Charchee

Wonderful work! Congratulations! That project is something to hang your hat on. Really impressive in both your ingenuity and commitment. Seriously, you should be extremely proud of yourself. Link to this thread in your resume and you'll get any job you ever apply for.

mbomberz1

Thanks buddy! Really appreciate your help along the way and offering to double check things on your trucks. Was great to have the helping hand.

I also have more good news today, I got the last of my monitors to complete and made my appointment with the California Bureau of Automotive Repair for March 1st.



Also put in a new MAF sensor, as the two I have had some serious miles on them. While the truck was running pretty good, after I put the new MAF in, I have no more hesitation on startup, pulls smoother and idles better. Totally worth the 75$. Though I am not proud of the running bill at this point.. but whats another 75 after all of that?

I do have a weird squeak/squeal noise coming from my bell housing, I think it might be my throwout bearing. I made a separate thread about it here: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...ything-299010/

mbomberz1

Round 1 at the California Referee.. I failed, but not for any reason I have ever seen documented. I passed the visuals, exhaust, emissions, matching parts and monitors. Apparently there is another new step that is being enforced just 'recently' that requires engine changes to also provide documentation verified by a toyota dealer that the ECU is running a stock toyota flash. This was news to me and honestly the whole thing was pretty confusing. The referee was really cool about it though and complimented all the work I had done. After two trips to the ref and to the dealer I finally have some 'official' proof that my ecu is a toyota one. The problem I ran into after the first trip to the dealer after hearing this news form the ref was that the 99 ECU is too old and does not contain information that the state is looking for. So they did their best and basically printed out a blank diagnostic sheet that I went back and showed the ref. It wasnt good enough, after the Ref called his regional manager I find out that they wanted to see matching data in the ecu regarding, CAL CVN, eVIN and CAL ID. The data present in my ECU should should match stock data. I dont know anything about ECU flashing or reprogramming and I dont know for sure but it sounds like this data would be present on most 2000+ years, but since mine was too old and did not contain this information. The ref called up the dealer and explained what they needed to see and that if the info wasnt present, they needed to write up a document on toyota invoice paperwork saying the data does not exist in the ECU, and to the best of their knowledge it is a toyota ECU for the engine.

Thankfully everyone I actually dealt with today, the Ref, the service guys at the dealer and the other techs were all really cool and helpful, it is just too bad that there is another hoop to jump through and that I have to schedule another appointment, wait 2 more weeks and try it over again.

So if your in CA right now doing your swap, I would highly advise you call up the state and ask them about this, what information they want you to get and what to tell the dealer because the dealers I talked to on the phone had no idea what I was talking about. Like I was speaking another language.

Truck is running good though! iv got about 400 miles on it now and its feeling stronger than ever.

mbomberz1

Round 2 at the California Referee.. I failed again. This time they had trouble with their scanner keeping connection to my RPM output through my OBD port. When they would start the dyno runs my RMP would drop to 0 randomly failing the test. Really frustrating. To make it worse, he said that if it didn't pass today (before he tested it) that I would have to redo my exhaust down the passenger side. They were letting me slide because they had record of me asking about the driver side originally, but they have changed the rules back again apparently. Pretty bummed out about it all, not sure what else to do except for running a dedicated ground to the kick panel from the battery, re-soldering all the OBD wires and trying to clean the contacts in the OBD connector. The weird thing is my Ultragauge and scanner have no issues that I have seen, i get constant RPM readings with no dropping on any readings that I can tell.

Going to go back with out fixing my exhaust and hope he passes me. If not, I will have to call up the state and talk to someone higher up, it doesn't seem right to me that I can get a verified answer from CA that the driver drop is ok, then have them change their mind on me.

goaticus

Looking into the same swap in CA. I'll be following your updates. Thanks for all the good info. I do have the same issue not seeing many of the photos. It is consistent within posts; all the pics in the post work or none of the pics in the post work. I gave up trying to link to pics from my google acct a long time ago and found this super simple site an easy solution. http://photo-hosting.winsoftmagic.com/

mbomberz1

You are very welcome, and thanks for the hosting link, I will have to check it out. Though I am not too excited about trying to relink everything!

