Backfire issue need help
03-04-2015, 04:44 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Misfire issue need help!!
I have an 88 toyota 4x4 pickup with the 22re. Yesterday driving back home from work in the rain it started to not accelerate, the charge battery light and brake light came on at the same time this happened. I could stay at a steady speed but when I tried to go faster the engine would just backfire and not let me accelerate much. Just fyi before I left i put a bottle of Lucas fuel injector cleaner that is good for 25 gallons. I had about 11 gallons in at the time. It was almost 60 miles after I treated the gas that I started to have the issue. When I finally made it home I filled it up. This morning it was running fine for about ten miles then started to act up again and it was hard to stay at a steady speed of 50 without downshifting to third then back up to fourth. It is just misfiring horribly. I replaced the wires plugs and distributer cap, to no prevail. It actually started to get worse the more I ran the car. I have checked for vacuum leaks using visual inspection and carb cleaner. I am thinking egr valve, bad distributor, clogged injector.. Idk. sometimes it will idle normally with just.a few little misfires but then when I rev up the engine it just completely misses and backfires. A weird thing is that I had stopped one time while driving and the lights shut off and it started running fine again. But shortly after the lights came back on and started misfiring and running horrible again. just for the record the engine is not overheating at all, I do have an exhaust manifold leak, a bad valve cover gasket that leaks pretty bad. I cannot figure out what is going on here.. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance!
Last edited by lmobeats18; 03-06-2015 at 04:34 AM.
03-06-2015, 09:50 AM
#2
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Montgomery, AL
Posts: 142
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This may be a shot in the dark, but start checking the charging system and electrical connections. Make sure your ground wires are solid, and check the voltage output on your alternator.
03-06-2015, 10:51 AM
#3
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...s-help-287333/
If you, a friend or family member has a multimeter/voltmeter check to see what voltage the alternator is putting out.
If check voltage at the battery you're "assuming" the wiring is all good. I would check voltage directly at the alternator's POS post so you can eliminate the wires in the system.
If you get a reading lower than 13.9V at idle-2000 rpm your alternator is bad and needs repaired or replaced.
If you don't have access to a multimeter/voltmeter you could stop by an Autozone, O'Reilly, Pep Boys and have them check it for you. I wouldn't purchase an alternator from AutoZone or O'Reilly (don't know about Pep Boy's) because I don't like replacing parts before I have to. That's all I'm going to say about their "Lifetime Warranty" parts.
I'm assuming there hasn't been much done in the way of preventive maintenance on your charging system
Remove, inspect, and clean both ends of ALL of your ground cables/straps and their connection points with a wire brush and apply dielectric grease to them.
Any auto store will have Dielectric grease, Walmart probably has it, and most hardware stores have it.
Do the same with the positive cables, this includes the cable on the alternator.
This will help you locate all the grounds on a 22re https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...-guide-194413/
If any cable has exposed wire with white or green stuff on it REPLACE IT! Ideally no bare wire should be exposed to the elements.
If you need new wires get thicker ones (4, 2, 1, 0, 00 gauge) because the factory 6 gauge cables on these trucks are a joke.
If you have battery terminals that simply clamp a bare wire to the connector (pictured below) get rid of it/them, they should be considered nothing more than a quick fix because they are garbage. Either get some new cables with the clamp permanently attached or get some marine terminals and new cables for them.
Last edited by Odin; 03-07-2015 at 11:11 AM.
03-09-2015, 03:33 AM
#4
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well I just got back on this thread today and after a lot of investigation I fixed the truck last night. Alternator tested bad on truck but good at the store. So I put it back in. I ended up tracing the alternator wires to the battery and the battery wire to the fuse box to find a broken 80 amp fuse . Wow.. After a whole week of searching and replacing parts just turned out to be a fuse. Good thing is the truck runs 100x better after replacing those things . Thank you for everybodys input. Hope this helps someone else
03-11-2015, 03:56 AM
#6
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well the problem went away for a while but now is back again. Brake light, engine light, and battery light and the truck is misfiring again. I tested all grounds under the hood and they test good . The only weird thing is that the engine block is only measuring 9 to 10 volts when everything else is 12. I have redone every ground connection that I can find on the block and they test good. What could be my issue this is giving me serious anxiety and sleep issues lol. It is on my mind 24/7 and I hate that I cannot figure this out.
03-11-2015, 04:20 AM
#7
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well the problem went away for a while but now is back again. Brake light, engine light, and battery light and the truck is misfiring again. I tested all grounds under the hood and they test good . The only weird thing is that the engine block is only measuring 9 to 10 volts when everything else is 12. I have redone every ground connection that I can find on the block and they test good. Also my battery is staying at 12 volts while running not going up to 14 like it should. I just had the alternator tested and they said it's good. What could be my issue this is giving me serious anxiety and sleep issues lol. It is on my mind 24/7 and I hate that I cannot figure this out.
Last edited by lmobeats18; 03-11-2015 at 04:22 AM.
