JasonWin

Alright, the truck has been doing this ever since I got it and it's never let me down. But I'm going on a out of province trip this weekend and would like to get this cleared up before I go if possible. Sometimes it runs fine, other time the Check Engine Light will come on and it'll have no power and wont rev above a certain RPM(changes each time). Sometimes it'll last for up to a minate and others it'll flicker on and off for 10 seconds and then be fine again. Like I said it's never quit on me but it does cause me to slow down quite a bit sometimes and I'll be doing allot of highway driving on this trip.

The truck is an 85 pickup body on a 87 4runner frame. Not sure witch the engine was mated with.

The only Idea I have so far is the ignition coil or something in that area. Anybody else have any other ideas and ways to check them? I'm not looking to put any money into this truck as I'm just driving it till I get my car fixed up (witch should be next week) and after that it'll just be a parts truck for my 85.

abecedarian

If you're getting the CEL, pull the codes and see what it is. It could be a loose / dirty connection to the igniter or the igniter itself is acting up.
My 88 did something similar, intermittent loss of power, detonation, backfiring, etc. It was usually fine at idle and lower rpm's and acted up around 2500-3000. Replacing the igniter fixed the problem.

JasonWin

I replaced the ignitor with the one from the 85 and same problem. Witch is strange considering your symptoms seem very similar to mine.

abecedarian

Did you pull codes?
Have you checked that all the terminals in all the plugs to the distributor and igniter all clean and well seated in the plugs?

JasonWin

I don't have the ability to pull codes. It doesn't really matter to much anymore anyway, I'm at my destination out of province and the truck made it just fine. Thanks for the input thought.

abecedarian

all you need is a paperclip and the ability to count
but whichever. have fun.