JonnyBoy

Hey swap gurus, got a question for you.

Trying to help a kid do a 3.4 swap after his 3.0's hg popped, despite him not really helping himself. I told him many times that he needed to get the ECU/harness/motor from a 4x4 5 speed, and that's what the guy he bought it from said it was...until he showed up and saw no clutch. The kid bought the stupid thing anyhow, and used his 3.0 as a core with the flywheel still attached to it. So what he got is from a 4Runner, 4x2 auto, build date 7/96. I told him he might be ok if he got a 4x4 5 speed ECU, but he seems to think these a guy somewhat local that can reflash his auto ECU to basically a 5speed ecu. Anybody heard of someone doing that successfully? Also, any issues with it being a 4x2 ECU and his Runner is 4x4, other than maybe his 4wd light not working?

Just so y'all know, I told him to return the dang thing, the guy won't take it back unless there's actually something wrong with the motor. Next I told him to get a manual ECU/harness, but he hasn't listened to me yet...so why should I expect that now?

Thanks guys, lemme know the easiest solution(other than just walking away and letting him deal with his mistake)

SacRunner

I used a 97 A/T 4wd SR5 4Runner for my swap; converted the A/T harness to M/T, bought a 97 4Runner 4WD M/T ECU, a junk yard throttle body with a dashpot (I think it was from a 98 2wd tacoma). Point is, he, or I guess you really, can make that work. The A/T to M/T conversion is a piece of cake, look at the swap 101 sticky for the M/T connector part numbers; and I added my whole pin-out (in *.csv) to my swap thread (in sig).

As for the 2WD vs 4WD thing, I seem to recall reading something about the ECU going into a special mode when "cruising" in 4-hi but I have no idea what that was all about and honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. The part to consider is that 4wd signal from the transfer case does plug into the engine harness, and is used to ativate the ADD VSVs (if applicable) and turn on the dash light, so with a 2WD harness, you'd need to figure out another way of wiring in that connection, but it shouldn't be considered a deal breaker.

dntsdad

Ditto what sac runner said

JonnyBoy

Ok SacRunner, thanks. I'll let him know. So for sure I can tell him the a/t ECU is a no-go, right? Also, I didn't even wire my own swap back in '09, and I haven't learned any more about wiring that would help me with his, I told him what would be easiest to wire and that I'd help him with physical install and parts list while he uses my hoist. I hope he knows how to read diagrams and what a .csv file is, or knows someone else who does, cause I'm useless with electrical. Also, he's not paying me anything but the OEM air box and intake tubing, so I'm not sure I'm willing to spend that kind of time learning and doing wiring.

I figure I can help him with an ADD defeat, and he said his 4wd light has never worked anyhow, so I guess that's easy enough as long as the engine doesn't need to act differently when in 4hi/lo.

Thanks again guys!

SacRunner

Assuming that he's in CA (since it looks like you are), he'll never pass a SMOG reff with an A/T ECU in an M/T truck (first thing he did was write down the PN of the ECU to verify it was what I said it was), so for me that makes it a no go; even though some guys have had decent luck tricking the A/T ECU with no check engine lights.

A *.csv is just a text file that can be imported into Excel (or any other spread sheet application) and is easier to post here than a .xls or .pdf; PM me an email address and I'll email a .xls version, or pdf if you prefer, of my swap pinnouts).

As for the ECU doing different things in 4hi vs 2hi, I remember reading it and thinking, "wow, they actually wanted the engine to do something different, odd" then pretty much completely disregarded it.

Good luck and I'm sure you did, but tell the guy to check out the forums and help him to learn as much about the swap as he can.

JonnyBoy

SacRunner, thanks again. I'll pm you when I get a chance, PDF might be the easiest since I view most everything on my ipad. He is in CA, however he's talking about moving to Idaho when he's done with the swap. I've told him it's still a good idea to not have the cel on, and have him convinced to get an ECU from a 97 5spd 4Runner or Tacoma, and found a couple online from salvage yards. He doesn't have internet, unfortunately, but if I can save stuff and print it out for him that's the best I can do. That, and help with the mechanicals, of course. I'll pm you soon, I think he really lucked out that you documented your experience.