thook

Wait, wait.....search this forum for how to do it yourself. I'm pretty "Mt. Goat" knows all about it, if you would PM him. It's not a hard thing to do and could save yourself the money of having a shop do it.

24Runna

Well finally drove it a little while ago. Sammie89 provided me with a spark plug wire, but the dist. end was too big. Some creativeness came to mind and it works just fine now. Eventually will do all the wires, but for now only this. I noticed my fuel gauge drop alot during my 17 mile drive. BUT that included speeds up to 65, RPM'S up to 4k (never before has it revved that high), and test braking, so basicly I was pretty hard on it, so I think thats why, we'll see.

To reset the ECU I just disconnect the negative terminal for what 10 minutes?

Things I noticed:
Up to 35 miles per hour alot easier than before
Used to be at 2,500 RPM @ 55 MPH. Now at 2,500 RPM @ 60 MPH.
Quite a bit of moisture from tailpipe upon startup, lean anybody?
RPM's seem to stay low now at 35 MPH

Overall I like it, a little bit different than before, and I hope my MPG goes way up, because if it goes down I'm going to kill someone.

Oh and how would I do a compression test?

Victor

Does the exhaust smell sweet like antifreeze? If so you may have a bad headgasket.

You can rent a compression test kit at a lot of autoparts places. You remove the spark plug, screw in the kits adapter, and then hook up the gauge. You should disconnect the distributor from the coil. Next just crank it over a couple of times. The highest reading will stay on the gauge. Do this for all cylinders recording the readings. A 10% difference between cylinders is normal. You can squirt some oil into a low reading cylinder - if the reading goes up a lot then the rings are worn. If it doesn't change then it is probably the valve guides in the cylinder head.

24Runna

Great....

Still a little pool of oil under the car. Now CEL is on. Didn't happen till I was halfway to my GF's house. Restarting didn't do anything. I'm lost and each day loose faith in my Runner, especially with a 6k+ roadtrip coming up. (Just MY 4Runner, my moms 4Runner and our Celica are as strong as ever) I'll be making an appointment with Pauly Toyota soon so they can look at it. Depending on the market and and what repairs it needs I might end up selling it. Unfortunately neither I nor my parents can afford anything right now, so if it needs immediate or major repairs, I'm SOL. If we had money, then I would have no problem with the repairs, after all, it is under 100k, for a '95 that is great.

Then again, I would take a 200k motor that was taken care of verses a 60k motor that wasn't.

If I happened to get a new car, nothing could sway me from Honda or Toyota. I would love to get another 4Runner though, preferably a 3rd gen. What would be awesome is if i found one on our roadtrip. lol.

thook

Why are you thinking of selling? Aren't you making progress? Water in the tailpipe doesn't automatically mean HG....just a possibility. On start up, it could just be condensation. Pull the plugs and see what they look like. That will tell you what is burning and even whether it's running lean. And run the dern compression test. That's easy and cheap.

Atleast wait and see what the transmission is going to do before making any decisions on selling. Even then, a used tranny is cheaper than another car....isn't it? Keep at it, if you really like the runner. Besides, if you bought another car, chances are with your budget it will be used and we all know that means. Someones elses problems they didn't want to or couldn' deal with.....if they've even happened yet. Most used cars need work...just like the rig you have.

I don't know. I just hate to see people give up easily.

24Runna

All the plugs were replaced. From Bosch platinum +4 to NGK G-Power.

The pic of the sparkplug is up there. Post #48, big post, lol.

Well I tend to loose confidence when I'm tired. And I'm really tired now.
Once Toyota checks it out and gives me a list of stuff I'll be MUCH more confident. Chances are its something stupid and simple. As far as mechanical help, a guy down the street is really mechanically inclined. Although all he does is american cars, he probally won't have a problem if I help.

For parts, sammmie89 has a few 3.0's to part out, so hopefully they have good parts on it if I need some parts.

For the oil leak, it looks like it is now the passenger side valve cover. Or the rear main. Either way is a little bit of a hassle.

Anyways, having Toyota diagnose all the problems will certainly help me.

EDIT: Sparkplugs appear to be normal wear. MAYBE a little deposits.

Heres a quick rundown of stuff I KNOW I need to do:
-Timing belt
-Coolant flush
-Trans/T-case flush
-All drive belts
-Brake bleeding
-Spark plugs wires (NGK)
-Compression test
-ISR mod

Other stuff I think:
-Toyota diagnosis
-EGR valve
-Airbox making a really weird noise
-Pass. side valve cover
-Rear main

Im goin' to bed, hopefully others respond to the thread.

thook

Yeah, learning to diagnose these things is (can be) harder than learning to make the repairs.

Good luck to you. Don't give up until the ship is actually sinking.

24Runna

Well it looks like the passenger side valve seal is the culprit. Smaller puddle than before, but still there. Hopefully the HM oil will do its magic. lol.

Once I get paid I probably should do the ISR mod, since my intake is cracked.

