Hello YotaTech! It is good to be back behind the wheel of an old Toyota truck. I recently purchased a 1980 Toyota Pickup from the original owner!


This truck ran absolutely flawlessly for the first month of ownership. Like 3 hour drives twice in 1 weekend, no problem. I even drove it to work every day for 3 weeks straight. Scary good! Last week the truck developed an intermittent slight stumble at about 1500 RPM and a loud backfire when decelerating from highway speeds. The backfire seemed to get slightly worse over the following few days until it gave one load backfire and the distributor seized causing this:


After cleaning out all of the debris, I pulled a camshaft gear and distributor off a 1983 Celica with 22RE. Since the distributor plugs between the 20R and 22RE are different, I pulled the pickup coil out of the old seized distributor and put it in the 22RE distributor and re-gapped to about 0.012”. I also replaced the cap and rotor with a new one for 20R.

After getting the timing set to 8° BTDC, the truck will act like it wants to fire up, but just won’t run. Another weird symptom is the coil and igniter assembly gets really hot when the key is in the “run” position.

Here is what I’ve tried:
- Moving the plug wires across from each other (ensuring timing isn’t 180° out)
- Making sure the truck has spark (it does, although it seems weak)
- Checked plug gap. All good.
- Checked coil resistance (checks good)
- Put a new coil in it anyways. Still won’t run.
- Hard wired the coil to the battery (eliminating the ballast resistor) Still won’t run.
- Checked ignition switch was working for other components with switched power.
- Moving the distributor forward a tooth (truck won’t even try to run)
- Moving the distributor back a tooth (truck won’t even try to run)
- Putting gas in the carb to rule out a fuel issue
- Triple checked timing with timing light
- Checked pickup coil resistance (checks good per repair manual)
- Checked voltage at coil <- this is where I think my issue lies.

The voltage at the coil seems low, 10 volts on 1 side and 2 volts on the other. My next step is to bench test the igniter per the repair manual and replace it if necessary. I’ve heard that the bench tests are often inconclusive. I don’t want to throw parts at it in case I’m missing something obvious, which is why I’m coming to the experts!

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

did you stab the distributor in @ TDC ? plug # 1 ... sounds like your out 180*

 

I'm not positive since it's been a long time since I've had a 22RE, but I think timing on a 22RE is controlled by the computer. The 22R probably has a different pickup and an advance system in the distributor.

Edit, I re-read your post and I see you swapped in the original pickup. I still don't think you will have and advance system in the 22RE distributor. Let us know what you find out. Dead end threads suck.

Nice looking truck!