I just finished Installing a rebuilt motor in my 88 4runner 4cyl 5spd. I purchased the motor from Sunwest and couldn't be happier with their service. Everything went along smoothly, I pulled the old motor and swapped all of the necessary parts over. Labeled all of the wires and vacuum hoses so that installing the new motor would be as painless as possible. New injectors, Aisin clutch, new plugs/wires, dist. cap and rotor.

At this point I figured I had this in the bag. Hooked up the battery and pulled the coil wire to prime the oil pump (as per the directions with the rebuilt motor). Reattached the coil wire and it was time for the moment of truth. But it was short lived.

The motor cranks until the cows come home but will not start. It will sputter and just die. Never gets a full rpm under its own power. I've checked the distributor to be lined up with tdc. I've removed the valve cover and checked that the cam is in the right place at tdc. Checked the spark to the plugs, and coil/igniter. The exhaust pipe smells like gasoline so I believe it is getting fuel.

I'm really not sure where to go from here. If any Toyota gods are reading this and would be willing to share their all knowing wisdom, I'm all ears.

Thanks for reading!!

 

Forgot to mention I've also tried starter fluid in the intake/tb and starting with my foot all the way on the gas. Thinking it may be the cold start injector (which was never touched)

 

I removed the upper manifold to find the lower full of gas. I guess these injectors are sticking, or could this be from starting with my foot on the gas?

I've tried calling sunwest engines but had to leave a message. Hopefully they call back soon or someone chimes in here

 

throw away the starting fluid.If you crack a piston sunrise will tell you your out of luck.You have fuel,where is the spark.Coil hooked up correctly?Can you ground it and check for spark.Distrib plugged in?

 

It has spark at all of the plugs, and the coil is sending spark to the dist. Which is also plugged in.

Could an incorrect plug gap cause this?

 

If I was u, i'll try the old dist.cap and rotor. good luck.

 

Edit//// u have spark at the plugs.////

 

sorry.if i had read your post instead of skimming it i would have seen my question answered.you got fuel and spark,gotta be timing off a tooth?I had my motor 180 out and it ran but had no power.You also have to short the timing connector when setting timing on the 92 eng,assume same on yours.I would double check where rotor is pointing when eng is at tdc.I really think your a tooth off.

 

Is the air meter pluged in?

 

The air meter plugin thingy ma dingy gets me every time. I think 3 times I have started it up and it dies immediately. Really makes you loose some sleep when a rebuild won't run. Makes you wish you had never touched it.

 

is the ignition timing correct? #1 cylinder at top dead center, intake and exhaust valves are closed (no pressure on the rocker arms so they have a little wiggle if you move them), and the distributor rotor is pointing at around the 11 o'clock position?

All vacuum hoses are connected, intake tube connected to the AFM, brake booster vacuum line connected....

 

I went through the same issue with my Sunwest motor, it turns out my distributor was 180 degrees off the whole time. Once you get it running you will love it, 18K+ on mine so far.

Video of first startup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrjlMo4dvjA

 

I've made the air meter mistake on my 90 3vz so I made sure not to forget any connectors on this one. I've checked the distributor a million times to be 100% sure it isn't backwards. Checked over all the vacuum lines with no loose ends.

It smells like gas on the plugs and tail pipe. Could the injectors they gave me be sticking? Is there any test I can do to check the injectors

 

Just read through and realized, I never mentioned I ordered the motor with an RV cam. I'm not sure if that's going to make a difference.

 

just changed the motor in my runner and it cranked over and over, found the distributor was out by one tooth.
rebuilt one once before with the distributor out 180 and it backfired so if your not backfiring i'd say your out a tooth

 

i agree with the one tooth theory.

 

How are you setting the ignition timing? I am assuming the cam timing is good since it's a fresh motor, I bet your off. This is how I do it.

Put motor at TDC. Confirm by either taking valve cover off and making sure #1 valves are loose or by taking #1 spark plug out and rotate engine until you can see the piston is at the top of it's stroke.

Take dizy and pull off the cap.

Take the rotor and put it to 12'oclock position.

Make sure not to move anything and insert the dizy.

The rotor should rotate back to the 10'oclock position.

Tighten cap down.

Start truck. Set Idle to 800 RPM

Jumper TE1 ane E1 with a paper clip.

Set timing to 5* BTDC

Reset RPM - It should change by a little

Repeat the Jumper and set timing again to 5* BTDC.

Done.

 

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I will be working on the truck again this afternoon and hopefully will have some good news for this thread.

Xylicon - Thanks for the video, it really gives me hope to see one of their engines making another customer happy.

I really cannot wait to drive my little truck again!

 

if everything is hooked up and functioning properly then its gotta be dizzy timing .. I went thru thr same thing with my 22re but i was 180 out .

 

Please let me know how you liked your Sunwest engine. i live a few miles from them and have been kicking around getting another engine.