BCByota88

Hi. I have a 1985 Toyota 4Runner. Recently i rebuilt the engine and it runs sluggish. Like it has no power.

So this is what has been done to the motor and what i have tried and checked to get it running right. It has been bored .030 over all new gaskets. It has an LCE Pro head with their torquer cam, an LCE pro intake with big bore throttle body, a pacesetter header which relocated/replaced the stock O2 sensor from the header itself down to the down pipe therefore it is now a 3-wire sensor (currently no muffler or any pipe past the provided down pipe).

I have checked the cam timing and it is correct per the LCE tech support guys (which is; the dot on the cam sprocket is set one tooth to the left of center). The engine timing is set 8 degrees out. The compression is 165, 175, 175, and 165 cyl 1,2,3,and 4 respectively. When running/driving it runs great sounds good with the exception of not having any power whatsoever.

I believe it is something to do with the vacuum, but since this is the first complete engine rebuild i have ever done i am not sure. I have played with the vacuum lines and it got better, but still not perfect. I checked the vacuum awhile back and it was about 20" and went down to about 10" under load. Not sure if that is normal.

The engine was originally a 22REC, but since i have had it for about 3 yrs now it has never been hooked up per the REC vacuum diagrams. Nor is it like an 85 or an 84, but it has elements of both. Such as an 84 has the vacuum advance on the distributor, but an 85 does not. (And i am going off of the diagrams that can be found in the manuals or online). Right now there is no EGR hooked up nor is the A/C, PS Idle up hooked up to the VSV since i do not have the original PS box or an A/C. Also the Fuel Pressure Regulator VSV is non existent, but i don't believe it is necessary either due to i do not have issues starting up after the engine is warm.

So if any of you guys have any tips or ideas that i could try please help. This has been a nightmare for a few months now. Thanks and have a wonderful day.

85TurboRunner

Well running with just a header and no exhaust is one thing that will make it sluggish.

bob200587

No kidding.

myyota

Not having an exhaust is whats killing your power, and if you keep running it like that your going to kill your new engine or burn a valve.

BCByota88

Alright thanks guys. I will put that on tonight and see what happens.

BCByota88

Well i got the muffler on and it is still a big pile of crap. the only difference is that it is a quiet pile of crap. although now i can here a whistling sound when i give it gas...?

myyota

Is your engine fuel injected or carbed ?. You need to make sure all the vacuum lines are properly hooked up, otherwise your truck won`t run right. If your engine is fuel injected the distributor will not have a vacuum advance on it, the advance is controled by the computer. Only carbed engines had a vacuum advance.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Distributor off or vacuum leak.

:wabbit2:

BCByota88

it is fuel injected and it does have a vacuum advance on the distributor and it also has a plug that goes to the computer. i'm pretty certain that it is a vacuum leak. the problem is finding it, but now that it is quieter i believe there might be a vacuum leak at power. if that is possible. at idle i have checked every connection with starter fluid and listened to every connection with another piece of hose.

myyota

The vacuum advance distributor is for a 22r carbed engine. You have the wrong distributor in your engine.

BCByota88

not necessarily. i agree that in 1985 they probably didn't use them, but in 1984 they did.

myyota

If your truck is an 85 with fuel injection it never had a distributor with vacuum advance. No toyota with fuel injection ever came with a vacuum advance distributor. Only the 22R carbed engines used a vacuum advanced distributor.

All toyota engines up until mid year 1984 were carbed and had vacuum advance distributors. When they went to EFI those engines didn`t need the vacuum advance because it was now controled by the computer. So even though the vacuum advance distributor that you put in your truck works, the ignition advance wont work, and that cause lack of power and bad gas mileage.

BCByota88

so should i disconnect the vacuum advance and remove the vacuum advance from the distributor? or get an entirely new distributor?

myyota

You need to get an 85 and up EFI distributor that does not have vacuum advance on it.

BCByota88

i just ordered one today should get it in the morning and hopefully that will fix it. the only thing that puzzles me is that it has been hooked up for about 2.5 years prior to this engine rebuild and it has always ran fine and gotten decent gas mileage. so i don't understand why now it would matter. and another question what causes the rpm to fluctuate at idle with the brakes mashed. i even disconnected the vacuum line to the brake booster and it continued. also my brake pedal is more firm than it was before. as if they where manual brakes.

myyota

By disconnecting the vacuum line to the brake booster your taking away the power assist more or less turning them into manual brakes.

The things that could make your idle fluctuate are - the idle is set to high, the TPS is not properly adjusted or its bad, or the throttle body is dirty and needs to be removed and cleaned. You should also test the AFM to see if its good.

BCByota88

idle is at 850. fps is new and properly adjusted. throttle body is also new. it just started when i reconnected all the vacuum lines back to factory settings. What is the AFM.

myyota

AFM = Air Flow Meter.

BCByota88

duh. it is also new. i just put a new distributor in it and timed it to the first mark with the module jumped and it still runs like crap. better but still crap. i also took off all the emissions vacuum lines as well. RPM still fluctuates with brakes depressed.

85TurboRunner

Not quite true, although our trucks did not have the vacuum advance dizzys. '84 celicas did get an early 22re with a vacuum advance dizzy.