nismoeaglerock

Hello all. Newbie here. I was lucky enough to purchase a 1986 4runner with a 22re motor. I really like the thing, and I hope to do some interesting things with it. Although everything on the outside seems fine, it is still a 19 year old car. The engine, in its current state, isn't the smoothest. It idles normal (at least it sounds like it does) in neutral and park, but when i put it in drive, it engages roughly and kicks into gear. When it does get into gear, it also feels as if it's going to die, and sometimes it does die. I am assuming the "kick" is due to the automatic tranny fluid, so I will change that, but as far as the dying of the engine when in gear, I have no idea what that could be. Anyway, I was wondering what are the most important things to look into when I have the car checked out. Please give me pointers, and thanks for your help.

89macrunner

first off let me be the first to welcome you to Yotatech, as people say, get ready for lots of learning...and lots of spending. enjoy your new runner!

well doing up all your fluids is never a bad idea i mean all of them espicaly on an 86..tranny, rad, oil, dif, ps..everything. Thats always a start. Throw some seafoam or marvel mystery oil in the gas tank that will always clean things up. Its possible the injectors are gummed up, plugs are poopy, wires...so many things are possible...replacing the plugs with some densos wouldnt be a bad idea eaither. This is all a start and im sure everyone will ahve more to add

Tacoma Dude

A couple of things I've done to my 86 that I've noticed made a difference:

Do a search on Seafoam and click on the multiple page threads. After a couple treatments I felt an improvement in my truck (smoother idle). Keep in mind that you'll need to replace the plugs and also have to think about whether or not you want to risk your O2 sensor.
Remember you have nearly 20 years of crud in there so it'll take multiple cans and multiple treatments to get it clean. I've used about 4 cans and I'm still not done!

Sparkplug wires might be a good thing to think about too. I got a new set of wires from wires4cars.com or something like that. Relatively inexpensive and something you might as well do.

While you're at it you should look at replacing the fuel filter. I know this helped improve throttle response.

There's a LOT of different things you can do but these are the top few things in my head that should help you out a little.