solve the problem.
I was having the same problems a while back ago and it wasn't anything fuel related but air, VW's have the uncanny ability to spring leaks in air intake tubes so I would check your breather tube (goes from your oil cap to the intake and is notorious for rotting) your intake tube and your brake booster vacuum tube, if any have holes in them it will break the vacuum or let unmetered air into the engine causing it to run rich, also check your MAF, I had to replace mine once.
Thats a tough one. The misfire detection, if I'm not mistaken is based on looking at the crank sensor after a firing event, which means if the sensor were malfunctioning it most likely wouldn't report just one cylinder misfiring. In fact, if it wasn't working, chances are the car wouldn't run.
So then you have to ask yourself, what could fail which could cause cylinder #4 to misfire, and only #4. The only obvious answers I can come up with are a bad injector, bad spark plug, or an intake manifold leak. It seems like you've eliminated the plug. May want to check for manifold leaks. An air leak could cause this because what will happen is cylinder #4 will run so lean it misfires, and the other injectors may be stepped up to compensate causing them to run rich. Try spraying car starting fluid to check for leaks.
If we assume you are just dumping too much fuel, you have to ask yourself is it that one cylinder or all four (where one is just enough richer than the others that its having a hard time firing). Personally, if it were me... I'd just go on eBay (or a junkyard) and get a new (used) set of injectors. It's a fairly common car, so it shouldn't be hard to find, and it'd probably cost you $50 or so.
If you want to clean them, there is a shop on the west coast called "Witch Hunter Performance" (witchhunter.com) which will clean the injectors, replace all the seals, and will give before/after tests (both electrical and flow) for $18/ea (including shipping). I've never done business with them, but everyone I know of who has, has been happy with them, and they were very useful in providing information to me about injectors.
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