Scratching my head and ripping out the little I have left of my hair.

2000 4runner, SR5, 3.4L with well north of 300,000 miles
Ran great until I tried to solve a intermittent, but more frequent idle issue (would loose RPM's to a point of almost stalling, kick up in RPM's and idle for a minute, then do it over again, and sometimes dying).

Read several posts on several forums, and figured the culprit was the IAS. Decided that since I'll be diving that deep into the throttle body I might as well clean that and the MAF sensor.
Got new plugs and wires for good measure.
A simple afternoon job, or so I thought...

After having cleaned everything with MAF sensor cleaning spray and a toothbrush, I replaced the plugs and wires and hooked up everything again. I all honesty the Throttle body and MAF sensor were both relatively clean, but the IAS was crudded up a bit.

Happy with a job well done I cranked it and it did fire up, but sounded like it was running on about half the cylinders and spewed out black smoke out the tail pipe before it finally died.
Figured I messed up the MAF sensor I waited till my son picked one up and brought it to me. That didn't solve the problem, so we reverted back to old wires and plugs.
No change. It cranks and sounds like it's trying to start, but the smell of gas indicate it is flooding. Removed the plugs and they were soaking wet.
Took one plug out and cranked to see if we had spark, and we did, at least on #1
Did notice that one of the coils (#1) was very corroded where the lead for #4 connects. I actually managed to scrape out some black powder like substance, but the post looked very thin and low. Checked the other coils and #3 was fine, but #5 was somewhat corroded, but not to the point of failure.
Sprung for a new coil pack and ripped out the original plugs and wires, installed new plugs, wires and coil packs, but result is the same.It cranks, attempts to fire but just can't do it. Every time the smell of fuel is evident.

For good measure I also replaced the EFI relay.

Before anyone mentions this, I did check and double check the correct routing of the plug wires, and they are correct.

Have read a couple of places that the common denominator could be the Throttle Body sensor, but I didn't use any harsh cleaning spray, but I am at my wits end, and unless I can get a bit of help here, the only option is having it towed to a mechanic, not an option I'm fond of.

On a positive note I'm getting pretty good and fast at pulling the plugs on this thing.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thank you


Claus

 

Can a moderator move my post to the right year of 4runner's?

thank you