Strange issue with Toyota Matrix

Hi everyone,

I am very stumped on this issue I have with my 2003 Toyota Matrix XRS.

I was driving home today and as I was getting off the highway, I felt it stumbling a little bit. I thought it was odd and I was only 1.5 miles from the house, so I just kept going. Well, I made it to .7 miles to my house and it totally crapped out. There was burning plastic/electronic smell coming from under the hood. Got it towed home. Shortest tow ever.

So I read the CEL that popped up, and got a P1310. Ok, so I'll check the coils. That code points to cylinder #3 coil failure. Well, only the top part of the coil pack came off for cylinder #3.

I put a good coil pack next to it for comparison. Now, I got the larger metal shaft part out using vice grips, a 2 ft pry bar, and a wrench. It was TOUGH. The rest, though I cannot get out at all really. There is probably 1.5-2" left to go. I can take it out in very small chunks, but it would take the rest of the year to complete.

So what I am asking is if anyone else has had a similar issue and how they went about fixing it. I was thinking about using heat, but I have to be careful with all of that aluminum around there. I can take better pics of the inside tomorrow, but I had to walk away from it. I was not in a good head space.

Thanks for any advice,

Nate

Can you remove the valve cover for better access?

Wrong forum!!! ARGH! Mods, can this be moved to the general GRM forum? I am sorry about that, had a pretty bad day.

Thanks,

Nate

In reply to Woody :

You know, I think you may be onto something. I thought the tubes went all the way up from the heads, but a quick google search shows I could get quite a bit closer that way! 

Moved

Depending on what you see, heating something up that you can melt away what is left might work.  A small diameter metal pipe, or even a socket might help melt away some clearance to force a socket on. 

Did you find the source of the burning plastic smell?

Well, Wonko stopped by yesterday and we managed to get the valve cover off. We then discovered that you can remove the spark plug tubes. We used a socked that was a perfect fit and a set of vice grips to wrestle the spark plug tube out. Sadly, the remainder of the spark plug came with it. The rest was in the engine destroying the cylinder walls. We confirmed this with a borescope. So I think that ends the saga of the Matrix at this point. 

Sorry to hear of the potential demise of your Matrix.  Should you be interested in another, I have this one w/ 67k miles that I intend to sell soon.  

For comparison, here's cylinder 1:

Here's cylinder 3:

jfryjfry said:

Depending on what you see, heating something up that you can melt away what is left might work.  A small diameter metal pipe, or even a socket might help melt away some clearance to force a socket on. 

Did you find the source of the burning plastic smell?

The bottom 2" of the coil tube was fused to the spark plug tube...   eww.     The spark plug tube also had all of the oil burned to ash on the outside of it (compared to the other tubes which had a nice oil film on them), so whatever happened to that coil, it got HOT.

The spark plug was missing the metal tab that it sparks to, and the threads were pulled out of the head and looked like powder, so I'm guessing there was some localized heat issues there due to the coil and it removed the temper of the aluminum.