Tytanium

Hi folks, lurker posting for the first time. I have a 1992 Toyota DLX Xtracab 22RE, and I've just recently began working seriously on it. So far I've replaced the spark plugs, wires, fuel filter, PCV valve, cleaned the throttle body, adjusted the AFM for richer mix, put in a K&N, changed the oil, and degreased the engine. Also ran Seafoam through it before i replaced the spark plugs. Needless to say, it's performing a lot better than it was, but I'm still having a lingering problem.

Every so often, especially if I'm accelerating hard, the engine seems unresponsive. The RPMs start to go up (audibly, no tach), then all of a sudden, the engine just seems to run slowly back down to idle, then as i feather the throttle, then comes back up, and when I try to shift, it does it again, as though there wasn't enough fuel to feed high engine load. What could be the problem? New injectors, fuel pump necessary? I need to replace the clutch soon, but I don't think clutch slippage is the problem.

Now, onto my list of things I still want to do, and I'm not sure where I can buy all of them.

New clutch (higher quality, longer lasting)
Full catback exhaust/higher flow headers (22RE 4 cyl 2.4L)
Pistons, rods, cam
Left rear quarterpanel
Front/rear bumpers and front left turn signal
Rear window latch (broke in cold weather )
New seats that fit
Carpet
Decent tach (if I could find a new in-dash gauge cluster that would allow a tach, that would be SWEET)

Now one last thing. Would I be able to do the airbox drilling/cutting without any major issue?

Well, that's about it, I think. Have at it

rpeAMP

How about distributor rotor and cap? Have you replaced those lately?

Flash319

Sounds electrical. Start it up when it is dark out and watch under the hood around the coil and distributor. Sounds like an arc short. Could also be fuel problem.

regularguy412

Kinda sounds like a similar problem I had with my 92 3.0. Engine would sometimes increase RPMs, but there was no real 'power'. Other times, it would buck and jerk like a bronco. The bucking was so bad, that it even broke some of the plastic surrouding the auto tranny shifter. I thought it was the transmission going out. Turned out to be the in-tank fuel pump. The PO probably never changed the fuel filter. As it clogged up over time, it finally wore the pump out and the engine was starved for fuel.

Mike in AR

Tytanium

Nope, but I was planning to do that soon.

I tried that, didn't see any arcing or flashing, but will be replacing the rotor and cap this weekend. Any specific brands I should look out for?

Any ideas about the parts I listed? I want to get the best/longest lasting parts I can when working on this. Also, how much does Rhino Lining usually cost for a longbed like this one?

89red4x4yota

hey, my 89 3.0 auto does something strange to. ill be cruising and hit a hill and give it more gas and ill press the pedal down and nothing happens to the engine, no increase in power, no increase in RPMs nothing, ill almost hit the floor with it and it revs high then goes back to normal. doesn't do it to often but once and a great while. any suggestions?????

rpeAMP

For spark plugs/wires, fuel filters, distributor/cap, etc., I always stay with Toyota stock stuff.

funjumper

I had a lot of work done on my 94 4Runner w/3vze by a shop that usually does very good work. They replaced the OE spark plug wires with a set of Bosch wires.

I had slightly less power and a LOT of interference on the AM/FM radio. The shop couldn't fix the problem.

I fixed the problem by replacing the Bosch wires with Toyota wires. More power and no radio interference.

Use Toyota OEM parts.

Tytanium

I'm not using bosch wires, but I am using bosch plugs, properly gapped. I noticed an instant smoothing out of idle and engine responsiveness over the previous plugs.

Is a fuel pump replacement as difficult as the fuel filter? It took me and a friend over two hours to wrestle that thing out of there, and he's a small guy with small hands. Also, how much would I expect to pay for a new fuel pump? The ones i saw on overnightautoparts.com are $160+.

