I have a new to me '95 4runner (3vze 150k miles) that I bought off of facebook marketplace. The previous owner mentioned the transmission was going out and I was prepared to either rebuild, buy a new A340H, or manual swap it, but now I'm not so sure its even the transmission thats wrong and I'm kind of at a loss of what to do so I would appreciate any help. I'll try to be as specific as I can regarding the symptoms.

The most blatant 2 are that it has absolutely no power uphill - goes about 1mph up any significant incline, and that it seems to top out at about 30 to 35 mph.

I tested it with the solenoid harness unplugged and still same symptoms. Then I did a stall test in drive and reverse and it gave rpms about 1k under spec (which points to a bad torque converter?)

Before I went about messing any more with the transmission I wanted to make sure it wasn't an engine power issue. In general, the car won't rev past 3.5k rpms and I'm not sure if thats normal - from the reading I've done some people say it is while others say its too low and it should be able to rev higher even in park.

I tested fuel pressure and it seems good at a little over 40 psi and it also holds when the engine is turned off. The catalytic converter also doesn't seem to be a problem because I took it off to see if it was the issue and I still couldn't rev past 3.5k. I also tested maf sensor and when unplugged it stalled the engine so I think its also working fine. Tps is also adjusted to spec and the car idles fine at about 800 rpm.

There does seem to be a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust (pretty sure not a blown head gasket because it was just rebuilt by previous owner and theres no burning coolant smell) and a slight smell of fuel in the engine bay.

Thank you for taking to the time to read and I would appreciate any insight

 

Yep, no way it's a head gasket. It was just rebuilt -- just before he dumped sold it.

You should be able to get more than 3500 rpm no-load. Start with the easy stuff. Put your hand in the exhaust. Does it feel wet? Oily? Smell like fuel? It's a coolant leak/oil leak/over-rich, and could easily be the head gasket. How does the oil and coolant look? Does the oil smell like gasoline? Does the coolant have specs floating in it? Do a compression test on all cylinders. Are they all w/i 10psi? Check the timing with a timing light.

Good luck.

 

It was probably put back together with the timing belt off a tooth on one cam or the other, or both.