Well yeah, that was everyone's thought. He says all the marks line up, hence the curiosity of what else would be causing it.

 

OK I have an update, finally had some time to work on it. Pulled it apart so I could pull the heads, Made a cam tool to take the pulleys off, and it worked great, and I found the PROBLEM!!!!! the dowel that pins the cam to the pulley was sheared allowing the pulley to rotate about a quarter of an inch. Now I need to figure out how to get the rest of the pin out of the camshaft. I'm going to try and post some pics have to figure out how first.
Another question is when I did a leakdown on the cylinders all the valves seemed to hold ok i turned the cam while i was putting air in but when both valves were closed it still leaked air really fast probably past the rings, couldn't tell where the piston was in relation to tdc and the engine was cold and had sat for a couple weeks before testing. Now should I still pull the heads or just get a new pulley and try to ez out the pin. My guess is they didn't tighten the bolt enough when the previous owner had the heads done.
So here is how this nightmare appeared to have happened CSI style. Small bolt that holds on the timing belt cover fell down inside lower cover while yahoo that did the head job was putting everything back together. ran for a few thousand miles when the bolt decided to come out of its hiding spot and wedge itself between the lower pulley the belt and the lower cover, causing the weakest point the passenger side dowel pin to shear and maybe the timing belt to skip, but now thinking about it I don't think the belt skipped at all just the pin sheared. And viola pain in my ass for the last 2 months or so.

 

Lets see if this pic works

 

So, indeed that cam appears to have been out-of-time. I suspected such when I asked the question back in post #6 just did not figure it was an apparent mechanical failure.
Good luck.

 

luckyfor me my buddy has a parts motor to pull the gear off. just have to get the rest of the pin out of the camshaft thing looks welded in there. any ideas?

 

just spent the last 3 hours with the smallest chisel and small hammer I could find trying to get the broken part of the pin out of the camshaft. the one I got from the other motor just fell out this one fused itself to the front of the camshaft. The best drill bits I had didn't even put a dent in it. Now it's time to start putting it all back together. CROSSED FINGERS and start it up.

 

good luck

 

Well the nightmare never ends spent the day putting everything back together started right up and ran fine for about a minute and the cel came on its 52 again new sensor and pigtail. I also have a question I don't think I have all the vac lines on the passenger side right took pictures of before with my cell and they got erased, the large and small tubes that come out of the intake that look like it's a check valve I don't have anything running to them i just plugged them up but I remember 1 hose being on it atleast. could someone send me a pic of how the hoses are run. I thought they all had hoses when i pulled it apart now it looks like i'm short 2 of the larger hoses not the smaller diameter ones. Help please.

 

Then there has to be a wiring short in your harness between the ECU & pigtail.

 

X2 on the wiring short. Replaced mine with some coax cable all the way to the ECM.

 

Dumb question (and maybe I missed it) but with all of your frustration - have you taken a moment to clear the old codes? Easy to overlook something that simple and make yourself freak out.

 

Thanks so much that's perfect last night I was so tired and pissed off and all my searching just showed the fsm diagrams of the small hoses. Any particular way you ran the coax and did you wrap it with anything like wire loom . Any pics? Also I want to redo all the hoses with silicone hoses anyone have a source or know the proper diameters that are needed

 

Yeah I pulled the efi fuse everytime, started it up runs great pull out of driveway and cell pops on and runs like crap. Always 52 always kills the timing and runs rich. Atleast its running and I can tell the mechanical part is good now after tearing it down 3 times. Take care of the hoses and the wire and hopefully it will run long enough for me to find a 3.4 to swap or put in the 2uz that I have

 

Ok update have all vac lines correct adjusted timing and runs good until knock kicks in at 2k rpm. i have a good used knock sensor and new pigtail installed. I thought maybe the wire to the ecm was bad so I bypassed it with some shielded wire still throwing code 52 as soon as you hit 2k rpm. I am so freaking pissed.... I started looking at the ecm and it didn't look right. it was screwed to the floor with 2 brackets that didn't look stock and neither did the 2 sheetmetal screws from ace hardware.
So I type the part number into google and 89 pops up as the year code, well mine is a 90 and the part number for a 90 appears to be totaly different... I don't know what is keeping me from BLOWING this 4runner up.

Now should this computer work in this 4runner? does it need to be mounted a certain way or grounded to anything special. Im trying to figure out what to do next should i look for an ecm or can I have this one checked it has been taken apart so i pulled the cover off and everything appears good no burn marks or anything, seems like a simple circuit board to fix for someone that knows what they are doing. HELP HELP I"M GOING CRAZY WITH THIS THING.

 

Im pretty certian 89 and 90 ecm's are not the same. Different injectors and such.

 

Yeah looking at the part numbers it looks like the one I have is for a 2wd pick up? The one I need would be for a 90 3.0 MT 4x4 I guess I really don't need the 4x4 as I'm removing the front diff and it will be 2wd with the 4x4 trans and transfer.
If someone could find me the correct part number that would be great.I am looking on ebay at some used ones I want to be able to return it if it doesn't work.

 

wish thing can be different engings without chips or computer
rember KISS?
Keep It Simple Stupid

 

Code 52 - With engine speed between 1,600 rpm – 5,200 rpm, signal from knock sensor is not input to ECM for 6 revolution.
How do you know the used knock sensor is good? Are you getting a signal at the KNK port on the ECM? Remember, it throws the 52 when the ECM does not receive a signal as mentioned above. Did you torque the knock sensor when you installed it? Did you replace the wiring pigtail? Have you tried bolting a knock sensor to the engine hook, and connecting the wiring there. There are a few write ups on here about doing this, and it may save your sanity.

 

Yes I have done all of that and bypassed the wire in the harness also.

 

well been driving it for a month got about 90 good miles with the cel off, then back to code 52 I'm going to get a new knocksensor and see if that helps. Weird thing is it is running rich and has crappy power yet i'm getting almost 20 mpg I have 31's on it and getting 290 miles to 15 gallons I figure closer to 20 with the percentage of error because of the tires. just put factory cap rotor and wires on it, see if it has any effect tomorrow.