First and foremost, I'd like to thank you guys for your assistance through this. It's great to have a community of knowledgeable folks like yourselves. Hopefully someday I'll be able to give back in a similar manner.

Well, I went out and found that sure enough, the distributor looked to be one notch CCW from where I thought I'd set it. So I reset it one spot CW. On first crank it started up and then died immediately. I tried moving the distributor a bit thinking if I hit the sweet spot it would keep running. No dice. Then I put my foot on the accelerator to see if that would do any good. Nope. So I kept moving the distributor bit by bit. I noticed that the engine stopped running as much. Eventually it stopped starting all together. Now I get nothing. Just crank crank crank... like it's flooded, but I assume it wouldn't be, as it is EFI afterall...

Also, assuming that it is flooded, I'm not sure what I can do to keep it running. I don't have any huge obvious vaccum leaks.

Latest video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHBM-okvQaY

 

Can you take a pic of where the rotor is positioned, now, with the crank at TDC?

BTW, they can flood. Not normally, but under the cirumstances it can. Mine did. Once it finally fired up, it blew tons of black smoke and ran a bit rough until it evened out.

 

Latest update:

Check engine code 6: RPM SIGNAL-NO SIGNAL TO ECU FROM DISTRIBUTOR ("Ne" OR "G") AFTER ENGINE HAS BEEN CRANKED
--DISTRIBUTOR/CIRCUIT
--STARTERSIGNAL CIRCUIT
--IGNITER/IGNITER CIRCUIT
--ECU

Oh and yes, if I do let it sit a bit, it does start up just as it did before and then it dies immediately.

Here's a picture of the distributor - before and after. After picture is with the rotor turned more CW.

Before:

After:



Finally - Can someone confirm if this green plug that is unplugged should be plugged into something?




Thanks!
Kyle

 

May not be significant, but is that a crack in the pickup? Have you checked the gap between the rotor and pickup?

 

I have confirmed from old pictures (& Thook) I took before dismantling the machine that this green plug should have a mate. Anyone have any idea where I might locate said plug? I can't find it.

 

One of those plugs comes from the wire harness towards the back of the engine and runs across the engine to the ignitor....May want to look at that.

 

In the first pic, that is the connector for the distributor pick up coil. What that connects to in the distributor housing...follow the red and white wires... is the pick up coil.....to answer your PM question.

In the third pic, that thin wire bundle running underneath the brake MC is the long wire/cable that goes to the pick up coil connector. Should be a male green connector at the end of the bundle.

The short 4" or so wires coming off the ignition coil with the other empty green connector is....well....for the ignition coil. The mate should be found within the same harness/wire bundle for the injectors, etc. underneath the upper intake manifold. That stretches across the top of valve cover and connects at the coil....the empty green connector.

 

BTW, if that's where your rotor is now in relationship to the crank, it's in the right position.....now.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I found it laying up near the passenger's side fender and the firewall behind some junk. Hooked it up and guess what! Yep, vroom.

So when I cranked it, yes I had the rotor in the position as pictured "After". I started the truck and it ran kind of doggy unless i rotated the distributor all the way to the left. So I went ahead and pulled it out and clicked the rotor one to the right (opposite the way I was turning the distributor). It ran about the same. Didn't get any better. The idle is good around 750 where it ought to be. However I brought out my timing light hooked it onto spark plug wire for cyl number 1 with the jumper cable in tact as it should be and found that the timing mark on the crank pulley is more around the 3 - 4 oclock position instead of up near the 12 oclock position where it should be. This has me confused, because I assume the truck wouldn't even be close to running if the crank tick mark were in the appropriate spot...

Can someone confirm if this is the correct way to hook up the timing light on one of these trucks? Seems like I'm doing everything correctly.

I guess I'll give it a shot tomorrow with a new timing light. Mine fell off the grill and died a quick death by concrete. Tomorrow I'll pull the distributor out and rotate the rotor back to the left a tick and see what that does to the timing mark. I just doubt that it would be near enough to bring it back to normal. Oh well, a running machine is progress enough for me tonight. Went ahead and did a flush on the cooling system and changed the oil after letting it warm up for about 15 minutes. Sounds great, but definitely running rich and unable to rev over 1800rpm

Cheers!
Kyle

 

You hooked the timing light up correctly, but you do have to jump the terminals on the diagnostic plug. (You didn't mention doing that) There's two yellow "dummy" plugs on the driver's side fender well near the PS reservoir and VAM. The smaller of the two with only two female terminals is the one. Otherwise, wherever you set the timing, the ECU will be in "advance" mode and the actual base timing be retarded. As a result, the engine will run poorly.