Any answers/recommendations to the other stuff I posted?

regularguy412

Watch your mileage and performance with those Bosch plugs. You'll find MANY instances on this board and others where the owners of 3.0's run only NGK or Denso plugs. I run Bosch +4 Platinums in my two Camrys but the 3.0 4Runner didn't like them. Switched back to NGK's and everything is good. I also had one Bosch work loose and was vibrating in the head at idle. That's NOT a good thing. I suppose anyplug could do that, but I'm a bit leery of Bosch in my 4Runner, now.

The fuel pump 'can' be tough, especially if the lines and fasteners are corroded. There is a 'secret' access panel under the carpet of the passenger side rear seat. Just tilt the seat forward as if you were going to put the seat-back down, pull up the carpet next to the door jamb and you should find a plasitc cover attached with screws. Take that off and you should have access to the top of the fuel tank without having to drop it.

Mike in AR

Tytanium

Cool, I had no idea that was the fuel pump, though I'd seen it before. I also got this cool small 2000lb floorjack that fits easily into the other storage compartment

Any ideas on seats? mine are torn up and smell bad from being wetted too much if i accidently left the sunroof open. I don't care for the stock seats, don't need the center one anymore. Preferably something that drops the total seat height (I'm 6'8") and is comfortable, maybe leather or some solid resistant material.

I found replacement carpets (need it BAAAD)on overnightautoparts.com (don't know if this site is reputable or not, but they've got a huge selection of stuff for my truck), so I'm thinking of going charcoal instead of gray.

Tachometers. Where can I get a good one, and are there replacements for the factory gauge cluster that has an add-in tach?

hytech_redneck

the clutch i would recomend either the stock oem clutch or if u do rough offroading all the time or plan to i recomend the master clutch brand clutch. i just got one about 100 miles back and i love it. very heavy duty works great. and the other stuff u said u did degreasing and all. good idea i did the same but depending on how long ago u did it may be causing one of ur problems. i dont know if u got any water anywhere u werent supposed to. just a thought i screwed up haha i was affraid to turn off my runner after pressure washing it. thought it wouldnt turn back on. anyways hope that helps but when u do a clutch stay away from centerforce and those others. stick oem if u can. anyways Good Luck

-kyle

Tytanium

It was a problem long before I degreased the engine. Now I have replaced the cap and rotor with OEM ones and the problem still exists. I'm going to do a refined description of the problem now.

It usually happens just after I shift into second gear. I start to accelerate and I (my body) jerks forward because I'm expecting it to accelerate in second, and it doesn't. If I jam down on the gas, I can hear the intake growl get a lot louder, but there is still no power, then after a few seconds, it seems to catch up again, but does it again when I shift into third.

I'm also having some serious mileage issues. My gas mileage has been total crap since doing the airbox mod and even before that. Driving to kansas city to u-wrench it (about 50 miles away) i drained almost half a tank of regular unleaded (full tank is about 14 gallons, no?) All the while I've been having serious power problems (not being able to climb hills even at high speeds)

I did the AFM mod, but changed it back to stock and it only seemed to get worse.

As of now, the only aftermarket part I have is a K&N filter and a cut airbox. After my ebiz gets up and running, I'm hoping to buy a whole new EFI pro stroker longblock from LC Engineering.

Also, since I'm going more for speed and power rather than off-roading ability, should I get a regeared trans with taller gears when I get a new engine/flywheel/clutch/driveshaft? Having to shift out of first gear at 10mph does not do well when trying to power-shift

rpeAMP

Any stumbling or misfiring?

Tytanium

What it feels like when i shift seems like stumbling. It sort of chugs down, then chugs back up.

Also, I have this idle problem that's driving me insane. After the engine is warm (usually after a little bit of highway driving), the idle drops EXTREMELY low, and starts to surge, I suppose. It will idle down, then I can hear the intake for a split second, and the idle drops low enough to almost kill the engine, but only for a split second, then comes back up, and does it again about every two seconds. If i rev the engine a tiny bit, it will do it faster. Do I have a bad cylinder/plug?