travis@NC

Hello, I have used this forum for some time while diagnosing issues with my 94 Toyota pickup / 22RE; however, the time has come for me to finally register and ask a question as I have not been able to find a solution to my current issue.

But before I get into it I would like to offer a big THANK YOU to everyone on the forums as you have helped me over the past few years.

The current issue:

I was driving my 94 Toyota Pickup with a 22re down the road the other day when all of a sudden there was a total loss of power. No loud noises or anything, just gone. Pressing on the gas pedal no longer made the engine do anything noticeable. If I recall correctly, it didn't actually stall out, but I could no longer get it to go any faster. I was going about 50 mph or so, and I was able to roll on to a side street where it promptly stalled after I slowed to a stop.

I briefly inspected under the hood, around the truck, under the truck -- nothing appeared to be glaringly wrong.

I got back in the truck and tried to start it back up. Turn the key, starter goes, sounds like it might start, but never actually gets started.

I tried it a few more times with similar results. At one point it actually started but never got to a point where it was running like normal - it was running really rough.

So while waiting for my tow rope ride home I took a look at a few things. I checked out the plugs, wires, cap, button, coil pack (whatever it is called) - the spark related items - for visible damage. Nothing.

Yes I had gas in it.

Got it home with a tow rope (man the brakes work so much better when the engine is running) and proceeded to check a few more things. I wanted to see if I could narrow it down to spark or fuel - as I was pretty sure it wasn't compression (perhaps a bad assumption, but I was hoping).

Shot some starter fluid into the throttle body past the butterfly valve -- it ran for a second or two. So this sent me down the path thinking that it was a fuel issue - not spark - not compression.

Wasn't sure where to start really so I came to the forums. Quickly found an article indicating that you can at least see if the fuel pump is trying by putting the key to the start position and manually tripping the AFM. You should be able to hear the fuel pump pushing some gas around. Checked it out and it was working - good news I suppose.

Along the same lines in that same post it was actually talking about AFM issues. It said sometimes these go bad and that it won't operate on its own to engage the fuel pump therefore, no gas to blow up in the engine.

So I thought to myself, well can I just manually run the AFM thing and get the truck to start. Sure enough I was able to hold the AFM open, only took a little bit, and then I could start the truck and it idled as I would expect.

So I thought to myself, can I rev this up if I run both the throttle and the AFM at the same time -- an attempt to emulate the driver pushing on the gas, causing more air to enter, causing the AFM to move more, etc. Sure enough I could rev it up to by manually manipulating both of these things at the same time.

So after reading some more, I just decided what the heck, it's probably just my AFM, I'll go pick one up - despite the fact that it was WAY to expensive.

The next day I got one, put it on there, and it didn't really produce any different results. The only difference I noticed was that it took a little less movement of the AFM to get it to run manually. So maybe my old one was a little worn out, but this new one certainly didn't fix the issue.

Back to the drawing board.

I browsed around some more and thought maybe I should get the diagnostic codes from it -- see if there was anything that the truck new was wrong with itself. I jumpered TE1 and E1 ( I think ) and read the check engine light flashes. I got codes 24 and 31.

If I interpreted them correctly, they both point to the piece that I had just replaced. One was for short in the AFM and the other was for short in the air temperature sensor somethingoranother which I believe to be a part of the AFM. So this made me feel good that I replaced the AFM, YAY. But the problem still wasn't resolved, BOO.

So I cleared the codes, pulled the EFI fuse out for a bit. Rejumpered. Got normal operation, two blinks a second.

Tried to start the engine, maybe it needs to detect a problem again, checked the codes still noting. Tried a couple different combinations with the new and old meter and getting the codes. Never got another code again.

I can still manually start and run the engine by manipulating both the AFM and throttle myself, but I can't figure out why this isn't working right by itself.

I also checked the hose connecting the AFM and the throttle body - no blockages or big leaks. I also checked the hose on the intake side of the air filter - it is good too.

Is there something I need to do to reset the computer after adding the new AFM. Could it be that the new AFM and the old TPS aren't working together well because the AFM is new and within spec, but perhaps the TPS is out of spec a bit? But I checked the resistances of the TPS and it seemed to be within them, so what does that mean.

Could it just be an issue of the wires going to the AFM?

Do some people just bypass the AFM by jamming it open? What side effects could this have?

Also, I have a little different situation on the throttle body that may have caused this. My Idle Air Control Valve ( I think that is what it is called, please correct me if I am wrong) is busted. I read about it here on the forums too. It is stuck in the one of the positions, I guess it is stuck open because the problem with it is that it lets extra air past the butterfly valve all the time. This makes it idle to high, and then when you are sitting at a stop light pushing on the brakes it makes the sweet surging thing happen.

So my solution at the time - due to the fact that the part was so expensive - was to simply block off the hole in the throttle body just before the butterfly valve where the Idle Air Control valve gets its air from. I used a piece of tin flashing and duct tape. Sure it might idle too low when it is cold but now it runs right the rest of the time.

I am not sure if this could be having an impact on the current situation or not, but I wanted to put it out there in case it was.

I am truly stumped on this one, and I have not been able to find the answer anywhere. Any comments or validation or other thoughts on this issue would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Flash319

and the question was????????

By manipulating the AFM you are telling the ECU to add more fuel. I don't think the AFM is your problem but you are masking it by forcing more fuel. You have a fuel problem by the sounds of it. Either your pump is not staying on (main relay not working) or you have a bad injector or something along those lines. These computers are not very smart and don't "remember" and "need resetting" when they have a problem like other car ECU's.

Hook your AFM back up and make sure you have no leaks between the AFM and the throttle body. Those plastic tubes can crack and wear underneath where they rest on the front of the truck. If there is a hole your afm will not see flow and thus not run.

Next I would crack the cold start injector line and try and start it. You may get wet with gas but you will know if your pump is working. If no gas force the pump on and try and run the engine.

Also there are some ground wires that are bolted to the intake where the fist section meets the second. If that is not a good ground you will have injection problems.

Targetnut

I think you should check the compression, if it jumped time it would severly hamper the engines pumping efficiency. this would show up as uniformly low compression and possibly not pull enough air to operate the AFM.

Checking the compression is the first step in a logical diagnosis process. Besides, It is a good policy to check the compression anytime you have an issue like this pop up, this will keep you from chasing you own ....uh..tail.

If that is OK look more closely for a source of vacuum leaks.