Axel27

Hi, I'm a newb to both these forums, and in general to fixing cars. I've been having an issue with my 1989 Toyota 4Runner and when I asked my auto tech friend he suggested I come to these forums.

Ok, I'll try to be as thorough as I can. I've got a V6 1989 4Runner, the SR5 EFI model if that makes a difference. At home I park my car in the shade, so it is relatively cool. I start the car, drive to town (12 miles away) and park; generally in the sun.

After 10-15 minutes I come back out to my truck, and start it up. The ignition works fine and sounds good, but it will immediately die. When I use the gas petal as I start it there is no reaction whatsoever.

What I've been doing is simply popping the hood and letting some of the hot air out. After a few minutes it will start up and idle just fine. Sometimes it drives away perfect, but other times it will continue to die. This can be, but is not always, accompanied by a check engine light.

In addition, my tachometer can act strange when this happens. The needle will "bounce" and obviously not give an accurate reading. Other times the needle will simple sit at the zero and not give a reading at all.

This had been going on for 2-3 weeks, and I've been avoiding driving anywhere as much as possible. As long as I can get moving the car works fine, it's just when I park it in the heat.

I'm sorry if there is an obvious solution to this. I've already taken it to my mechanic once, he thought it might be the fuel filter and replaced it. I'm a student who's moving to college soon, and I really need a working car. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions of what I should check out, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

thook

Fuel filter? Umm...no.

You said overheating? Where has the temp gauge been sitting at any given point? Did it boil over ever?

Does the tach sit at zero even when you give it throttle? That is, when the throttle is responding?

And have you...or do you know how to..pull the CEL code from the ECU (engine control unit...the computer)?

Axel27

Srry, should have specified. All my gauges are acting normally. I only say over heating because the issue only occurs when I park the car in the sun, and they way I've gotten around it is by popping the hood and letting it cool down a bit. It runs fine when I manage to get it moving, which leads me to think that whatever it is that's acting up just isn't getting the air flow it needs to keep it cool when I'm parked (fan issue?... I just had the fan replaced earlier this month, maybe my mechanic ▓▓▓▓ed something up.) As far as I know, it has never boiled over, the temp gauge has never gotten above the halfway mark in the 3 years I've owned the car.

And no, I have no idea how to pull the CEL code from the ECU. If it's something easy that you could direct me to I could probably figure it out. I wish I wasn't so ignorant when it comes to cars... ugh.

thook

There's a little diagnostic box under the hood on the passenger side wheel well.
Here's a link to get you going:
http://www.off-road.com/toyota/tech/codes/index.html

Pull the code and post it up. This will tell you a lot.

SEAIRESCUE

Could be fuel filter. Not enough cold fuel from tank would allow fuel in the injector rails to boil. Since it is cheap and easy to access, change the filter.

thook

The reason I don't think it is because it would be noticed at other times of operation. Plus, it's already been replaced.

It appears temperature related from his description.....like the air flow meter sensor. This would affect fuel delivery at the fuel pump relay.

frodin1

First, touching the gas pedal when starting a fuel injected vehicle should do nothing. Fuel injection does not rquire pumping it first like the carb versions. Second, it sounds to me like your having a vapor locking issue. This occours when your gas gets hot creating bubbles or air in the fuel system. Other than any codes you may be pulling, that's all I got man. I would check you fuel filter also. If there's not enough flow, that could be creating all sorts of problems.

thook

Uh...yeah...but, it's been replaced, guys. Sitting in the sun is not going to get it hot enough to boil. Plus, from the moment the ignition is engaged it should respond to the throttle.

I'm also wondering if you have a loose connection at the air flow meter.

Axel27

Vapor lock was suggested by my father, but when I asked my mechanic about it he said that because my car is fuel injected that it couldn't be vapor lock. Is he right? And let me clarify what I meant about pressing on the gas and having no response. I would turn the car on, and it would obviously start, but when I tried to rev the engine nothing would happen despite me pressing the gas petal in all the way.

And I followed that self diagnostic link thook. It look a little fooling around with, there was no 'TE1', so I just connected the E1 to the T. (there was a TeM, should I have used that instead?)

Anyway, when I connected the E1 to the T I got this code blinked out from the check engine light (with the '1' representing # of blinks):
1 11 (longer pause) 1 1111

Unless I'm missing it or reading the codes wrong, I don't see any 12 14 codes listed on the site you linked. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks for the help so far.

thook

Hey, I just thought of something to try. It will rule out/in the fuel pump and/or filter....and consequently vapor lock.

In the diagnostic box, with your paper clip, jump the two terminals FP and B+ (check the sticker/label under the diagnostic box cap for location), start it up, and drive it a bit. See how it runs then. Do this when the truck has been sitting in the heat and when it's cool.

thook

Well, whatever terminals it says you connected at, those were apparently the right ones.

Look again at the page. The codes are there.

12
RPM SIGNAL-NO SIGNAL TO ECU FROM DISTRIBUTOR ("Ne" OR "G") AFTER ENGINE HAS BEEN CRANKED
--DISTRIBUTOR/CIRCUIT

--STARTERSIGNAL CIRCUIT

--IGNITER/IGNITER CIRCUIT

--ECU

14
IGNITION SIGNAL--NO "IGF" SIGNAL TO ECU
--IGNITER/IGNITER CIRCUIT

--IGNITER AND IGNITION COIL/CIRCUIT

--ECU

thook

BTW, there are folks that say vapor lock can happen in an EFI vehicle, but I take it with a grain of salt. It's just something I will personally have to look further into myself.

Anyway, looks like you have something else going on besides what any of us thought it might be. There are folks more qualified to tell you about the ignitions system than me. So, we both will have some reading to do. And someone else should chime in to learn from.

I do know at one point when my starter was going bad in my 22RE it would do the same thing. But, I don't think it's heat related in the case of the ignition. The heat could be coincidental, but I really don't know.

Axel27

Ah ok, I thought that the codes 12 and 14 had to both be lined up on the chart.

Thanks for the help though. I'm going to call around and try to find a Toyota specialist and tell them i got those codes, because I have no idea what to do now.

myyota

My guess is that the igniter is going bad and causing your problems.