MikeKaduce

Hey all - thanks in advance to anyone who can help out. I don't have a situation with a garage right now so advanced diagnostics and "parts throwing" are kind of what I'm trying to avoid here! I'll explain what's going on...

I bought a 93 4runner with a replaced long-block 3VZE (replaced by Toyota). 40,000ish miles on the replacement motor.

I bought it and drove it home about 60 miles without a problem - 33inch tires on the V6 so hills were a high-RPM scenario but whatever, that's to be expected.

The next day I tried to start it and it started hard, cranked a lot, sputtered to life. I threw it in reverse and it killed. So I tried it a few more times and it was just totally bogged down at low RPMs. I could get it moving by revving it up higher (3k or so) and basically raping the clutch (new Dual Centerforce ceramic) to get moving. From there, one or two high wind-outs in first gear to get moving (pushing it up to 4-5k or so, 18-20ish mph) almost seemed to "clean things out" to where my idle was normal and start-out bog down and hesitation was at a minimum. Still far from ideal. It's just not snappy at all.

Well we're about about a week later now and it's barely driveable. You can wake it up and drive it like a bat out of hell if you wanna stay in the 4k range and it seems to respond alright, but the hesitation upon starting out from a stop is persistent. You can finagle it just right with a high rev and letting out the clutch and get moving, but if you don't get the timing just right it just doesn't respond in any snappy way at all. Also a premature shift to 2nd gear when starting out causes some bucking back and forth. This also happens from 2nd to 3rd gear. You can kind of alleviate this by doing what I mentioned, kind of rev the hell out of it and "clean it out" so to speak? But it just doesn't drive right.

The 4Runner is a total score and I'm very happy with it and what I paid for it! But the decreased mileage that comes with having to drive it like this and the fact that it's just not a very drivable rig at this point is kind of a bummer.

I'm probably looking at a fuel filter, right? Anyone else deal with something like this and can give me some tips on things to check in a "backyard mechanic" scenario with my tools all layed out on gravel all stupid-like and a towel underneath the truck? I'll be happy to provide any more info that helps out, but hopefully my writeup offers a good insight as to what's going on and the symptoms of how it's running right now.

Thank you for reading this big wall of text! I appreciate any help you can offer. THANKS!

Mike

Scrussanation

any codes??

scope103

Start with the easy stuff. Ignition timing (you'll need a timing light, $20) and check for stored codes. http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...85diagnosi.pdf (this is the "special service tool" that the rest of us use: http://www.staples.com/Staples-1-Siz...product_525881)

MikeKaduce

No Check Engine light - could there still be diagnostic codes being thrown?

Sorry, this is my first 2nd gen after several 22REs and a 22R Trekker. Me and the 3VZE are just getting to know each other.

Thanks for the response!