strange misfire + dying problem. need the experts

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jacobcartmill

New Member
Messages
5
Location
Louisville, KY
hey guys, i have been reading on this forum for a long time, but i've never actually posted. here's where the fun begins. car is a 92 SC400.

i pressure washed my engine bay yesterday (just the edges and by the firewall as best i could) and totally tried to avoid the engine and battery and all went well. then i pulled into my driveway...
the car started randomly misfiring, then it started misfiring more, then more, until it finally stalled..... i started it back up and it was running very rough, misfiring horribly, back firing, and barely running. it's just like after 30 seconds or so, the engine starts dropping the ignition signal for some reason. everyone on clublexus told me OMG YOU HAVE WATER IN YOUR SPARK PLUG HOLES. no. the spark plug holes are totally dry.

1. i disconnected all of the injectors and made sure their connectors were dry.
2. i took both distributor caps off and cleaned them because i thought there may have been water in them (there wasn't)
3. i reset the ECU and the car fired up just fine (it had been off for a couple hours at this point) then started doing the misfiring again, kept doing it, it got worse, etc. just like before.

i am thinking maybe i somehow messed up one or both of my ignition coils, or possibly the ECU. the weird thing is that the car runs PERFECTLY smooth for about 1 minute after it has sat for a while, then starts the random misfiring that progresses into running horribly, stalling, and not wanting to start... CEL is not on.

that was all yesterday.

now today, i swapped out coils and nothing changed.

after swapping the coils, i started the car, it was running perfectly fine during cold start like it has been doing, then i noticed that i had some wires that were ripped/broken, the 2-wire plug coming out of the passenger side head right under the cam gear/distributor. according to the wiring diagram, these wires are for the bank 2 cam angle sensor. the thing is, i discovered these broken wires while the car was running and idling perfectly smoothly before it got warmed up and started the misfire/die thing.

the weird thing about this problem is that it starts up and runs perfectly fine for a minute or two (depending on how long it has sat prior to starting) then it just starts misfiring, then more and more until it shuts off.

now that most of the ignition stuff has checked out OK, i'm thinking maybe the ECU got screwed up when those wires got ripped? i'm really not sure.

attached are some pics of the wires i repaired.


to recap:
1. i pressure washed my engine bay and drove home
2. car started randomly misfiring at idle while sitting in my driveway
3. misfires progressed and got worse, then car stalled.
4. i discovered that the bank 2 CAS wires were broken, repaired them
5. swapped out coils for known good ones, problem persists.

where do i go from here?
 
i forgot to include some possibly valuable information.

after the engine started doing the random/progressive misfire, i pulled each spark plug wire and it seems that none of the spark plugs are firing at all. however, they DO spark when the engine is fired up cold (prior to the misfire situation). at this point i am hoping it's either an igniter or a IGN coil, but in my experience with this 1uz coils, they either work 100% or they are totally dead. also, where are the igniters located?

the problem seems to be affecting ALL cylinders after the engine warms up. that's what's confusing me!

so cliff notes:
spark on all cylinders when engine is cold
no spark when engine warms up
 
Pop the hood, look to the right (just infront of strut mounts) there are two plugs going right into the igniters. If u say u washed firewall and outter engine bay walls, the right wall (drivers side) haz the two igniters that u prly flooded with water. Just worth checking and obv may not be whats dmgd
 


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