Built2Grind

11/9 1:30pm EDIT: no compression in 1 and 2 checking cam timing and lash

i had to get towed to work this morning so i cant look at anything until after work. i was hoping to get some ideas for what to check first. driving on the freeway yesterday it was pinging at cruising but if it let off or added more gas it would go away, it did this for maybe 30 seconds and then i could cruise with no problems. this morning everything was fine for the first 10 or so miles and then it started pinging again but much worse. this time i couldnt get it to stop after a half mile or so. i pulled off the freeway and it almost stalled. it sounds like its only running on 3 cylinders. i did check all the fuses, plugs wires and most of the vacuum lines. it also wasnt blowing any smoke and i noticed no loss in power. im thinking fuel filter, clogged injector, or fuel pump. i also checked the oil and it was still full and clean since i changed it 2 weeks ago. none of this started until after i filled up yesterday at a 76 station, maybe the added ethanol in the winter gas picked up some dirt. thanks for any help.

EDIT* i got a egr cel about a week ago but it went away after a few minutes of driving. i also adjusted the valves about a month ago.

Built2Grind

UPDATE

changed the fuel filter, not too terrible. i pulled both lines off and that made removing the mounting bolts a lot easier but no change in the poor running. i checked spark and pulled all the plugs and everything looked more or less ok. there was some chunky carbon on 1 and 2 but a very small amount.

i pulled the plug wires as the engine was running also. if i pulled 1 or 2 nothing changed. if i pulled 3 or 4 it stalled. so i am getting spark to 1 and 2 but no combustion. it doesn't rattle like the lash is way out so it must be the injectors. any other ideas?

Built2Grind

SECOND UPDATE

pulled the valve cover. all the springs are look good, and the lash is the loose side of spec.

HighLux

Check for voltage at the connectors for injectors on dead cylinders. They have the little test lights called noids at autozone. Plug into where it plugs into injector and will light up as it gets signal to fire. That will rule out wiring to injector. Then you can look the injectors over after that.

You get the manual yet? Can find them in pdf format all over the net.

Grego92

iTrader: (4)

In Torrance there is a place called RC Engineering, you could pull your injectors and take them over there to have cleaned and calibrated. My buddy took them in the morning and picked them back up later that afternoon, this was less than a month ago. Call him up and maybe set up a time so you can do that.

Built2Grind

highlux- do you know if it wil damage anything to have the plug disconnected while i check with a multimeter while its running? i dont have a manual but i also havent looked yet. thanks

grego92- i have heard of that place, I've only heard good things. thanks

Built2Grind

i did everything i can do but its still not working. i brought it to the stealership for a vehicle health report for $55.

Built2Grind

toyota wanted $575 just to look at the injectors. i told them i would just fix it myself so i rented a car for hopefully only today and tomorrow. i have all the o-rings and the crush washers on order. i was planning on yanking the injectors tomorrow and bringing them to rc engineering but i found a place called engine performance injectors in whittier that is closer. does anybody have any experience with them? http://www.fuelinjectors.com/

Built2Grind

i ended up just pulling the injectors and cleaning the surface and replacing all the o-rings. i replaced the intake gasket for the upper intake as well as cleaned the intake manifold. i got everything back together fired it up. it still isnt running on cylinder 1 and 2 but i pulled the plugs again and they are both black with carbon but not wet. so 1 and 2 are running very rich. after i noticed the black plugs i let it idle while i smelled the exhaust, it smells like fuel. i also checked the resistance of the plugs wires. they were between 5k ohms and 7k ohms. 5k being cylinder 1 and 7k being cylinder 4. maybe the distributor is no good? i dont know what else to check.

HighLux

Did you ever get a noid light to test if you are getting voltage to the injectors? First thing I would have done. Process of elimination...not random guessing.

Built2Grind

the noid light didnt flash on any of the injectors and i found out why. there is +12 volts on both sides of the plug, i put a meter on the plug and the other lead to ground and cranked the engine. i noticed a .2 volt drop at a regular interval. so basically it grounds to open the solenoid on the injectors. they all do it so they must all be firing.

Built2Grind

i feel stupid now. i forgot to check compression. cylinder 1 and 2 have virtually no compression, both showed less than 30 with a minuscule change when i added oil. cylinder 3 and 4 showed 185 psi each and 200 with oil. time to pull the valve cover to see if the timing chain slipped a tooth and check lash again.

Built2Grind

yet another puzzle. it cannot turn it over with a breaker bar with all the spark plugs out. it springs back near top dead center, the starter can do it but strains(i thought the battery was just going dead). i did not find anything unusual except that the exhaust valve closest to the firewall was half off the cam. it slid torward the spring and stayed there. i dont know how that happened or how it retained full compression while it was that way. the cam timing looked right but it could have been off by one tooth since i couldnt get it to tdc. anybody want it? give me a price.

RJR

It's more than possible that, if you had excessive and severe pinging, you punched a hole in the tops of #1 and/or #2 pistons (or munged up a valve or two). Severe pinging and pre-ignition is really harsh on cylinders. I once blew a dime-sized hole in the #6 piston of a single engine Cessna over western Nebraska due to pre-ignition. That'll get you to sit up straight in your seat! Fortunately it ran well enough on the remaining 5 to make a routine landing at an airport where we could have the engine repaired.

If you can find a borescope, (or nowadays, a USB microscope) stick it through the spark plug hole and have a look around.

If the pinging was the cause of your dead cylinders, you'll still need to find the cause of that after you repair the engine. Good luck on this one. Doesn't sound real good.

Built2Grind

im thinking burned valve. usually byt he time pinging is audible its already done some damage. it only ran for less than a minute in total while it was pinking but who knows how long it was leading up to that point. i am hoping to sell it for $1500 to recover some of what i put into it