This is, I think, going to be a running thread
09-24-2012, 09:12 PM
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This is, I think, going to be a running thread
Dear Master Yotas,
My name is Joel and I live in Norfolk, VA.
I have - as of a few months ago - purchased a 1994 Toyota Pick up, 5spd, 4x4, 22RE.
She's really pretty - sits up on 31x10.5's and drives pretty well...mostly.
Thing is - I have no clue how...after I got it home and did the fine tooth overview - I noticed a TON of things missing (I'm not a truck guy - this is my first truck actually - my last car was a BMW Z3).
When I had my Bimmer - I filed onto the Bimmer forums - and they were a huge help - and I quickly became a pretty good Bimmer "mechanic" before I got rid of it, and got this one. Primarily, I bought this truck because I wanted something stock, fairly easy to fix, and where the parts were relatively cheap. What I don't think I was ready for was how quickly things were going to start crapping out.
Almost immediately - the battery went out. Cable was frayed. Both were replaced.
Air filter was old, cleaned it out, slapped it back on, seemed to work fine (till today, where it crapped out again, so I ordered a new one).
Starter crapped out. Replaced it. Idled WAY high, brought it down some. Tachometer doesn't work, so I'm going by sound only
The shocks, lower ball joint (left side front), bearings (right front), and steering stabilizer all need replacing - that was going to be the project this week before the air filter incident today)
There are wires all over the place that go from somewhere to nowhere.
There are tubes (like for the vacuum, EGR, and a few other things) that are just gone.
The fan is practically useless, but somehow it stays cool. It is going to need a water pump, if my eyes don't deceive me. Oil pressure is fine and it doesn't leak (might be it's only saving grace). It has this HUGE air intake that I'm not entirely sure, judging by the gas mileage, is worth a salt.
It's got 207K-odd miles on it - though I'm almost positive it's not the original engine.
Today both the emergency brake light and the battery light came on...even though the Emer. Brake doesn't really engage, and the battery is brand new - luckily, through this forum, someone found out that this was an alternator problem (add another component to the list!)
This truck - it's body is the best I've ever seen - but it's innards are just screwy...like it's a frankenstein truck. This is what you see when you look under the hood:
The dash screws that hold the plastic up are stripped out, so I have that zip tied in - more or less, though it looks like I'm going to have to come up with a more permanent solution, or just take the whole bottom plastic part out.
The steering column, bucket seats, and console all look like they come out of a 4Runner.
So I'm lost y'all - I'm feeling overwhelmed and I'm not sure where to start...
Thoughts? I'm not getting rid of it...but I am definitely feeling like the Padawan among the Masters...
My name is Joel and I live in Norfolk, VA.
I have - as of a few months ago - purchased a 1994 Toyota Pick up, 5spd, 4x4, 22RE.
She's really pretty - sits up on 31x10.5's and drives pretty well...mostly.
Thing is - I have no clue how...after I got it home and did the fine tooth overview - I noticed a TON of things missing (I'm not a truck guy - this is my first truck actually - my last car was a BMW Z3).
When I had my Bimmer - I filed onto the Bimmer forums - and they were a huge help - and I quickly became a pretty good Bimmer "mechanic" before I got rid of it, and got this one. Primarily, I bought this truck because I wanted something stock, fairly easy to fix, and where the parts were relatively cheap. What I don't think I was ready for was how quickly things were going to start crapping out.
Almost immediately - the battery went out. Cable was frayed. Both were replaced.
Air filter was old, cleaned it out, slapped it back on, seemed to work fine (till today, where it crapped out again, so I ordered a new one).
Starter crapped out. Replaced it. Idled WAY high, brought it down some. Tachometer doesn't work, so I'm going by sound only
The shocks, lower ball joint (left side front), bearings (right front), and steering stabilizer all need replacing - that was going to be the project this week before the air filter incident today)
There are wires all over the place that go from somewhere to nowhere.
There are tubes (like for the vacuum, EGR, and a few other things) that are just gone.
The fan is practically useless, but somehow it stays cool. It is going to need a water pump, if my eyes don't deceive me. Oil pressure is fine and it doesn't leak (might be it's only saving grace). It has this HUGE air intake that I'm not entirely sure, judging by the gas mileage, is worth a salt.
It's got 207K-odd miles on it - though I'm almost positive it's not the original engine.
Today both the emergency brake light and the battery light came on...even though the Emer. Brake doesn't really engage, and the battery is brand new - luckily, through this forum, someone found out that this was an alternator problem (add another component to the list!)
This truck - it's body is the best I've ever seen - but it's innards are just screwy...like it's a frankenstein truck. This is what you see when you look under the hood:
The dash screws that hold the plastic up are stripped out, so I have that zip tied in - more or less, though it looks like I'm going to have to come up with a more permanent solution, or just take the whole bottom plastic part out.
