Epikos

Ya know those two screws on the side of the volume airflow meter on the 3VZ-E? well, I disconnected it...

After reading on yotatech, it seems that everyone trying to work on their first toyota pickup does this, as I found MANY posts about this exact same thing. Thankfully the mistakes of others just like me makes me a little less upset with myself. Just like everyone else, nobody in my city had it in stock and all wanted over two hundred dollars. I called the stealership and they guy said "are you sitting down?" lol. never a good sign.

Anyway, I found one place on the other side of town who had what I needed in stock for 185 with a one year warranty. I popped that sucker in and went for a drive.

My truck is lacking power in low rpms. Not only that, but when the throttle is only part open. If I go to WOT, it seems to not chug quite as bad, but it still chugs.

This doesn't happen in neutral, but only when the engine is under load.
On the highway or in higher RPMs it runs sweeeeet.
I just replaced the plugs and I don't recall this being an issue before I FUBAR'ed my volume airflow sensor.

I have the 89 standard pickup 4x4 with the 3VZ-E.

Your help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Epikos

Jay351

if its the part that I think it is, that is DEFENTLY not ment to be undone.
I was warned by Johnny to not even try to touch it.
BUT im not sure what the proper name for it is so it might not be of any concern to you.

Epikos

This is the part in question. I unscrewed the sensor on the top where the wiring connects.
http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...33volumeai.pdf


Also, I think this is what I'm experiencing:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/random-surge-chug-power-loss-94426/

but the question was never answered:
can I go without connecting the TPS? If I can go without it, what good is it anyway?

I haven't tried disconnecting it on my truck cause its midnight here, but I'll try in the morning.

mt_goat

Oh I see now you got one, never mind.

Epikos

Well, I drove to work with the throttle position sensor disconnected ad I still had the sluggish chuggyness, though not as bad. One improvement I noticed is throttle response is EXCEPTIONAL! Very snappy.

I guess I'm still at square 1.5. Still having a problem, but not as bad as it was. I'll drive home with the TPS connected and see how that goes.

I was reading how to check the computer for throwing codes and I had a question.

Is there any benefit of using Test Mode by bridging T2 and E1 instead of Normal Mode with T1 and E1? The latter being the mode most talked about on the forums from what I can tell.

Thanks!

Epikos

Nobody will ever ever ever guess what the problem was. lol

In removing the hoses connected to the air flow meter, I disconnected the wire from the ignition coil to the center of the distributor cap. I reconnected it when I was done, but the end connected to the cap came loose and wasn't actually connected; it was just held on by the rubber boot, so it was arching real bad.

The rotor, center connector on the cap, and the cap end of the ignition coil wire are just a big pile of dust. I mean, it completely bypassed the liquid drippy melted plastic stage and went directly to incinerated powdery pile of plastic stage.

While I was in there, I went at my spark plug wires with a multimeter and read 80k ohms of resistance. One source I found said standard resistance should be 10k - 15k, so I figure its time for a replacement.

I'll update in the PM tomorrow, but considering the condition of that wire, I'm almost 100% positive thats the cause of my poor performance.

Epikos

*sigh*

I've replaced the VAFM, spark plugs, wires, rotor and cap, and just installed a brand new NGK/NTK O2 sensor. Cleared the computer and went for a drive.

This damn thing is still chugging / being sluggish. If I am heavy with the gas and wind out the gears it doesn't do it, but I don't drive like that. I don't know how else to explain what its doing. it idles great, sounds smooth. but as soon as you put load on the engine and try to take off from a stop, the truck jerks and the engine is sluggish and spuddery. I don't know what a misfire sounds like, but it seems like maybe its doing that.

Could this be timing? I don't have a timing light, but I can limp the truck over to my uncle who has all the right tools.

When I went for a drive, I was actually on my way to work to put in a few hours while it was still light outside, but I didn't get very far. I couldn't even accelerate up the onramp to the freeway. I got off at the next exit and limped it home.

I jumpered TE1 and E1 and there were no codes.

Edit:
I just went out with a tach and got the following info:
With everything connected, its idling at 900-1,000 rpms.
With the TPS disconnected its idling at 1,500 rpms.
Connecting TE1 and E1 does not result in a drop in RPMs.

I would have soldered the old air flow meter back together, but I'm not good enough with a soldering iron to make those connections.
I have a used one coming in Monday and the refurb from Shucks is going back same day.

I don't mean to keep bumping my own thread with these replies, but I figure the more information I give the better.
Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

kpaxfaq

you should of just soldered the old one back together

JEBSR5

Actually my FSM says 25k ohm per cord tested through distributor cap to end of plug wire. I would replace those plug wires and take her for a spin. Not wasting money, you need them anyway. I would stick with OEM though.