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From: techtrainer on 21 Sep 2007 00:28
87 Camry - 223K miles

Hi Folks ..

I just had new tires installed and after that got the alignment done.
Within a day (i.e. yesterday), I noticed some shaking while driving ..
felt a lot like engine
misfiring. I had experienced this about 2-3 years back and after I
put in new spark
plugs it started working fine. However, today the shaking or
misfiring got much worse, gradually
kept increasing. As I was driving back from work, shaking was
constant. I see that the
pickup is quite weak now. I am scared of engine seizing up completely
(really not sure what that means, but
know that will be the end of it)

As soon as I reached home, checked that there were no fluid leaks
anywhere .. nothing burning,
nothing out of ordinary under the hood. I am baffled ..

- could the alignment have done anything ? I had a drift to the left
and after alignment still have it.
My mechanic showed me a suspension seal covered with oil .. said I
will need to replace it (about $370)...but also
suggested not to waste money on a car this old. Before I got new
tires, previous front tires were badly worn out on sides ... as car
was seriously needing alignment.

- could the engine start misfiring all of a sudden ? this badly ?

Thx very much for your assistance

From: techtrainer on 21 Sep 2007 19:20
On Sep 20, 9:28 pm, techtrainer <techtraine...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> 87 Camry - 223K miles
>
> Hi Folks ..
>
> I just had new tires installed and after that got the alignment done.
> Within a day (i.e. yesterday), I noticed some shaking while driving ..
> felt a lot like engine
> misfiring. I had experienced this about 2-3 years back and after I
> put in new spark
> plugs it started working fine. However, today the shaking or
> misfiring got much worse, gradually
> kept increasing. As I was driving back from work, shaking was
> constant. I see that the
> pickup is quite weak now. I am scared of engine seizing up completely
> (really not sure what that means, but
> know that will be the end of it)
>
> As soon as I reached home, checked that there were no fluid leaks
> anywhere .. nothing burning,
> nothing out of ordinary under the hood. I am baffled ..
>
> - could the alignment have done anything ? I had a drift to the left
> and after alignment still have it.
> My mechanic showed me a suspension seal covered with oil .. said I
> will need to replace it (about $370)...but also
> suggested not to waste money on a car this old. Before I got new
> tires, previous front tires were badly worn out on sides ... as car
> was seriously needing alignment.
>
> - could the engine start misfiring all of a sudden ? this badly ?
>
> Thx very much for your assistance

I fixed it .. Here is the fix for someone who may face the same
problem --
Basically, One of the cylinder was 'missing' -- when I pulled out the
spark plug wire rod, it revealed a crack in it ... which was leaking
electrical charge.
I went ahead and replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wire set which
includes the distributor cap, and distributor rotor.

It runs fine now.

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