87 22RE CAMPER - Runs choppy on startup, warm up runs good, no power when hot.
 

This is actually a Toyota based RV that has a 22RE.
1987 Toyota Dolphin.
(These things are known to have a top speed of about 60-65 mph on a flat road)

I'm thinking I could possibly have a bad 02 sensor or a combo of a couple things.

Symptoms:
Runs rough on start up. Does not like to be cold.
If I put it in Reverse in about 10 seconds of cold start, it will stall.
If I put it in Reverse in about 30 seconds of cold start, it will go into gear and run very choppy. Low RPMS. If I give it gas it will back up.
If I warm it up and give it a little gas for a minute from a cold start, the chop is way less and I don't worry about it stalling backing it out of the driveway.

I put it in D, still slightly choppy. Then I drive it down the street for 1/4 mile and all seems fine driving. I get to a stop sign the chop is 50% less, but noticeable.

If I drive it another 1/3 mile to the next stop sign, chop is gone.

So OBVIOUSLY it likes being warm.

After it is warm it drives really good. I go 55-60, no problems. Cruising along... regretting cussing at this RV & making friends with it again.

Then I decide to test it a bit. I turn down a side street with a 30mph limit. I take it up a fairly steep grade hill for about 1/4th of a mile. It's out of OD the entire time.

Truck slows down going up as expected.

I have to floor it, tranny kicks down nice, and I make it up this hill at about 20mph floored for the last 100 yards. Never really going below 20mph or above once it slows to it as expected.

I do a U-Turn, drive down the hill to get back on the highway.

THIS IS WHEN THE PROBLEM HAPPENS

I get on the highway and the engine seems very weak. It sounds a bit different too almost like if somebody wrapped several bed comforters around the motor.

I give it some gas and it accelerates weakly, but is not working nearly as well as it was after I backed it out of my driveway and all the way to the hill which is about 3 miles off.

It's just weak. Shifts are there & kickdown works, revs seem there but weaker, but there is a "muffled cotton like underwater" sound that seems to dilute the normal sound of the engine revs and is especially apparent when I floor it.

The only things I can think of are:
02 sensor
Overheating tranny? I do have a cooler arriving in the mail soon - a nice large one. (it has a tiny stock cooler)
EGR
Would a temp sensor have anything to do with this?

All of the major tune up stuff is already changed. Oil is good, Tranny fluid is good. New Cat, muffler, dist cap, rotor, sp wires, plugs, coil, clean Throttle body, good valve adjust...

Thanks in advance!

How's the timing? Have you changed the fuel filter? Could be a little starved for fuel. The cold start problem could be lots of things, you can check the cold start timer and the cold start injector to make sure they are working. Also, you can use a multimeter to check the AFM just to make sure it is reading properly so the ECU can adjust the fuel. o2 sensor really shouldn't matter when cold, but certainly could affect warm operation. Since you really are having trouble at both cold and warm, I would start with the fuel filter, check the AFM, check the cold start stuff and then see where you're at.

Good luck.

Any trouble codes showing up? did you check the ECT - Engine Coolant Temperature sensor? Page EG1-209 of the FSM.

Almost eight years later, I hope he managed to get it fixed.

Ooops, not enough coffee yet.

Sure why not...
 

Classic sign of a bad idle valve.
Followed by.
Classic sign of exhaust collapse, cat/muffler overheated.

Paul22RE,
We have related discussion on rough-low idle after warm start somewhere. Related to vaporized fuel in lines.
Have you checked fuel pressure when that happens? Something to do with the idle-up VSV (or ECU coolant temp sender) I showed on another thread.
IF no fuel pressure gage, IMMEDIATELY as it happens, try disconnecting vacuum line that goes between FPR diaphragm and VSV. That increases fuel pressure, and normalize RPM.