thefishguy77

iTrader: (1)

I just finished a timing chain (engnbldr) head gasket job on my 93 22re. I have had a hard time getting it timed. checked to make sure my bright likes are on. When I got it all ready to stab the distributor. I origanly put the v notch on the pulley at zero on the oil pump mark. Stabbed it the the notched gear finishing just on the left side and the rotor lined up at 10 o-clock. started it and it idled first fine and a high idle around 2K rpm's, but when it went to come off of fast idle started to lope or buck. I shut it off and reread a lot. I then pulled the distributor and brought it back to tdc on the compression stroke, but stopped at the 5 deg mark on the pump. Stabbed the distributor again lining up the notched tooth and having the rotor finish at 10 O-clock. checked to make sure the valves where loose (ie.) movable. Put it back together and started it. ran smother but when warm it wants to idle to low around 800 rpm's and it idled high before I tore it apart, around 1100 rpms when warm.

I now have a exhaust leak from disconnecting the manifold from the exhaust pipe that I will try and get fixed tomorrow by just getting my header put on at the exhaust shop. Would the exhaust leak of significant size cause the idle problems due to lack of proper back pressure. Did I get a vacuum hose wrong? shooting in the dark here let me know any ideas the Toyota Gods have. thanks

abecedarian

Engine idle speed and timing should be set with the engine fully warmed up. So if it idles low when warm, you can raise the idle with the screw on TOP of the throttle body, not the small set screw on the linkage to the side of the throttle body.
However....
I don't know where you are or how cold it is, but cold idle can be above 2000 but should come down fairly quick. It is controlled by the valve under the throttle body, which in turn reacts to your coolant temperature. Obviously, on warm days it should cold idle lower than when started on cold days. If it's relatively warm outside, as in above 65F outside and the engine cold starts and idles at 2000, I would be checking for vacuum leaks, particularly around the valve cover, PCV and such. Such leaks would also explain why the warm idle is erratic- there's air getting around the air-flow meter.

Generally speaking, the distributor rotor should line up at around 11, not 10. That may be irrelevant if you can get the ignition timing set to what the sticker under the hood says (should be 5 BTDC) with the jumper in the diagnostic check connector.

An exhaust leak, generally, will not appreciably affect your idle speed. It would have to be a major leak, and even then wouldn't change your idle much unless you had severely restricted exhaust flow such as a seriously plugged catalytic converter. But if that were the case, you'd have a hard time reaching 2000 rpm at idle.

thefishguy77

iTrader: (1)

Thank you for the response. I went over it with carb cleaner looking for leaks and found that where the (egr?) bolts on the the back of the upper manifold had a small air leak. Got that fixed and that solved the erratic idle and most of the noise. Now for the embarrassing part. Of the two pipes that run across the back of the block, the one that runs from the exhaust to the bottom the the intake side I kinda forgot, (ok I did forget) to hook that up on the intake side. .
I feel like I am an idiot but my pride is long gone. So for my long winded question. Can I remove that bolt from the pipe bracket to let me line up the pipe and just put the bolt back in to the plate to maintain the seal. thus leaving the pipe attached only at the intake and exhaust and unsupported in the back? I think I have read about other people doing this but I wanted the Toyota Guru's opinion as it is usually based on personal experience.
Sorry for the long winded question.

P.S. Thanks for making my title to the original post appropriate for the question.