DJ: Glad it wasn't anything worse & it's fixed!

RT: Good catch! I forgot to mention the flush! At the end of the 1000 mi. with Marvel, do it! It's not good to flush too often, but once a year won't hurt. It'll help more crap get out of the engine. If it's real dirty, do 2 oil changes back to back. This will get almost all of the contaminents out of the engine since there is about a quart that doesn't get changed in a single OC (stuck in little pools inside the engine)

 

Ok, so your pretty convinced it's an oil issue. It does make sence to me, and from the sounds of things, I won't doubt your recomendations. And even if it doesn't solve the problem, it can't hurt to do it. Thanks.

 

I'm not sure that the rough start has anything to do with the oil, but it's a cheap place to start and you already suspect that it has the wrong type in it. The more drastic cleaner than Marvel would be Seafoam, since you treat the gas, IM/TB, and crankcase all at the same time. I haven't used it, but I plan to try it out soon. Lots of people on here rave about it.

 

rtmobile: when was the last time the spark plugs were changed? Are the current plugs NGK? When was the las time the cap & rotor were checked/changed. Could be any of those I just mentioned. Take the distributor cap off & inspect the inside of it.

 

I'm pretty sure, not positive, that the car got a tune up at the Toyota dealership where we bought it. That was within the last eight months. I checked the plugs just recently and they looked almost brand new, although I can't remember what brand they were. I think they are NGK, but not positive. And for the cap and rotor, I haven't checked into them. I haven't had any garage time lately, but as soon as I do I'll do the oil and check out all the spark items. I'll let you guys know what I find out.

 

Make sure they are not Bosch plugs. If they are Bosch, remove them immediately & replace w/ NGK.

 

What's the deal with the Bosch plugs? Are they crap plugs in general or can the cause the car problems?

 

In Honda's they frequently cause ignition problems (so I've learned from numerous posts on this site.) I believe they arepretty goodplugs for other car brands though. Hondas just hate them.

 

I usedBosch Pt+4 plugsin my '95 GSR & they worked well. Then I began reading about everyone having trouble with them so I switched back to NGK. They worked well too...

Not that Idisbelieve the stories, but all the bad stuff about Bosch plugs didn't happen to me.

 

Good to know, thanks for the info. I prefer NGK just because I'm farmiliar with them. But I'll make sure I check them, probably this weekend. So earlier in the thread, falkore recommended that I through some Marvel Mystery in, run it for about 1000 miles and then do another oil change. So I got the stuff, but it says just to add it to the oil and go on with your life. What's the reason for another oil change at 1000 miles? Is it just to drain out all the stuff it cleaned out, or something else?