stevrock

I am having trouble with my 4runner.

This issue is recent, just started today.
I am giving the truck it's worst bout of cold weather that I can remember.
The clutch pedal gets stiff (Pedal is also slow to come up), as does the shifter, but I can deal with this.

What is happening is I will start th truck, as normal. It will run for a second or two and then die.

The only way to get it to start is by:
A. Doing this a few times, then putting my foot on the gas and starting. Rev it for a couple seconds.
B. Starting with my foot on the gas from the second crack.

Even still, the truck will sometimes stall after I take my foot off of the gas pedal.

Any ideas guys?

bob200587

Shot in the dark: cold start injector or other fuel related problem
another: Vaccum problem

Does it have gas in it?

rentedmule

sounds like you need to pull the choke before you start it !! seriously though, you need to invest in a block heater. even my GMC which is relatively new and runs perfect makes awful noises when i start it at these temps if i don't plug it in (ok - noises even more awful than a GMC usually makes . I thought it was dying in that last stint of -40 we had but it was fine when i plugged it in.

da_bigg_wigg

I definitely shouldn't have been lazy and not installed that heater. I hate having to start my truck in this weather. THrow in the mix a battery designed for use in Florida, and its a crappy combo. I guess it does give me an excuse to buy a yellow top though...

gregbreakseverything

This weather is deffinattly not necessary. I was getting used to the warm. Im scared to fire up the 4runner today. But Im excited to test the limits of all the synthetic oil I put in. Good luck on getting your truck running.

stevrock

The issue right now is, even with a block heater, it wouldn't have helped me when I was out in Clairview last night.
As I live down by Riverbend, I was quite a way from home...

Another problem is, I live in a row of townhouses, and I don't feel like running a 200 foot extension cord to my truck so I could plug it in.

rentedmule

yeah, running the cord all that way would suck! i don't have a plug for mine at work either so it's always a crap-shoot at 5 o'clock when i turn the key

gregbreakseverything

Just start a fire under your truck every morning around 4 am, hahah

stevrock

Just trying to decide the best course of action.

I have been talking with another friend and he also thinks the cold start injector is the likely culprit.
I should also add that when it did start under turn key conditions, I would have to sit there lightly touching the gas pedal so it would not miss and preventing it from stalling out.

Last winter I can not remember having this problem and I was on the east coast.

breknraj

I have yet to see -20C or less with the 5V, but with my 3V, I always ran Mobil 1 0W-20 oil, and an Optima Red Top. I never had a problem starting it, clear down to -40C. Yeah, it whined about it, and the tranny and clutch didn't work very smoothly until they warmed up, but that combination has never let me down for starting in the cold (no garage, no block heater).

stevrock

I may invest in the battery.

But I've heard that doing from dyno oil to synthetic was a no no for older engines?
I'm planning on another oil change soon (Had one a week ago, just wanted to flush the engine after the drive across Canada) to 5W30.

I'll probably wait it out until the weather warms up (Tuesday hopefully) and then start on diagnosing the problem.

I had a 90 p/u with the 22re, and never had the problem, even at -40.
I'm thinking of paying a friend a few dollars and just telling him to bring it back to me running and reliable.

84sr5yoty

I don't think it's the cold start injector or the cold start injector time switch. When these go bad, you'll be grinding the starter for almost a full minute before the motor catches. If the motor fires right up and wants to die without extra help from the skinny pedal on the right, then it?s probably the air valve, or IAC (idle air control valve) if you have the later 22re.

stevrock

It's an 88, would that have one on it?
I should also mention that after trying to start it, the snow by the muffler was black, so it was getting fuel.

I thought it may have been an air problem, since pressing on the gas opens the throttle body and allows more air in.

rentedmule

ok, this is a long shot but it caused me months of frustration so i'll throw it out there. i had a distributor shaft wear out on a 4.3 chev with 450 000kms on it once. when the weather got cold the rotor wouldn't make contact with the cap and it either wouldn't start or would run like crap until I got it warmed up. i used to have to keep the rpms high to keep it running, like you mentioned you had to with yours. after it was warm it would run perfectly and start no problem until you let it cool down over night and it would do it all over again. it was comedically frustrating because the shop would "fix" something and it would run perfectly (because inside the shop was warm), then they'd give it back me and the next morning it wouldn't start! in the end a $40 junkyard part fixed it but it was a hard one to track down, every mechanic i took it to swore it was a different sensor or a computer problem when all along it was an old school spark issue! a similar thing happened with my runner when i first got it but it ended up being the coil - again after every damn sensor was changed by the dealer a junkyard coil fixed it.

stevrock

Thanks for all the input guys!

When I got home from work I debated about trying to start the truck... why worry about having to get it boosted?

I tried it and it fired first click. And stayed running as long as I had my foot on the gas pedal. There was alot of smoke which I think may have been caused by flooding (The snow around the muffler was really black, more so then the other day)
I slowly eased off the gas after about 30 seconds and it stayed running under it's own power.

So we have spark, assuming air, and fuel since it's pretty much being spit out of my exhaust.

Does anybody know what would cause it to run this way?
Is this symptomatic of the IACV?

stevrock

Well, today wasn't too bad.

New plugs, exhaust fixed, and the idle was fixed to come down smoothly instead of abruptly.
Feels like a brand new truck, I'll have to wait for the cold to see if that remedied the problem though.

RabbitX77

Bro....I'm no expert mechanic, but I just had the same problem about a month ago. I too thought it was my cold start injecter. I called the dealer to see if there was a way to test it and they said to do it with an OHM meter and it should read 3-4 Ohm's. It read 4 so i didn't bother with it just yet.
I checked fuel pressure, fuel lines, fuel injectors, vaccuum hoses, it took a whole weekend to try and diagnos this problem. Like you though, I changed the spark plugs and WALAH.....it's fixed! I would have rather been playing in the woods that weekend than tearing my hands up working on that damn engine that I wish I could go the rest of my life without ever having to take a wrench to it again.

rentedmule

that's great that you got it running again! what kind of plugs are you running? hopefully it'll be alright in the next cold snap (and i hope that's not soon).

wicky_ward

having the exact same problems with my 93 4 runner clutch pedal sticking to floor popping up a second or 2 later about a month of this and it began to lose all pressure and not come up at all, so i did slave cylinder first, didnt change much then i did master cylinder and its perfect now, but in terms of the starting when cold problem, in the last 3 months i have done: spark plugs, wires, fuel pump, fuel filter and i am still having the starting problem when it is really cold (-30+), but then on the warmers days it starts like a charm? i am outa ideas and tired of spending money, so i am now considering jsut waiting it out with the rough starts till permanent warm weather.. anyone got any ideas tho? hopefully cheap? i do have a block heater and use it every night

rentedmule

have you tried a new cap and rotor? pretty cheap and easy to change. If not, i'd try that before swapping the more expensive ignition parts (coil/ignitor and distributor).