miceal383

Well that was what the mechanic said and his reasoning partly for saying just get it running good. Might do well to mention he's my cousin and while he is an excellent mechanic he hasn't worked on a 3vze in years and hasn't done anything but work on generators in the field for too long. But he has good input, but like me if this was a SBC it would be easy. I do have a mechanic but he's young and while he knows a lot he's inexperienced in some ways, and it's not a large town, coupled with this being my only vehicle and it's 90 in the shade except there is none where I'm working, so I have had to learn and the hard way at that while avoiding heat stroke.
This aside I did check the balancer today and when it's cog is at TDC the balancer does read zero on the timing marks. So it isn't broken. The new belt had the same marks except the one on the bottom that went next to the dot on the bottom of the crankshaft. So I just pulled as hard as possible to remove all slack from the drivers side and pulled the pin in the tensioner. Just in time for work I put everything back together (I hope) and now it has power like it did. I can drive with the parking brake on. Before if I forgot, forget about it, it usually died.

so some good I think. It didn't register any temp increase for some time then it started to overheat fast. I take it the engine had no water and the radiator didn't supply enough. Stupid mistakes in this heat. Also it fired right up, later I realized the rotor was still advanced from the last belt "redo" I'll call it. So I'm concerned there. But at least I now know that the Damn power (lightly used for a 3vze) is still there.

. I will be checking the timing later with my inductive and old school timing light. May pull the distributor and retard a tooth and check then if it will run. TPS should arrive soon, and I'll keep posting.

postmortem, I don't know how common it is but certainly enough that I found story upon story with the same issues with such ease it certainly seems pretty common. Or not uncommon. I believe there were threads titled "anyone else lose all power after head gasket job" and lots like it. None really offered answers for me but I thought it noteworthy.

miceal383

Well that was what the mechanic said and his reasoning partly for saying just get it running good. Might do well to mention he's my cousin and while he is an excellent mechanic he hasn't worked on a 3vze in years and hasn't done anything but work on generators in the field for too long. But he has good input, but like me if this was a SBC it would be easy. I do have a mechanic but he's young and while he knows a lot he's inexperienced in some ways, and it's not a large town, coupled with this being my only vehicle and it's 90 in the shade except there is none where I'm working, so I have had to learn and the hard way at that while avoiding heat stroke.
This aside I did check the balancer today and when it's cog is at TDC the balancer does read zero on the timing marks. So it isn't broken. The new belt had the same marks except the one on the bottom that went next to the dot on the bottom of the crankshaft. So I just pulled as hard as possible to remove all slack from the drivers side and pulled the pin in the tensioner. Just in time for work I put everything back together (I hope) and now it has power like it did. I can drive with the parking brake on. Before if I forgot, forget about it, it usually died.

so some good I think. It didn't register any temp increase for some time then it started to overheat fast. I take it the engine had no water and the radiator didn't supply enough. Stupid mistakes in this heat. Also it fired right up, later I realized the rotor was still advanced from the last belt "redo" I'll call it. So I'm concerned there. But at least I now know that the Damn power (lightly used for a 3vze) is still there.

. I will be checking the timing later with my inductive and old school timing light. May pull the distributor and retard a tooth and check then if it will run. TPS should arrive soon, and I'll keep posting.

postmortem, I don't know how common it is but certainly enough that I found story upon story with the same issues with such ease it certainly seems pretty common. Or not uncommon. I believe there were threads titled "anyone else lose all power after head gasket job" and lots like it. None really offered answers for me but I thought it noteworthy.

miceal383

Knew I saw postmortem in there. Post note. Phones.

miceal383

Well that was what the mechanic said and his reasoning partly for saying just get it running good. Might do well to mention he's my cousin and while he is an excellent mechanic he hasn't worked on a 3vze in years and hasn't done anything but work on generators in the field for too long. But he has good input, but like me if this was a SBC it would be easy. I do have a mechanic but he's young and while he knows a lot he's inexperienced in some ways, and it's not a large town, coupled with this being my only vehicle and it's 90 in the shade except there is none where I'm working, so I have had to learn and the hard way at that while avoiding heat stroke.
This aside I did check the balancer today and when it's cog is at TDC the balancer does read zero on the timing marks. So it isn't broken. The new belt had the same marks except the one on the bottom that went next to the dot on the bottom of the crankshaft. So I just pulled as hard as possible to remove all slack from the drivers side and pulled the pin in the tensioner. Just in time for work I put everything back together (I hope) and now it has power like it did. I can drive with the parking brake on. Before if I forgot, forget about it, it usually died.