Good news, I got my sticker today. I am not 100% sure if I resolved the RPM signal that I was having an issue with on my 2nd test, but there was no problems today and I passed the smog test no problem. What I ended up doing was trying to shield the signal wire really well with a grounded aluminum foil wrap around that wire. I also resoldered the connections and just did some general double checking of everything.

As for the most current status of the crossover. It doesnt sound like it is legal to go down the driver side in CA again. The only reason I was able to pass is because they had record of me getting approval before they changed the rules again. So plan on setting up your exhaust down the passenger side. I would still trying to call up the ref prior to doing the exhaust and see if you could get some clarification about it and possible approval? Who knows, but its worth a shot.

Charchee

Awesome! You should have made a copy of your sticker to hang on your wall.

I've been back at working on mine the last few days. Starting the wiring adventure.

mbomberz1

Well its been a year with the swap and things have been great. I have just about 10k miles on the engine now and it is running good, with a few possible things I would like to sort out but have not been able to solve and are fairly minor. Other good news is that I just passed my first smog test outside of the bar and got my registration for 2018, that was relieving.

1. I have been paying close attention to my AFR, vacuum and fuel trims. I think i might have a small vacuum leak that I have not been able to diagnose. At idle my Long fuel trim is around 12-15, around 10 at 2500 rpm. When I am under load at 2500+ its fine, short + long averages out close to 0 like it should.
2. I occasionally have a bit of a warm start issue where it kinda stumbles to life if i let it sit for an hour or two and start it back up. Nothing major, but kind of irritating after all the work and parts
3. Hard start after sitting for 3+ days. I feel like this is a fuel priming issue, and might be related to the 3.4 trucks priming the fuel pump for a few seconds before starting (when going to acc on ignition?), which I dont think my truck is setup to do. I just dont know where that logic comes into play and what should be priming if that is the case if not the ECU. Need to research more, just something i feel like I remember reading.

I have replaced, o2 sensors, MAF sensor, Fuel pressure regulator, fuel filter, fuel pump and had the injectors rebuilt, so I am not sure what else would be the issue other than some type of fuel system priming that should happen on a cold start that is not.

My question to you guys who are running 5vz, what do your long fuel trims look like, especially curious if you are running the super charger. Wondering if that might be throwing off my idle/low rpm readings. I have tried checking with propane, a sound scope/stethescope and going over most of the top end. I have a new lower intake manifold gasket set that I am going to try next.

Took the old truck up to tahoe a few weeks ago, just flew up those mountain roads!

dntsdad

This is beyond lame. Must be new since I have been through the ref here.

I am getting ready to start another one.

Did you take the ECM itself into the dealer and they plugged that into something? Or the whole vehicle and the accessed the ECM via the OBD2 port?

I'll be working with a 97 Runner ECM so I assuming it will not have the data they are wanting to see. Great.....

mbomberz1

I took the entire vehicle in after it was done, they needed it to be powered up to get any data off it. My best advice would be to try and make a phone appointment with the ref before trying to go in and get verbal clarification, then try to go to the dealer before ever going to the ref in person and see if you can get this documentation taken care of first. Otherwise you will be getting on the ref appointment merry-go-round.

Dont forget, they will probably refuse the driver side exhaust now too.

I dont understand why we cant use tail pipe emissions to determine if the engine is installed properly and exhaust/parts are working correctly for the engine...since that is the entire point of going through CARB is to keep emissions in check. Seems logical to me but what do i know... I am just a citizen and dont work in the government.

dntsdad

I am asking about the information from the dealer about the ECM? You took the whole vehicle and they accessed it via the OBD2, or you just took the ECM and they read it directly from the ECM without a vehicle?

mbomberz1

I took the whole vehicle and they used the OBD2 port to get the information. I think this would be the only way for them to be able to verify it.