Any idea were the PVC valve is on the 3VZ-E is? *searched*

yotaman90

To my knowledge it's on the passenger-side valve cover. Never actually looked for it though, but I do know that you have to take off the intake plenum to get to it

24Runna

Well if thats the case, I might as well just do the passenger side valve cover. How hard is it to remove the intake plenum? Are any vacuum lines on it?

If its easy, then I might as well do the PVC valve and the valve cover myself.

I'm awaiting an e-mail from my dealer about some services. Mainly I would prefer if they do the trans/t-case flush, that way if something goes wrong I can pursue them.

How about a coolant flush? Whats the procedure?

And if I was to do th trans/t-case flush,whats the procedure?

TIA

yotaman90

I can only really answer your intake plenum question. I don't know the exact procedure to remove it (I've only ever removed my throttle body), but pretty much everything from the block up has to come off. And yeah, there are a butt-load of vacuum lines on it. I don't think that it's really that hard to do, it's just time consuming. Don't you have a manual?

yotaman90

I almost forgot to ask, which part of the intake is cracked? As for the ISR mod, I've never done it. I've heard too many conflicting opinions about it

thook

Removing the plenum is not hard, IMO. And, yes....there are quite a few vacuum lines to it on the driver's and on the passenger side......along with the PCV line. The PCV itself will be underneath that side, as well. If you wedge your head down in there (don't get it stuck...grease it first ) and look underneath and on top of the valve cover, you'll see it and where the line runs to the plenum.

As far as removing the plenum goes, you don't have to take any of the pass. side lines loose, however. There is one large one (actually a coolant line/bypass hose...I believe) tucked under there towards the firewall end that's kind of a booger to get out and back on. A long, rather stout screwdriver or something similar with a flat end will pry it up and off the tube it attaches to. You'll see what I mean when you get there.

Anyway, to start.....pull the intake and VAM assembly off. Remove the coolant bypass lines that run from either end at the bottom of the TB (don't remove the TB). Take throttle cables loose. Unhook the TPS connector. There are some vacuum lines that run to the TB that need to come loose....three towards the rad and one and on the firewall side....I believe.

On the pass. side....remove the EGR and mounting bracket. Seems like you have to unhook the vacuum modulator, but I don't recall. Unhook the cold start injector. Take the four bolts loose on top of the plenum and the four that run along the driver's side...two of which are studs.

Once you have all of that loose, lift the plenum up, flip it over, and set to the side. The valve cover and PCV will be right there.

I may be forgetting one or two things....not sure...but, you'll see anything when you're at it.

You'll need some permatex or a new upper intake manifold gasket when you go to reassemble everything.

Coolant flush is simple. Go to Auto Zone or equivalent and get one those Prestone back flush kits and some fresh coolant. Follow the given instructions. You can even google the flush kit/procedure and read beforehand.

The tranny/t-case is simple, but you have to be more careful. Drain the old stuff in tranny and t-case while it is hot. Put a new filter in and seal the pans. There are two.Then, you have two ATF lines that run to the radiator from the tranny. The one on the driver's side carries ATF to the rad and the other returns it to the tranny. They're your cooling lines. The one from the rad goes into a container with several qts. of fresh ATF while the other goes to a refuse bucket. Then you start the motor and allow the transmission to pump/flush itself running it through the gears. But, you have to be careful and add fresh ATF to the fill bucket as it gets low.....until what comes out into the refuse is clean. You'll need quite a bit of of ATF to do this, so get the inexpensive stuff for now. You can use something better later on the next drain and refill...if your tranny turns out to be okay.

That's how I remember it. Like I said, though, run a search or ask around in case I've missed something.

24Runna

Well guys....
bad news...

There is a strong sulfur smell out of the exhaust and some ashes, along with a lower idle, and a strong vibration consistent to RPMS. While deaccelerating nothing, but it goes faster while accelerating. Only in gear though, not in N or P. Trans fluid looks good, but smells like plastic.

So yea. F u c k.

thook

I don't get it. What's the bad news?

24Runna

My trans is a goner. Will most likely have to be rebuilt.

thook

How did you come to that conclusion? Because of the odor? Are you sure it's not that your just smelling the gear oil mixed with ATF? Does the transmission still function?

24Runna

Mainly because of the fact that when it is in park, noting, nut any other gear you feel a strong vibration from the tranny, so strong that the engine and tranny shake from side to side.

24Runna

ok so after some searching it can be a few things.

The transmission.

The HG.

The Cat.

I think it is the cat. Supposedly if the cat fails it create a TON of back pressure causing the vibration I'm feeling. Also, its in ALL gears.
The smell from the exhaust is a really strong sulfur-like smell.

24Runna

Ok guys I'm lost. I dunno what to do.

Here is what happens. I start the car. I get an odd, strong vibration. From the exhaust it smells strongly of sulfur, the cloud of smoke looks like condensation, and stops after it is warmed up. It doesn't look white or blue, like coolant and oil burn, but like water vapor. The vibration increases with speed and RPM. While idling in gear or park the vibration is there. The RPMS are lower than usual.

HELP ME PLEASE!!!!