22re vapor lock?! HELP!
 

ok so i am working on my friends 88 toy 22re. it start and drives when its cold but once you put a load on it like reving the engine or trying to climb a hill it cuts out and dies. we changed the fuel filter and tuned up the timing is good and we drained the gas tank and put fresh gas in it. it'll idle forever but like i said once you put a load on it trys to die you let of on the gas and it rough idles back to life and idles smooth again.

that is a common problem with bad ground wire, you should check all grounds and be double sure the grounds are good.

Running on 3 cylinders?
AFM no good?
When idling the engine should hardly move. If it is rocking you might have a bad cylinder, fuel or spark. If it is idling then most likly your fuel pump is good.
Bad coil?

I don't have much to offer other than have you checked to make sure you have a vented gas cap and it's working? I had this issue on a Ford 422 and it turned out the dang cap wasn't venting. I tired everything from putting moth balls in the tank to hanging clothes pins on the fuel lines (grandfathers advice.......).

i was thinking it was bad coil and then i got to thinking and maybe it could be a small kink in the fuel line or something. from replacing the fuel filter. the fuel lines have good pressure on both sides of the lines. it has good spark

Had this problem, but with a small difference. When you first start it in the morn or after it has cooled down for a few hours, does it run like it should even when revving? Then after it warms up anything above idle will kill it like it's starved for fuel?

If so.....get a TOYOTA fuel pump. The aftermarket fuel pumps have a flaw in that they create an air bubble when they warm up and send it down the line. This decreases the suction effect and starves your motor for fuel.

SEE HERE

that is almost exactly whats going on it was sitting for a day or 2 we started it up and it ran fine then we went to go up the hill and it dies. so we went to town to get fresh gas( the gas that was in it was from an old gas can) we got back it started up and it revved perfect then when you pressed on the gas it hesitated and then revved and then shortly after it you press the gas and it would idle rough and die.

On my v6, I had vapor lock type symptoms (runs fine in the winter, dies when worked hard when it's hot). It was a heat-soaked coil/ignitor.

Both times :(

Still sounds like you are missing a cylinder. These engine will rev out good and idle missing a cylinder but as soo as you load it up you feel it. I just had a bad #4 injector on mine. The injetor was not working at all. It would idle but rock a bit, go to rev and it would rev after a bit of a stumble but seamed to run okay. I could pull my number 4 plug wire and the engine would not change. I could also unplug the injector and it would not change. Toyota's run pretty good missing a cylinder:)

huh it did start with the #3 plug wire off and it idled with out it too i guess i ll test the injector. could the injector still be bad if its getting the 12v pulse?

Yes. Mine was stuck. If you can reach the pins in the injector you can just run a wire from your battery + to one pin and - to the other and just touch to the battery. The injector should click every time you touch. I had an old wiring harnes and used the actual plug because they are hard to get at. No click means no good. You will hear it as they are pretty loud.

You should have 12V on both wires going to the injector with the key turned on. The ECU just grounds one to make it fire.

i am going to dig into it TM i am freakin burnt out on this thing and ready for a little liquid courage

In general, EFI engines do not experience vapor lock since the fuel pump supplies more pressure than the system needs and the excess is diverted back to the tank thus recirculating fuel and consequently preventing the fuel in the lines near the manifold from boiling. The only potential point for boiling in the fuel system is between the fuel rail and the injector.

So, on to the symptoms:
-"runs and drives fine cold": to me that means you can start the engine and floor it and it runs fine.
-"put a load on it... it cuts out and dies": I'd assume that you mean when the engine's warmed up and you try to drive that any significant throttle causes sputtering and maybe the engine stalls.

First thing I'd do is check that the timing was set properly. You can't just put a timing light on it and set the timing. You have to put the ECU into diagnostics mode (with a jumper between the TE1 and E1 terminals in the diagnostic connector behind the battery) in order to set the timing. If you don't do that, you will end up with timing that is way off and will cause issues with the engine running under load.
After that is verified, check for any cracks in the duct from the throttle body over to the air filter. Then I'd check that the little flapper (vane) in the air flow meter moved smoothly / wasn't sticking.

Just to chime in.

1. AFM or Mass Flow: if this goes, nothing works. It sends info in mass to the ECU, you would get results across the board. So its doing its job..whatever that is. HAHA (Say that as Ive dealt with cranky AFm's)

2. Running on only 3 cylinders: You wouldn't experience running smooth at idle and then dead at throttle.

My guess its a fuel issue. Whether computer or line....your bogging down. I wonder if your injectors are clogged? Or maybe your ECU is messed up sending incorrect fuel?

As for timing. I could see that, just seems odd. When timing is off, ITS OFF. You know, at idle you can tell. If your idle is 600-800 where its supposed to be, timing seems on. You know. When your timing is off, craps is clunking around no matter what the rpm is. Its not like at 1000k suddenly your timing issue kicks in. Its a constant problem.

Advanced timing when at idle is not noticible if the idle speed is correct- since the idle speed would be set with the timing being incorrect.
If you're confused... you can set the idle anywhere (if the engine runs) and adjust the timing to be correct for that idle speed, and vice-versa: set the timing then adjust the idle speed.... you should be confused by now.
If the timing wasn't set as it should be, going off-idle will throw the timing off.
(that's what "diagnostic mode" is for)

so i had a wild hair and changed out the coil and ignitor and she runs like a champ now. thanks all for your help i hope this is the end of the issues for a while

:banger: