texturboII

Whats up everyone?

This is my first post, first 4runner and first major 4runner issue that I couldn't figure out on my own. I've searched all day for answers but I'm stumped. I'm calling in tomorrow to fix this thing as it's my DD at the moment...

Anyways, as of this morning it suddenly has a starting problem. It will start, but only with the pedal floored and then it takes a little throttle play to keep it alive and running on its own. After that it drives fine, no noticeable power loss, no freaky oil pressure, no overheating... just a slight hesitation when cold which has been there since I've owned it.

I've removed the cat and it's fine, there's no fuel coming out of the FPR. I've got fuel and spark since it starts with the pedal floored... so then it's either compression or too much/little fuel, right? I'm checking compression tomorrow as it's getting dark out now.

Any ideas? Thanks ahead of time for the help!

- Al

Chaser Johndoe

Check throttle body and mass air meter.

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

Might want to check the TPS. But it's strange once you get it running it's fine.

superex87

leaking cold start injector? Fits with running bad when cold then warms up and runs fine

texturboII

That's what I'm weirded out by, and why I'm freaked about the head gasket. I just changed the oil on Sunday and it looked good. Looks like I'll be draining a bit of it out to see if there's coolant/water in there.


I'll definitely check everything EFI related tomorrow as well.

To be honest I don't know much about the cold start injector other than where it is on the manifold. Does it squirt on every start? Even warm ones?

HighLux

when was the last good thorough tuneup?

texturboII

That's a good question, actually. I bought it about 4 weeks ago. I replaced the timing belt, water pump, rear-axle seal and had the entire car looked over but everything looked good, so we didn't replace the plug wires or anything. They look new as they sit, but I haven't pulled the plugs yet to see how they are.

HighLux

mmhmm. plugs, wires, oil change, filters, pcv, etc....

I always start with basic tuneup stuff. Be surprised how many turds I have resurrected with a set of plugs.

Chaser Johndoe

tps doesn't mean head gasket. it stands for throttle position sensor. A quick check of the coolant will let you know if it's the head gasket. no need to drain oil.

texturboII

Yea, I know what the TPS is. After reading the internet all day yesterday Head Gasket got stuck into my head. I checked the coolant this morning before heading into work and it looked fine, hadn't lost a drop and no oil floaties.

It's weird, I'm taking the afternoon off (boss said I had to come in for the morning at least, nice guy) and I'm checking compression, swapping plugs and wires, new PCV ohm-ing out the TPS, MAF and ECT, and checking the cold-start valve. I'll keep this updated with the results...

Thanks for the replies guys!

texturboII

Oh yea, I'll replace the ticking FPR as well...

texturboII

Well, It looks like this is an intermittent issue now. This morning I had to floor it to start, then coming home and subsequent starts since have had no problems. Started right up three times now.

Sooooooo, that lends me to lean more towards an electrical issue. Yay! Just got home, I'll be cracking the hood open shortly.

scope103

Sounds like a leaking injector. Overnight, it drips out the residual rail pressure into the cylinder(s), so it's too rich to start. Holding the pedal down admits enough air to lean it out. During the day, it doesn't have long enough to over-rich the cylinder.

texturboII

I'll look into it. However, yesterday it wouldn't start well all day and today it's been fine all day. Weird...


So, I changed all the plugs out and while removing all the vac lines on the passenger side to get a clear shot at the (#1?) spark plug all the way in back I notice that a few were brittle and cracked. I replaced those as well and it seems to be running just fine. TPS, MAF and ECT spec out just fine according to the FSM, so yea. Still stumped. Hopefully it just needed new plugs, lol.

I didn't get the FPR replaced because it wasn't in stock at the store. No big, serves me right for even thinking of putting anything other than OEM on there. I'll get one ordered here tomorrow and swap it out to rid myself of that damn clicking. Maybe even help out the issue I've had who knows at this point.

I'll keep this thread updated in case the monster rears it's head again.

Gamefreakgc

There's so many vacuum hoses on these silly engines, you might have just had a bad leak that was keeping it from starting up. I'd inspect every hose in that whole engine and makes sure the connections are tight.


You can also use a can of carb cleaner or an UNLIT torch and with the engine running (cold preferred to reduce risk of fire) and spray at the end of each hose and along the air cleaner hose. A change in idle speed up or down means there's a leak.

texturboII

That's great advice. My background as far as cars go mainly deals with rotaries. I've been into RX-7s for years now. I thought that THEY had a lot of vacuum lines, lol! It was somewhat nostalgic and painful at the same time to see another vacuum spider. My experience is to usually kill such things as soon as possible, but this isn't a race car and I still need it to pass inspection for at least 5 years. Ha...

texturboII

Btw, a 13b is a walk in the park to work on compared to this 3vze. Night and day!

Sturmcrow

Did you ever check the cold start injector? It's just a couple of bolts. Pull it out and see if it squirts when you crank the engine.

I also suspect the check valve in your fuel pump. Have you tried jumping the fuel pump connector (I think its FP to B1 in the diagnostic port) and turning the key on for a few seconds to build pressure before you try starting it?

texturboII

I will check the cold start injector this weekend. It's been starting fine as of yesterday and today though. No sign of an issue anymore, weird. The fuel pump / filter / injectors probably deserve a stern looking into.

When I pulled the spark plugs, whoever installed them last torqued them down with the hand of god and had them gaped out beyond .050"... spec is .032", that may have had something to do with it too.

Sunday I'll investigate the fuel system more thoroughly.

texturboII

Well the problem started again, as I expected it would. I'm waiting for a tow back to my house because it isn't starting at all now and I took my tools out last night for some reason. Looks like I'll be diagnosing this again, hopefully ill be able to better discern this issue if it continued to act up tomorrow as well. I'm thinking that since it was starting fine when I inspected the sensors last time i may find something this time. Oh well, Sunday will be another car day for me.