Trending Topics
03-11-2015, 12:43 PM
#9
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well it's not backfiring , I've tried editing the title three times sand it won't let me. It's misfiring. At idle If I accelerate very quickly it will miss but if I do it slowly it won't. But driving down the road it struggles to even get me to a fair driving speed of 45 like it has no power. And will be misfiring quite a lot
03-11-2015, 03:20 PM
#12
..a restricted ground will cause the voltage to find an alternate path, usually by backfeeding other circuits, which affect how they are interpreted by the ecu, not to mention the effects on the ecu itself. That ground in my runner caused a brutally hard sub-zero start, long cranking time during any start, a severe lack of power, and eventually disrupted the ignition signal so bad the rev limiter would engage below 2000 rpm.
Grounds are insidious, and should never be overlooked. Remember the issue is inside the crimped connection, not the bolt connection.
Grounds are insidious, and should never be overlooked. Remember the issue is inside the crimped connection, not the bolt connection.
typically the entire issue is inside that crimp at the grounding point connector. If the wire under the insulation at that connector is clean copper, just cut that connector off, strip both wires and crimp a new connector on, bolt it to ground. Its really that simple.
So simple, it makes people skeptical.
But i'll tell you this, if i get a toyota truck in for any kind of weird performace issue, that's the first damn thing i'm doing to it.
So simple, it makes people skeptical.
But i'll tell you this, if i get a toyota truck in for any kind of weird performace issue, that's the first damn thing i'm doing to it.
03-11-2015, 06:57 PM
#14
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Franconia Twp. MN
Posts: 219
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
03-11-2015, 07:53 PM
#15
I'll be the first to admit I'm not the greatest at finding electrical problems and I don't do it much because I try to keep all my connections in top shape. When I get a used vehicle I spend time cleaning all the main connections and replacing any wire or crimp connector I think could be suspect or give me problems down the road. You're bound to run into a troubled area sooner or later and alot of the time it's something a previous owner did. Who doesn't love those cheap crimp yellow/blue/red butt connectors that are unsealed and corroded 
Obviously 9-10V indicates you still have a problem. I believe the alternator is grounded through the engine that's why it failed the test you did when it was on the truck but passed when it was off of it.
9-10 Volts*
Voltage testing is ok but it only tells part of the story.
Did you test the wires by Voltage Drop testing like they show in the videos?
Voltage Drop testing helps pinpoint the problem. I'd clean out all the bolt holes in the block where the grounds get bolted to with brake cleaner/carb cleaner, remount everything with dielectric grease, and do Voltage Drop tests.
You generally do Voltage drop testing with some power demand being asked from the circuit like having your stereo, heater and headlights on.
Unlike a regular voltage test when performing a Voltage Drop test BOTH test leads are connected to only one side of the circuit. That is, if you want to test the NEG side both leads have to be connected to the NEG circuit.
Also, it doesn't matter if your gauge gives you a negative or positive reading, you're still going to get the numbers you need and that's the lost voltage.
The noted acceptable loss on the NEG side is .200V but I like to see much less.
The noted acceptable loss for the POS side is up to .5V but remember LOWER READINGS ON BOTH SIDES ARE DESIRABLE.
Obviously 9-10V indicates you still have a problem. I believe the alternator is grounded through the engine that's why it failed the test you did when it was on the truck but passed when it was off of it.
9-10 Volts*
Voltage testing is ok but it only tells part of the story.
Did you test the wires by Voltage Drop testing like they show in the videos?
Voltage Drop testing helps pinpoint the problem. I'd clean out all the bolt holes in the block where the grounds get bolted to with brake cleaner/carb cleaner, remount everything with dielectric grease, and do Voltage Drop tests.
You generally do Voltage drop testing with some power demand being asked from the circuit like having your stereo, heater and headlights on.
Unlike a regular voltage test when performing a Voltage Drop test BOTH test leads are connected to only one side of the circuit. That is, if you want to test the NEG side both leads have to be connected to the NEG circuit.
Also, it doesn't matter if your gauge gives you a negative or positive reading, you're still going to get the numbers you need and that's the lost voltage.
The noted acceptable loss on the NEG side is .200V but I like to see much less.
The noted acceptable loss for the POS side is up to .5V but remember LOWER READINGS ON BOTH SIDES ARE DESIRABLE.
Last edited by Odin; 03-11-2015 at 07:57 PM.
03-12-2015, 03:34 AM
#17
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yes I did the voltage drop tests on the alternator and am not really getting any maybe .1 but barely. And I have replaced my block to chassis ground I cleaned the ground right behind the alternator and replaced the two grounds coming off the negative side of the battery. I looked at the ground next to the kick plate and it looks in top shape. I removed the negative battery cable while running and the truck immediately died I've tested Alternators like this before
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
crammit442
95.5-2004 Tacomas & 96-2002 4Runners
7
11-29-2017 12:30 PM
rjtrials
Looking For A Mechanic/Fabricator/Shop
3
08-06-2015 07:25 PM
