mark_cantrill42077

I just bought a 91 4x4 with 22re in it. Had a very bad miss I thought hd gasket. did a compression check 1 was in the 150 to 160psi range on all 4 cyl. Im getting good spark. I pulled #3 plug wire and didnt mak a difference in missfireing. The guy i bought it off of said it uses a 1/2 to 1 qrt of oil a week. It was about really really low on gas so i put 5 dollars in it and drove a cpl houses down from me. When i backed out on road it would start very rough and die did the same thing over and over so i towed it to my house??? I was told since my #3 cyl wasnt firing it might be my injector bad or clogged? Or do you think i ran it so low on gas i sucked up junk into fuel filter? Any help would be great. Thanks Guys Im new to the site but im a toyota fanatic I learned to drive one on a farm before i was 10. Thanks

alltracman78

Well, it sounds like #3 has a problem.
The spark is good at that cyl?

If so, swap injectors and see if the miss moves.
If so you know what the problem is.

Wouldn't hurt to change the fuel filter while you're at it, though it's a pain.

mark_cantrill42077

Could it be a stuck valve? Can I pull valve cover off and tel that way? And with it losing some oil could that be valve stem seals??? It will start but only for a few seconds. The front of valve cover up to the cap and timing chain cover is caked in oil. Might go ahead and pull whole motor replace with used one and rebuild the original. Thanks for your help alltracman78

alltracman78

If you've got good compression on all 4 cyl how would it be a stuck valve?
Do you see any blue smoke when it's running?
On start up? Usually bad valve stem seals cause blue smoke on start up.

I'm going to add a bunch of info here, it's FYI for you [if you're interested].
Cliffs:
If your stuck with the engine as is for now, I'd start by swapping that injector [assuming your cap/rotor/wires/plugs are ok]. You may as well fix it if you can.

If your able to swap/rebuild it now, it probably wouldn't hurt.

When you're measuring oil usage, time really doesn't matter.
What matters is mileage. If you're driving 1000 miles this week, 1/2 quart isn't that crazy [not good, but not a major problem]. If you're only driving 10 miles this week and you lose 1/2 qt, you have a major problem.

You only lose oil 2 ways; you leak it or you burn it.
If it's leaking enough to make a difference you're going to know, so I'm assuming there's no puddles under your engine.
That leaves burning it.
Usually when an engine is burning a lot of oil it's from something being broken. Damaged piston/ring, damaged valve/valve guide, ect. When this happens it's easy to tell, you see blue smoke because most of the oil being burned is concentrated at one point. You don't necessarily know what's broken right away, but you can tell something is.

But, when the oil being burned is spread out over all the cylinders, you won't necessarily see blue smoke because it's not as concentrated, so the only evidence is the oil level dropping.
If your oil control rings are worn out [a compression test won't necessarily show this], or if they're gummed up they're not going to be able to scrape the oil off the cylinder wall and some of it's going to get burned.
If your rod bearings are worn out they're going to splash too much oil on the cylinder walls, and the oil control rings [even if they're in good shape] won't be able to keep up, and some of it will be burned.
These are rough numbers, but if each of your cylinders burns 1 DROP of oil each power stroke [spread 1 drop over the entire cylinder wall]; at 3000 RPMs and 60 MPH you're going to burn an entire quart of oil in under 4 miles.


If you're not seeing blue smoke or any major oil drips, you're most likely burning it. What you can try to do is use good oil and do frequent oil changes and see if it helps ungum the oil control rings [assuming they're gummed].
Also, higher RPMs will burn more oil, so keeping your RPMs down will help.
Unfortunately some engines are just going to burn oil no matter what you do.Toyota 1.8L engines in the Corolla and Celica from the mid/late 90s

shaeff

I wouldn't bother switching injectors. If you're pulling the plug wire and there's no change in the miss when you pull #3, test the plug wire, the plug, and the cap/rotor. Spray the plug wires down with water, and hold a screwdriver by the plastic handle with the tip touching ground, and lean it over to the wire. If you see sparks, your wire(s) need to be replaced. Start with the easy/easier stuff before swapping injectors.

Besides, if the injector isn't working, a $20 Craftsman mechanic's stethoscope will tell you that, or a noid light if you've got the funds for one. The stethoscope, although cheap, works great for checking stuff like this. Otherwise, do it the oldschool way- grab a dowel, sand the end so it's nice and rounded. Touch that end to the little lobe part of your ear that you'd use to plug your ears. Press it in so it plugs your ear, and touch the other end to the injector. If it's not clicking constantly like the others, it's dead.

Check the wiring, if the wiring is good, the injector is likely toasted. That way you only have to remove it once.