The steering column, bucket seats, and console all look like they come out of a 4Runner.
So I'm lost y'all - I'm feeling overwhelmed and I'm not sure where to start...
Thoughts? I'm not getting rid of it...but I am definitely feeling like the Padawan among the Masters...
09-24-2012, 09:46 PM
#2
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Sounds like the wrong person got ahold of it
give it time mayby start small. Are you talking about the column that is stripped out? Or the dash itself, I know my column the screws were broken and there isn't much you can do but hunt for the part at the yard or get one from the dealer at a high cost. If your talking about the dash pieces you can get the plastic pieces for cheap that the screws go into from the dealer and replace, they look like square nuts kinda. The truck looks clean enough to get it back into shape, start small post here what you are doing and you will get plenty of help.
Can you get some better pics of the engine? Also some interior pics on what is zip tied.
Don't get down though sounds like a lot of little stuff
give it time mayby start small. Are you talking about the column that is stripped out? Or the dash itself, I know my column the screws were broken and there isn't much you can do but hunt for the part at the yard or get one from the dealer at a high cost. If your talking about the dash pieces you can get the plastic pieces for cheap that the screws go into from the dealer and replace, they look like square nuts kinda. The truck looks clean enough to get it back into shape, start small post here what you are doing and you will get plenty of help.Can you get some better pics of the engine? Also some interior pics on what is zip tied.
Don't get down though sounds like a lot of little stuff
09-24-2012, 10:10 PM
#3
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X2 and 207k miles isnt much for these little trucks, theres a guy on here that has 582k miles on the exact same engine and truck, again start with little stuff, maybe start by reading the fsm, which can be downloaded off this site, next start by redoing all the vaccum lines, then ,maybe factory air intake? then start on part of the front end just to get it reliable, replace all fluids in the diffs, tranny, t-case, brakes fluids, oil, filter, fuel filter, air filter, im somewhat lost on how the air filter crapped out after replacement? anyways, then start with the interior, overall i think you have what appears to be a solid plateform for the time being and after a little TLC youll learn to love these trucks like we all do
09-24-2012, 10:24 PM
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The high idle is going to be the missing vacuum lines. Unless you have to smog it, you can cap all the lines on a 22RE but the fuel pressure regulator, I usually leave the lines to the power steering when I de-smog one since it doesn't hurt to have the idle kick up some while dry steering on the trail.
Sounds like you have a bunch of little problems that range from cheap to free to fix once you get the suspension done, don't get discouraged just don't try to do everything in one day if it's overwhelming for you.
Sounds like you have a bunch of little problems that range from cheap to free to fix once you get the suspension done, don't get discouraged just don't try to do everything in one day if it's overwhelming for you.
09-24-2012, 11:18 PM
#6
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1 thing at a time. That's what I have to do with my budget monetarily. Every week (or even two weeks lately 
) when I get a day off I do something to my truck that it needs. I started out with safety issues first... Give the suspension a good look over! I don't know how my truck made it so long with one of it's lower ball joints.
Also 1st things to do are anything that will leave you on the side of the road.
After that go for drivability issues. Anything that causes a miss or hesitation, leaks etc.
Watch your fluids and temps closely every time you drive it until these things get sorted out. I've done things to my truck that I didn't think I'd ever be able to do before I found Yotatech.
Make sure you have PLENTY of time to complete a project and get tools that you "might need" when you have a certain project mapped out.
Get a pitman arm puller....
Torque wrench
Brake line flare/bender tool (amazing!)
Complete Metric sets, wrenches and sockets
5lb sledge
TONS of socket extensions and wobbly adapters
You will find more as you go along but this short list of tools has been worth it's weight in gold after doing all my front end work (and work I've done on previous toyotas I've owned). I did buy a couple sockets to do the ball joints and pitman arm that are odd sizes. But at $6 each from harbor freight I couldn't go wrong. In (insert guess here) years when I need to do a pitman arm and ball joints again the socket will be sitting there waiting. Do vacuum lines one at a time. I plan on going with aftermarket silicone vacuum line of a different color (blue or red from LC engineering) so my short term memory can't fail me, almost memory proof that way.
You can find GOOD vacuum line schematics here and on TTORA that will help in this.
Your truck is nice, it's well worth the work. Mine seemed great the day I bought it, drove smooth etc. but after a few weeks I caught on to a bunch of little "honey do" repairs. My truck was built in 1994 and it needs less work than my sisters 2010 Subaru Impreza so I can't complain....
That's what I've always loved about every Toyota I've ever had. Even when it is broken it seems to run better than most cars....
) when I get a day off I do something to my truck that it needs. I started out with safety issues first... Give the suspension a good look over! I don't know how my truck made it so long with one of it's lower ball joints. Also 1st things to do are anything that will leave you on the side of the road.
