Hey all, Ive been a lurker for years on this forum and recently decided to register. Learned a lot of great tips and tricks but now it is my turn to ask a question. Ive already searched with no results. I have a 86 4x4 IFS pickup with 200k on the body and Diffs and a 22R and tranny out of an 87. Paid $1800 for the truck and knew nothing about these trucks and the guy jipped me. The old motor was stock and was damaged from the timing chain problem. So I bought a parts truck and swapped the motor and tranny. Everything went good for a month and then the carburetor died. I had the EGR deleted and a new Weber 32/36 was installed. The motor has 90k on it and has had a new timing chain kit and whole cover etc put on. Now here is the issue; Sometimes when I start the truck it will run on three cylinders and you can hear the other cylinder "clicking" and start to catch up, but the truck will run sluggish until warm. It also takes a long time to warm up even on a 90* day here in NC. If I drive it when its cold you can hear the clicking noise. Once the truck is warm it runs fine on all four cylinders and the clicking noise is gone. Also I hear a rattling from the rear of the engine at times. I know its not the chain because I checked it when I did the valve adjustment. So I'm thinking I either have a sticking/burnt out valve or the HG is gonna go. Haven't done a compression/leak test yet but I just wanted to see if anyone can help. Also the spark plugs were brownish and cyl 3 had white ash deposits. Not burning coolant but the truck is running either really rich or very lean. Any help would be appreciated. No bottom end issues that I know of either. Like I said it runs fine once its warm.

 

Have you run any fuel injector cleaner through it. It's also not that hard to check your valve adjustment. Some times the valve covers can be over tightened and that can resume it clearance issues. The rubber washers that hole the valve cover on should just start to squish. Thy should not be cranked down. Good luck hope this helps.

Edit. Have you changed the fuel filter. Shouldn't make a difference be never hurts.

 

Yeah I adjusted the valves a few months ago, loosened the grommets/nuts, ran three full tanks with Lucas each fill up and have changed the fuel filter. Im stumped. I'm more concerned with the sluggish 3 cylinder startup and the clicking. Thanks for the help though.

 

Could it be a bad plug wire or a loose cap on the spark plug? Not the wire but the metal tab that usually screws on to it I have had those come loose in the past. That might also explain why it gets better after everything gets hot and expands. Just a guess

 

Alright I'll give that a check. They are the nicer OEM wires.