QuestionQUESTION: About a month ago my well-maintained and great Camry started "missing", running and idling rough. Spark plugs new last fall, #5 spark plug replaced, spark plug wires,and #5 remanufactured fuel injector as the #5 cylinder appeared to be problematic. Distributor cap and rotor have all been replaced. Additive to gasoline twice - nothing. Initially, car ran fine on cold start; multiple stops/starts car ran and idled 'rough'. Car began to intermittently idle and run rough. All the above has not resolved the problem. Car now running and idling rough all the time; very seldom runs properly and if so only does so for a very short duration of time, i.e., seconds to minutes. Drives like a "tank". Car has >300,000 km. What would cause this and what is next step. Unable to resolve - please HELP! Many, many thanks.
ANSWER: I would recommend that the engine should have the compression tested and tested for a possible head gasket leak.
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QUESTION: Thank you for response to my question. In followup, two mechanics have said it was not the compression and the intake gasket was replaced at the time of the fuel injector. Assume the intake and "head" gasket are the same thing. Does this change your advice?
AnswerNo the gaskets are not the same,the head gaskets are the gaskets between the cylinder heads and the block, the test is simply a check for hydrocarbons at the radiator filler neck, it involves using a test fluid in a test tube attached to the radiator, if the color of the fluid doesn't change then there is no leak, the reason I'm asking you to do this is to eliminate that possibility before trying other things may not help.