After that go for drivability issues. Anything that causes a miss or hesitation, leaks etc.
Watch your fluids and temps closely every time you drive it until these things get sorted out. I've done things to my truck that I didn't think I'd ever be able to do before I found Yotatech.
Make sure you have PLENTY of time to complete a project and get tools that you "might need" when you have a certain project mapped out.
Get a pitman arm puller....
Torque wrench
Brake line flare/bender tool (amazing!)
Complete Metric sets, wrenches and sockets
5lb sledge
TONS of socket extensions and wobbly adapters
You will find more as you go along but this short list of tools has been worth it's weight in gold after doing all my front end work (and work I've done on previous toyotas I've owned). I did buy a couple sockets to do the ball joints and pitman arm that are odd sizes. But at $6 each from harbor freight I couldn't go wrong. In (insert guess here) years when I need to do a pitman arm and ball joints again the socket will be sitting there waiting. Do vacuum lines one at a time. I plan on going with aftermarket silicone vacuum line of a different color (blue or red from LC engineering) so my short term memory can't fail me, almost memory proof that way.
You can find GOOD vacuum line schematics here and on TTORA that will help in this.
Your truck is nice, it's well worth the work. Mine seemed great the day I bought it, drove smooth etc. but after a few weeks I caught on to a bunch of little "honey do" repairs. My truck was built in 1994 and it needs less work than my sisters 2010 Subaru Impreza so I can't complain....
That's what I've always loved about every Toyota I've ever had. Even when it is broken it seems to run better than most cars....
09-25-2012, 01:26 AM
#7
Registered User
Better shape than my first yota at 18 came to me in...
your issues are minor and once you get through them all, you'll be seeing this whole mess as I do... a simple fix haha
Best advice I can share is take your time and enjoy the learning process. It's a yota, dont expect 582k out of it (like someone just said) ..thats ridiculous and rare. Stuff wares out and gremlins are abound! its still just nuts bolts, wires and plastic. But... overall its all very simple stuff to work on compared to most vehicles! Thats what made these last good simple Toyota vehicles in the US so dang popular!
your issues are minor and once you get through them all, you'll be seeing this whole mess as I do... a simple fix haha
Best advice I can share is take your time and enjoy the learning process. It's a yota, dont expect 582k out of it (like someone just said) ..thats ridiculous and rare. Stuff wares out and gremlins are abound! its still just nuts bolts, wires and plastic. But... overall its all very simple stuff to work on compared to most vehicles! Thats what made these last good simple Toyota vehicles in the US so dang popular!
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09-25-2012, 02:22 PM
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New update:
Okay, so the "struggling to acceleration" wasn't the air filter - I replaced it and nothing happened, the problem still persists.
This is the scenario:
When at a complete stop, put into first gear. Let the clutch out and give it gas, it begins to roll but the motor sputters...put the pedal to the floor and rev the RPM's, let the clutch out it starts to go and then when motor catches up, it begins to sputter again...and it really doesn't "Go" until my foot comes OFF the gas pedal.
The last time this happened - I cleaned the air filter and it fixed the issue straight away.
*Qualifiers* This truck has no splashguards underneath it to keep rain out from the engine compartment itself (no clue why they took them off) - but it's been bone dry around here lately, so I don't think water is the cause.
At the same time this happened yesterday - the battery/emergency brake lights came on - whether the two are correlated or not I leave for your sage minds - because I haven't a clue.
Further - for those that requested more pictures, I'm working on getting them taken. Then we can all play everyone's favorite game: where does this wire/tube/cable go?
Yay.
Okay, so the "struggling to acceleration" wasn't the air filter - I replaced it and nothing happened, the problem still persists.
This is the scenario:
When at a complete stop, put into first gear. Let the clutch out and give it gas, it begins to roll but the motor sputters...put the pedal to the floor and rev the RPM's, let the clutch out it starts to go and then when motor catches up, it begins to sputter again...and it really doesn't "Go" until my foot comes OFF the gas pedal.
The last time this happened - I cleaned the air filter and it fixed the issue straight away.
*Qualifiers* This truck has no splashguards underneath it to keep rain out from the engine compartment itself (no clue why they took them off) - but it's been bone dry around here lately, so I don't think water is the cause.
At the same time this happened yesterday - the battery/emergency brake lights came on - whether the two are correlated or not I leave for your sage minds - because I haven't a clue.
Further - for those that requested more pictures, I'm working on getting them taken. Then we can all play everyone's favorite game: where does this wire/tube/cable go?
Yay.
09-25-2012, 03:24 PM
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Also - last time I put gas in the tank, I put a thing of Lucas injector cleaner - it's got about a half tank of gas left, if the fuel filter is bad, is it possible that this could be the cause?
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