animaljosh

Hello all,

Another problem with my 87 truck (22r carb.), but this time it is out of commission. To make yet another long story short.....

Driving from a short trip to the hardware store and she just dies. No warning and no out of the ordinary trouble lately.....(ok, maybe not totally accurate statement. I have noticed in the few days before the "incident" a few instances of very minor difficulty in starting, but this island truck is moody).
Did a roadside troubleshooting marathon consisting of fuel system check (smell gas and when I pulled the fuel hose from the carb and turned it over got gas squirting....so Fuel system working!), checked my choke because it does weird things but that isn't it. When it comes to ignition I start finding problems. My cap and rotor look ok. A little worn and will replace but not currently available (I live in the West Indies and it isn't as easy as you think to find things here!!!). Check my wires with meter and all are ok. On inspection I find a crack in the coil and figure it must have spontaneously bit the dust. Upon testing with multimeter I get substandard ohm readings so must be it, right? However, get a new coil and it didn't do the trick. Still no spark at all. She just turns over with no indication of spark.

But here is where it gets tricky. This is a long time island truck so it has some "creative" mechanics. On inspection both here and in my Haynes I find that I am supposed to have an igniter mounted on the coil? I go to test that and there is no such item of any kind anywhere under the hood. I do have a resistor (least what I have always known them as and bought them under that title for my FJ) but it is connected to absolutely nothing. Also of interest is the rats nest of wires that the coil apparently gets its juice from. My best description of that mess defies description so I am gonna try to post some pics.....

anyway, anyone got any ideas at all. I'm seriously stumped right now. I could also use and would deeply appreciate pics of anyone elses 87 (or equivelant) so that I can see what this thing is actually supposed to look like!

animaljosh

sorry, but trying at teh moment to figure out how to get my pic file sizes small enough to post...... I never claimed to be smart!!!!!

olharleyman

photobucket your pics then post them here

flyingbrass

Here's my 86.

animaljosh

animaljosh

jeez, that doesn't look good. I know the thing is engineered but it isn't even close. I did a vin# check to make sure of the year when it was purchased and it says 87 though the title says 89. Considering the look of things maybe its a nissan! (joke!)

animaljosh

those pics show the coil, right? I know its a dumb question but I am still trying to find out what the igniter looks like. According to Haynes it is mounted on the coil with four bolts and its a square metal device.......

abecedarian

Do you have points in the distributor or the electronic pick-up? If you have points, you won't have an igniter.

animaljosh

honestly that is what has me confused. According to the information provided in my generic manual ("all vehicles covered in this manual are equipped with EI systems..... 1979-1995") and yet it is obvious to me this is not the case. I do indeed have points/condenser and yet by my vin it is indeed and 87!?!?! what gives here?

animaljosh

but any tips on troubleshooting and possible causes are still appreciated!!!

87topless

Coil and ignitor on my 87 4Runner.

animaljosh

does anybody know for sure if toyota produced a stock non-EI truck in 87? Also, is it unheard of to convert from EI to conventional ignition?

22RUCRAZY

check for fuses and loose cracked or frayed wires

animaljosh

sure, I have all the loose, cracked, and fused wires you could ever want!!!!!! as for fuses....well, let me say again that this thing is "island engineered" to the max, so it's really very hard for me to know what it is actually supposed to look like and which fuses and relays are currently functional or even necessary. Honestly I'm hesitant to mess with anything that isn't blatantly trashed. It seems that every time I touch something that to me looks like it is long past overdue for replacement I open up a whole host of issues (such as WTF did that thing actually do? or the ever present where exactly am I going to get that thing here.) Our parts selection on island is dismal on a good day..... I do know that I have 12.1 volts to the coil (the + terminal), and for some reason get 12.1 volts out of the - terminal that then goes via speaker wire (YEAH!!!) to the carb choke assembly and some other rigged electronic device on the carb. I also know that my wires are fairly new and test good. Most importantly I am sure I get no spark of any kind....... aarrggghhhhhhhhhhh

animaljosh

is there anyway to test the lead that goes from the coil to the center of the distributor? if so how many volts am I looking at there, as I have only one decent multimeter and don;t want to kill it. Those things are hard to find here too!!!

flyingbrass

Mine is an igniter/coil combination. If you look close, it even says so. It's original. I don't think much changed between 86 and 87.

I don't know what year Toyota stopped using points, but the distributors in 86 didn't have them. Sounds like someone swapped in an earlier motor, or at least hacked in an early ignition system.

Since your setup was working before, it must be wired ok to function. You have points, so you also have a condenser. Maybe it conked out when the coil went. I don't know how likely that would be, just guessing. Does your book have any test procedure for it?

animaljosh

sorry, after I looked closely at your pics I did see "coil with igniter" clearly written on it. It is looking like I do indeed have a hack of some type going on here but I am totally not surprised by that. Just wish I could figure out what has been done. I have a Haynes for 79-95 trucks/4runners and it has test procedures only for the EI. But I have lexperience with points based ignitions so correct me if I'm wrong but I should be able to manually compress the points and get a spark there (or at a plug if the rotor is in the right position) if the coil is putting out juice, no?

PS-thank all of you for the help so far. this place is a godsend for me!!!!!

22RUCRAZY

Somewhere along the line the current or spark is stopping , stripped frayed melted or otherwise broken wire or part , possible fuse .


Keep us updated and good luck

The84toyota

check ground on bottom of coil im just throwing this out there

abecedarian

So, you have contact 'points' in the distributor, right?

Find an FSM that includes points-type ignition and follow the procedures to adjust them.