Also, when you're explaining where you're setting the timing, if you would, speak in terms of degrees btdc. I'm not sure how to interpret in terms of "o'clock"..... The timing should be set at 5deg's btdc.

 

Look at the face of a clock. 3 o'clock would be 90 degrees after 0 (military time). Since the cam moves 1/2 the speed of the crank, that'd be like 45 degrees after top dead center (ATDC).

@My99
The engine 'can' run with the timing set that far out but will lack a lot of power since the spark plug is firing well after the piston has gone up and is coming back down. It sounds like the distributor shaft needs to move about 45-55 degrees clockwise. I say that since you've got the distributor turned all the way counter-clockwise against the bolt. I think that is like 2 or 3 teeth on the drive gear. Try keeping the distributor towards the middle of the adjustment range until you get those timing marks lining up pretty close to 0. Then you have room to turn the distributor and fine tune it.

 

Seeing what a big difference in runnng condition that simply rotating the distributor can have, I will be amazed if I can even get the truck started if I rotate the rotor a few teeth. I will give it a try. Matthew, I did indeed have the jumper wire hooked up on the diagnostic plug. Thanks for the heads up though.

 

Thanks, Abe. That does help. But, what I mean is if one is to set timing according to timing marks, "o'clock" doesn't translate well in terms of gauging against the timing marker and the more minute degrees of adjustment therein.....

 

Right'o. I guess I didn't have to explain where the plug is, either. After all, you did pull the code, eh?....

 

You saying that the engine would run with the distributor rotated all the way left seems to me that you should get better if you rotate the shaft to the right... Unless the wires on the cap are off and it's firing the 'wrong' plug, which is actually the right plug in which case you'll need to move the shaft to the left also to bring the rotor in alignment with the proper cap/terminal/spark plug.
If it gets worse moving it to the right (clockwise) move it to the left. But you should 'still' center the distributor adjustment.

 

Kyle......you're not trying to set the timing at 0*tdc, are you? I'm asking because you referred to the "12 o'clock position where I it should be".

 

Forgive me guys, I'm having a brain lapse. I'm not sure I'm quite on the same page with you here.

Doesn't turning the distributor to the LH side (CCW) advance the timing and to the RH retard it?

 

Yep. But if his spark is occuring 45 ATDC, he needs to turn the shaft (rotor) clockwise in relation to the distributor itself. Rotating the dist ccw is the same as rotating the rotor cw, relative to each other.

 

The plug comes out of the wiring harnes on the opposite side of the engine. Route over the valve cover but inbetween the intake to the amplifier. If not hooked up it'll diffenently not run. Also check your grounds after you hook it up.


Edit: opps didn't see the second page of post.

 

I'm starting to think the best thing would be to pull and re-index the distributor.

Here's a recap of how:

0) key off, disconnect battery - terminal or coil wire to distributor
1) Turn crank to 0 / TDC.
2) Loosen and adjust the distributor so that it is near the middle of its adjustment range.
3) Check that #1 intake and exhaust valve rocker arms are not putting any pressure on the valves. If they are, rotate the crank 1 full turn. If you don't want to do that, you can go to steps 4 and 5, but do not move the rotor yet- if the rotor is +- 180 degrees from your mark, turn the crank 360 degrees then proceed with adjusting the rotor.
4) With the distributor cap on, make a mark on the distributor that corresponds with which terminal on the cap has the #1 spark plug wire connected.
5) Pull the cap off and look at the rotor- does the center of the rotor point directly at the mark? If not, remove the distributor and rotate the rotor/shaft until it nearly does, reinsert the distributor and recheck if the rotor aligns with the mark. Repeat if it's not, moving the rotor left or right, as necessary, one tooth until it is as close as you can get it. Alternately, if you can adjust the distributor within its normal adjustment range to get the rotor and mark to line up, do that. Just make sure you still have some room to adjust the distributor in both directions.
6) Replace the cap, valve cover, everything you may have removed.
7) Insert the unofficial 'Toyota timing test tool' into the diagnostic port, and prep your timing light for operation.
8) Start your truck and check your timing.