ZiaSofia505

Heres my story, sorry its a smidge lengthy....

89 4runner V4, broke down in a small town while on vacation, had my car towed into the local shop. was the Throttle Position sensor, so we installed a new one $300 and I picked it up the next day and I hit the road to get home. I didnt notice anything too out of the ordinary while I was driving, accept that my car kept wanting to overheat. I ran the heater on full blast and stopped and put coolant in two different times in 4.5 hours. Got back to Portland with the engine still running hot. when I started it up the next morning the engine started revving up and down and definitely did not sound good. Guess I hadn't noticed originally when I picked it up because the car was already warmed up, and was not as noticable once the car heated up. Drove it for about a day and a half before I decided it really didnt sound good and left it a friends house to have it check out. They found that the TPS hadnt been installed properly and only one of the two screws was on. They screwed the other side in, and tried to adjust the sensor by turning it. Think they must have turned it all the way, so when I tried to start her up today, she was revving so high that I immeadiatly turned the car off and called the tow truck. Got it to the shop to hear that I have a blown head gasket and cracked engine block. OUCH!!!!

couple questions...

Could driving 300 miles with a misinstalled Throttle Position Sensor cause my engine to run hot and crack the engine head during that trip?

Or is it more likely that my friends who adjusted the sensor in their driveway messed it up? All they did was screw in the bottom screw of the TPS, then turn it to adjust.

Lastly...is this worth fixing, 89 with pretty solid body, been a great car love her to death. Is putting in a used engine the easiest way to go?

THANKS Appreciate any help or ideas,
Sofia

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

3.4 swap

:wabbit2:

waynesworld

u can find rebuilt engines everywhere ,u should get a quality rebuilt 1. check out 22reperformance.com or oregonengines they have good rep.
i 4got definitely worth fixn! i wood get a rebuilt engine 4 it , and b done with it.

snobdds

It was the truck overheating that blew your head gasket, not the the TPS. Granted the TPS probablly didn't help the situtation.

MudHippy

V4? V6 or I4 only. If it is a V6, this is a ground breaking moment for me. Because at long last I finally find myself recommending the 3.4 swap. Because a cracked block is pretty much "game over". Cheaper would be another V6 of the same caliber/displacement, but less fulfilling. If it's a 4cyl, then it might be more hassle than it's worth trying to swap in a V6. It's not going to like your transmission, among other things.

It wasn't the TPS. The engine will run fine even without one, as in having it unplugged. What happen with the uncontrolled idle speed could have been a vacuum leak caused by not having both screws holding it tightly to the throttle body. The adjustment probably didn't stay as it should have either, with only one screw holding it in place. But they adjusted in the correct manner by turning it. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, the screw could have fell out(overheating can cause fasteners to loosen). So your buddies might not be to blame for that, and certainly not for the engine blowing up on ya.