97 2.7L misfire help please

My truck is stuttering when i go to accelerate. Right after i shift gears and hit the gas(its 5 speed not auto) It stutters and shakes for about 10 secs and then goes fine. been doing this for about 2 weeks. finially today it happened thru 2nd and 3rd and my check engine light came on. Guy at autozone said it came up as random misfire and told me to replace my whole ignition system. im thinking just plugs and wires. any other opinions or advice as to the problem?

 

My 2000 would do that it did it for a while and I never did figure out what was causing it. It eventually stopped doing it but, I never threw a CEL.

 

he didnt say. just told me it was a random misfire. and that it was probably my ignition system. can the ignition system cause that problem? i had the ignition go out in my last car and it just wouldnt run period it didnt stutter like this

 

the check engine light blinked a few times like it wasnt sure if it even wanted to come on but eventually decided it did...

 

when this happened to me,it was a misfire due to a bad ignition coil..you need that code though or you wont know where its coming from..usually when it blinks,it may very well be the catalytic converter

 

thanks for the help guys. if i get that code you think you could give me a more definite answer? or should i still start with plugs and wires?

 

ok so i got a p0304 code. went to a diff. autozone this time, this person told me that it was most likely plugs and wires.

 

P0304 - Mis-fire in cylinder #4

 

Time for new wires and plugs. Just my 2 cents.

 

This

 

they may very well be a distributor cap. Im not too familiar with the older gen tacomas. This happened to my 2000 land cruiser and my 2005 tacoma,both are ignition coils. But get it fixed right away OP,youre not saving any money just by not fixing it now,you would be saving up for a headache. good luck!

 

Start with the plugs but use Platinum (cheaper) or Iridium, they don't work better but they last longer. Run some seafoam through the fuel and vacuum system, can't hurt.

 

ima do plugs and wires when i get paid thursday(soonest i can with the terible stroke of luck ive come into). If that doesnt remedy the problem I'll move onto ignition system and other components. I really appriciate the help. I'll be in contact prob friday whether or not it fixed it. thanks again

 

97s were a split year. Half with distributor, half with distributorless. My February of 1997 truck was distributorless. The ones made in January, had one....okay, so maybe not half and half.

If it is with, plugs, wires, cap, button. If it is without, sounds like a coil pack.

 

Do the plugs and wires first. I just had this happen with #1 misfire code and it was the plug wire. Cap and rotor too if you have them. If it still happens it is probably a coil, either way a new coil warrants new wires, plugs, cap and rotors but this way you can limit wallet damage one piece at a time.

 

Denso plugs and ngk wires did the trick. truck is running better than ever. thanks for the help guys!