Mr.Chumchal

Alright so here is the deal. Recently my car runs sort of rough, louder than normal, and has a loss of power throughout the entire powerband. Also shaky at idle as if there is a vac leak. Well I was messing around with the plug wires and realized when the motor is running and I unplug the spark plug wire from the spark plug on cylinder 5 there is no difference in the way the motor runs.
Next, I unplugged all of the other wires and right away you can tell a difference in how the motor runs. Well to test that wire 5 was working I plugged it into another cylinder and that cylinder would run fine. Since, I changed the sparkplugs after the problem and it did not make a dfference I am thinking there is somthing wrong with that injector on cylinder 5. Does this sound reasonable? Let me know what you guys think, I am about to tear into it tom. and replace that injector. Also I am really on a budget and I am only going to replace that injector, should this be fine? I know replacing or cleaning all of the injectors is ideal but I really am broke and I am trying to just get the car running safe. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My car is a 93 4unner auto 4x4 with 120k miles

Mr.Chumchal

Well did a compression test and the results were:

Cylinders:
1-110
2-100
3-50
4-95
5-unknown could not get end in
6-0!!!
lol I guess tom. im going to get someone to do a leak down test so I can figure out what my next step is with this motor, so much for the injector, lol

tried4x2signN

ohhh that's sad... 120k...

I'd take the vin to my local dealer and see if the HG's been done before... with those miles I'd say no.

If the campaign is still going they'll prolly do it...

a4runnerfreak

Hey Mr.Chumchal, look at the stickies at the top of this forum, there's an 800 number to call. And the HG and relay rod recalls are still in effect.

Mr.Chumchal

yeahI already went to one dealer and they said the head gasket and the other recall had been done, i'm so pissed this 4runner is soo clean it is a shame. I went from Hondas to this because I moved out to the beach and needed 4x4 to get to the good spots for fishing and thought a Toyota would super reliable especially this one in the cond. I bought it in. I'm going to try another dealership tom. It treated me good the first 8 months of having it and then all of a sudden one day. Let me try to post some pics of it so you can see what im talking about... -Nick






I'm going to try to do what I can to fix this one, i'm just really disappointed with Toyota's especially working on this car it a biatch.

Mr.Chumchal

Hey can someone confirm that I did the comp. test right since it was my first time doing one. This is what I did.
1. Ran motor to Autozone to rent comp. test. Yes you pay $40 and then return it and get all your money back... wink.
2. Waited 30 min. for motor to cool down a little because I was driving it before before Autozone so motor was pretty hot and did not want to burn the f... out of my hands trying to get the stupid plugs out.
3. Unhooked harness to coldstart injector and to igniter (both plugs).
4. Pulled all plugs.
5. Hand tightened end into each spark plug hole
6. Got brother to push gas pedal down all the way and crank 3-4 times.
7. Did to each plug hole and recorded readings

LMK,

Mr.Chumchal

And believe me if I would of started the motor the temp sens. would of shown the motor was warm and ready to go.

tried4x2signN

ahhh.... the beach... and a vehicle with leather interior...

Go to the dealer with the vin, and make them print you out a service history...

looks OBXish... Hatterish... Carolina Beachish...

Mr.Chumchal

Actually North Padre Island- Mustang Island, in South Texas.

Brhesson

First off, before you buy injectors from dealer/parts store, look at ebay, i just bought some reconditioned ones for 100 bucks for all 6 (50 core charge if you don't send them your old ones). I really am no help on the compression test, but i will keep you posted on the quality of these injectors... good luck and you have a great looking 4runner, i only wish i had some leather seats like those...dang my bad. As far as treating you well, just remember the damn thing is still running pretty well on 4-5 cylinders after 120k miles, most domestics could only dream to be doing so well....imho.

Brhesson

The ebay Injectors look great, engines still on the stand for another few weekends of rebuild..so i'll post again once it's running....later guys...i'm still jealous of the Texas Beach & Leather interior...oh well...if you give up on it, i'd buy the beach & 4runner from ya...lol.

OutlawMike

It seems like you did the compression test properly.

This could be a valve clearance issue where the valves are not fully closing. You may have burned up an exhaust valve, which can happen when it does not fully close (that is how it dumps heat, into the seat). I would investigate that avenue by pulling the plenum and the valve covers and measuring valve clearances.

Good luck.

budro

Oh wow, I thought that picture of the beach in the background looked familiar. I live in Austin and I'll take the trip to north padre every couple of years. Absolutely beautiful. Have you took down big shell beach on North Padre. The sand gets REAL loose there.
No sweat on your engine man. I just finished up a HG replacement just a week ago. No kidding. I have minimal skills and minimal tools and I was able to get it done. The head gasket is the worst case.
x2 on what outlawmike said. The head gasket and the valves are the two most likely places to lose compression (in that order). The bottom end is SOLID.
Beautiful truck though. PLEASE don't get rid of it. Once you sort this out you'll have a dependable ride and you'll know just that much more about your ride.

Brhesson

Budro, HELLO, if he wants to sell it, let him ..... wink wink....lmao