A yota tale with a few questions remaining
12-01-2016, 04:49 PM
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A yota tale with a few questions remaining
Hey all,
This is my first thread here. Thanks to everyone who posts stuff here, your insights are invaluable. In the last few weeks I've been using this forum a lot, as a proud new owner of a 94 toyota pickup. I wanna run down some of the work I've done and some of issues I'm still having and see if there is any advice.
First off, I haven't owned a car in 13 years and only in the last few weeks have I ventured into car ownership. I did all my own work on cars growing up, and still own a fair selection of tools, however I can't say I've put quite as much work into the vehicle I now own. I bought a 4-cyl, 2-wheel drive pickup for pretty cheap. I live in Arizona and it's amazing what people will sell these things for (like 30+ year old trucks for 8000 bucks!) I figured 2000 was fair to pay for a vehicle that just had the head gasket, water pump and timing chain redone with about 150,000 miles. It was sitting, for many years, and thus didn't have many miles, although plenty of sun damage and rotting rubber.
First thing I did was pay for 4-new tires, cause the old ones were ridiculously rotted. The exhaust to was almost nonexistent so new cat, muffler, and o2 sensor, right off the bat. I then replaced the brakes and a lot of rubber stuff, mainly vacuum lines. Drove it around a couple days. Then, I had an electrical failure. It wouldn't start. After testing the battery, starter, fuses, ignition switch, and clutch position switch I realized it was a bad wire! However, while the truck was sitting, undriven, the coolant leaked out of the engine, from the valve-cover gasket. So it appeared my new venture into car ownership had a significant hurdle: rebuilding the top of the engine. But thanks to some youtube and this forum, I pulled it off. Well, it was two days of my life I'll never get back, but yeah, got the head resurfaced at a machine shop and pressure tested. It tested fine. I got new bolts too.
In putting the thing back together there were a couple hiccups. First off, I had no oil-pan gasket. I siliconed it. Of course, then when it started up, it leaked coolant from under the water pump. So I loosened some bolts and siliconed it more. Seems to be holding? Any experience with this? Should I just redo the timing cover and the oil pan gakset?
Second, from the get go, the thing never held a good idle. Of course, the busted head-gasket was to blame, (it would surge like crazy) but even now, it kind of decides to hold an idle at a different speed like depending on if it's sitting or moving, or slanted uphill or downhill, I haven't figured it out? Sometime it idles low (like 500rpm) and sometimes a little over 1000. Seems to have a mind of its own (at full op temp). I replaced the TPS sensor and cleaned the heck out of the intake and throttle body, including the IAC. Could it have something to do with the timing of the motor?
Finally, the oil pressure gauge consistently gave me a low reading. I replaced the oil pump with the head job, figuring that was the culprit. Still getting a low reading. I realized the gauge's wire was ripped. Redid that. Still getting low gauge readings. Should I be concerned? It reads low until I'm at like 2500-3000 rpms. Doesn't seem to be leaking any oil right now? Is it a busted gauge? Of course there are plenty of other jobs still to do (leaky fuel gauge gasket on gas tank, paint, busted mirror) but I'm just trying to get the major stuff done. I've driven this thing about 100 miles and put another 1800 bucks into it. Starting to feel down on myself like it was not worth it. Sorry for the long post.
This is my first thread here. Thanks to everyone who posts stuff here, your insights are invaluable. In the last few weeks I've been using this forum a lot, as a proud new owner of a 94 toyota pickup. I wanna run down some of the work I've done and some of issues I'm still having and see if there is any advice.
First off, I haven't owned a car in 13 years and only in the last few weeks have I ventured into car ownership. I did all my own work on cars growing up, and still own a fair selection of tools, however I can't say I've put quite as much work into the vehicle I now own. I bought a 4-cyl, 2-wheel drive pickup for pretty cheap. I live in Arizona and it's amazing what people will sell these things for (like 30+ year old trucks for 8000 bucks!) I figured 2000 was fair to pay for a vehicle that just had the head gasket, water pump and timing chain redone with about 150,000 miles. It was sitting, for many years, and thus didn't have many miles, although plenty of sun damage and rotting rubber.
First thing I did was pay for 4-new tires, cause the old ones were ridiculously rotted. The exhaust to was almost nonexistent so new cat, muffler, and o2 sensor, right off the bat. I then replaced the brakes and a lot of rubber stuff, mainly vacuum lines. Drove it around a couple days. Then, I had an electrical failure. It wouldn't start. After testing the battery, starter, fuses, ignition switch, and clutch position switch I realized it was a bad wire! However, while the truck was sitting, undriven, the coolant leaked out of the engine, from the valve-cover gasket. So it appeared my new venture into car ownership had a significant hurdle: rebuilding the top of the engine. But thanks to some youtube and this forum, I pulled it off. Well, it was two days of my life I'll never get back, but yeah, got the head resurfaced at a machine shop and pressure tested. It tested fine. I got new bolts too.
In putting the thing back together there were a couple hiccups. First off, I had no oil-pan gasket. I siliconed it. Of course, then when it started up, it leaked coolant from under the water pump. So I loosened some bolts and siliconed it more. Seems to be holding? Any experience with this? Should I just redo the timing cover and the oil pan gakset?
Second, from the get go, the thing never held a good idle. Of course, the busted head-gasket was to blame, (it would surge like crazy) but even now, it kind of decides to hold an idle at a different speed like depending on if it's sitting or moving, or slanted uphill or downhill, I haven't figured it out? Sometime it idles low (like 500rpm) and sometimes a little over 1000. Seems to have a mind of its own (at full op temp). I replaced the TPS sensor and cleaned the heck out of the intake and throttle body, including the IAC. Could it have something to do with the timing of the motor?
Finally, the oil pressure gauge consistently gave me a low reading. I replaced the oil pump with the head job, figuring that was the culprit. Still getting a low reading. I realized the gauge's wire was ripped. Redid that. Still getting low gauge readings. Should I be concerned? It reads low until I'm at like 2500-3000 rpms. Doesn't seem to be leaking any oil right now? Is it a busted gauge? Of course there are plenty of other jobs still to do (leaky fuel gauge gasket on gas tank, paint, busted mirror) but I'm just trying to get the major stuff done. I've driven this thing about 100 miles and put another 1800 bucks into it. Starting to feel down on myself like it was not worth it. Sorry for the long post.