so some good I think. It didn't register any temp increase for some time then it started to overheat fast. I take it the engine had no water and the radiator didn't supply enough. Stupid mistakes in this heat. Also it fired right up, later I realized the rotor was still advanced from the last belt "redo" I'll call it. So I'm concerned there. But at least I now know that the Damn power (lightly used for a 3vze) is still there.

. I will be checking the timing later with my inductive and old school timing light. May pull the distributor and retard a tooth and check then if it will run. TPS should arrive soon, and I'll keep posting.

postnote, I don't know how common it is but certainly enough that I found story upon story with the same issues with such ease it certainly seems pretty common. Or not uncommon. I believe there were threads titled "anyone else lose all power after head gasket job" and lots like it. None really offered answers for me but I thought it noteworthy.

miceal383

Okay, had a lot going on so my truck took a backseat for a bit. Thankfully my last time resetting the timing belt, though it puts the timing mark off during any attempt to use a timing light whether inductie or direct inline, it does run much better. I finally followed the instructions and started focusing on the TPS, and ultimately I purchased a beck arnley replacement. First off the throttle is catching on the new tps when the connector is plugged in. I dont understand this as it's the same dimensions as the original. At any rate the first time I installed it I really thought I had gotten somewhere, only to find days later I never plugged it in.

Now using a dremel I have made room so the throttle does not catch anymore, and I installed allen drive machine screws so I can adjust the tps quickly. What I am experiencing now is overall it runs best with the tps unplugged. By overall I mean it doesnt miss, lurch, bogg down or cut out at any place. At the same time being in safe mode it idles very high and lacks power at low speeds and any passing speed or power. It's not very responsive to the throttle, for obvious reason. With the tps plugged in, whether old or the new one, it will actually act as though the timing were off, but it must be the fuel mixture. It has more power, idles smoother, and is responsive to the throttle. However it will miss, sometimes bog down from a stop especially when warmed up, and depending on the placement it will reliably cut out at anything above what feels like half throttle.

Unfortunately I currently live in an apartment complex that sits right on the second busiest road in town, an since I live in Tahlequah Oklahoma it's solid hills everywhere. This is making it hard for me too adjust the tps and test drive it safely. I have to cross the four lane main road to get to a relatively small area of flat residential area to drive around somewhat safely in case it acts crazy which it does. Am I really looking at a tps problem and is there any experienced advice on how I might procede better. It's seems so close to finally running well. If not perfect at least good, but only if I can fix this last ( I hope) issue.

Dans91_yota

Might want to also check mass air flow sensor that can cause the bogging or lunge or over rev. That's what happened to me on my Xterra. But I also am rebuilding my heads on my 91 pickup. Hope you get things figured out

superex87

1. You seem to have the mechanical timing set right.

2. It can be a little tricky getting the dist. timing right. the leading edge of the rotor should be just almost making contact with the #1 plug wire post. Rotor spins clockwise.

3. You can only set the timing if the tps is happy and in idle mode. Tps has 4 wires, one of these wires tells the ecu to idle. Adjust tps according to the factory service manual. It can not be adjusted by feel. The engine idle speed will slow when you jump e1 and te1, this tells you the ecu has stopped messing with the timing. I have a feeling the msd ignition is causing you some problems here.

4. Engine building advice. Do not add performance parts to an engine unless you have seen it run properly with the factory parts. This eliminates the new performance parts as the cause of your problems.

4a. When making modifications do one at a time. This way you can be sure that the part you just changed is indeed working the way it should and significantly cuts down on time spent trouble shooting. I know it is hard to stay focused on one thing but it will pay for itself once the project is finished. This is the advice I wish someone had told me when I first started working on cars/trucks. Would have made my life so much easier and saved me lots of money on parts I replaced that did not need replacing.