loke

I love my truck when it works well, but I'm really reaching my wits end with this thing. I'm hoping the once again that yotatech can help me keep my truck in my garage until I can get it back on the trail, and not be forced to send it to a shop.

First I'll give a quick back story. I recently blew a head gasket after overheating. I was able to fix that. The first test drive revealed a failed fuel pressure damper. No problem. The second test drive revealed the cause of the head gasket failure and the overheating. The radiator hose was leaking on the alternator. Caused it to short, smolder, and nearly flame up. Replaced the radiator hoses, and alternator. Finally, things being to look good. Put probably 10 miles on, staying in the neighborhood. Phoenix daytime temps have been around 110, with fairly high humidity, and the truck ran great. So today I planned to take it through its paces.

Drove 40 miles, with around half of that on the highway. Ran at 70 mph with no problems. Hit a trail and ran it hard through desert washes with deep sand and some steep hill climbs. Did 20 miles of trail in afternoon sun and temps well over 100. Never had a problem. End of the trail is a lake. Stopped, went for a swim, drank some water, relaxed. Certainly the truck didn't fully cool but when I started home, I started to notice a problem. As I tried to accelerate, there was a strong hesitation, the motor sounding more like a lawn mower. I felt if I didn't give too much throttle, it was running accelerating ok. It went away after a moment so I continued on. A few minutes later I felt it again. I pulled over, checked fluids. Everything looked ok. I left the truck idling so I could keep an ear under the hood and after a minute of sounding ok it sputtered and stalled. I fired it up again and the problem seemed to have gone away again. I drove the truck towards home. I wasn't sure if heat was an issue so I avoided rush hour city traffic. Took the long way around on the highway where I could maintain low RPM in 5th gear. Again, no problems for quite awhile, around 40 miles of mostly highway. The last 10 miles it began to act up. I had trouble maintaining speed, accelerating. When traffic got bad towards the end there was some stops and if I didn't keeps the RPMs up it would stall out. I made it home safely, engine sputtering right till the end.

The highway driving was way easier than any trail riding. I was just giving a little gas in 5th to stay up with the slow lane traffic. Ran the heater the entire way. After getting home, allowing the truck to sit for a bit. It fired up and I went for a show drive around the block. No problem.

I'm extremely frustrated and have very little confidence in this truck out on the trail. Any thoughts on this intermittent issue? How do I troubleshoot that? If I had to guess, it feels and sounds like a cylinder going down, or misfiring. How would I find that, especially as it is so intermittent and if its happening, the truck stalls out if I'm not in it and giving it gas?

Thanks for all the help.

loke

Sorry. I suppose I should make clear, this is an 86 pickup with a 22RE.

myyota

It sounds like you might have a plugged fuel filter, try replacing it and see what happens.

loke

I was definitely thinking lack of fuel. I just don't like when everything fails at once. Makes me think it all has to be related. So I though fuel issues would be more pressure related, since I was working on the fuel rail, damper, etc.

Teuf

I thought that was a given. With all the stuff is off its crazy not to do a fuel filter. I should talk I almost forgot.

loke

Bringing the thread back. Still having problems.

Replaced the fuel filter. No change.
Replaced plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor. No change.
Ran a can of seafoam through the intake vacuum. Few sips, let it die and sit, fire it up, burn it off, repeat. No change.
Adjusted timing, was way off, got it closer (see below). No change.


I say no change because I still have the same stalling and power issue intermittently. Sometimes it runs great and since the above items it purrs like a kitten when all is well. Then randomly, things go bad.

I have a few outstanding issues I want to be sure I get right before giving up.

1. While burning off seamfoam I discovered I have an exhaust leak. Some of the bolts were missing from previous owners and I left it as is when doing my head gasket. I intend to get a new set of bolts. Questions. Where can I get these bolts? Cheap set or hardware store? What are the bolt specs? What are the symptoms of an exhaust leak?

2. I don't know what I'm doing with regard to timing. My Craftsman digital timing light tells me I'm at ~18*. If I set the timing towards 5 it runs like crap. Did I jump a tooth on the chain? Also if I jumper the check connector, I don't see any difference. Whats the point, and how do I know if I'm doing it in the right place and its working? I've got it timed with my red neck ears, so I don't think the timing is causing my poblems, I just want to be sure everything is correct before moving on.

3. That said, any other ideas?

xxxtreme22r

when you jump that connector you should hear your idle go down.

LCE has exhaust studs for pretty cheap.

yoder519

i just bought me new exhaust studs at teh toyota dealership. they were like $12 fro all three with nuts. but be sure not to over tighten them! the nut is designed for the top of it to sit flush with the end of the nut. once you over tighten it, you screwed it up. i sure did

loke

When I jump the connector I notice no changes to anything. On the drivers side there are four connectors sitting on the fendor. A small round one, with one terminal, a medium sized round connector with two terminals, a larger round one with four terminals, and a rectangular one with two. I was using the medium sized round connector. Is this correct? Where else should I look for this?

The LCE studs, are these the header studs? They work ok for ex. manifold studs?

loke

You only got three? Aren't there eight?

xxxtreme22r

probably talking about the manifold collector.

what year is you truck?

loke

oh, sorry if I wasn't clear. I'm looking at the manifold to head.

I'm in an 86 22re.

yoder519

oh yea sorry i should i have made sure. i was talkin about manifold-downpipe

TNRabbit

Intermittent problems are usually electronic, which is a GIANT PITA as you can test miles of wire before you find it. Any stored codes?

loke

1. Ran great until I tore it down. So I'm assuming it would be something I messed with.

2. Made sure all grounds were better condition than before I began any work.

3. I've never seen any check engine light (besides initial POST). How do I know if I have codes?