babyfood1217

Well the weekend is supposed to be nice here in Seattle, so I'm planning on getting a little bit of tune-up/diagnosis work done on the 4runner. It's a '93 22re with 5sp transmission. A few things that have been plaguing me since I purchased it are as follows...

- Dominant ticking sound (over-tightened valve cover, valves out of adjustment or exhaust leak)
- High idle on a cold start. I've got a laundry list of things to test in regards to this (valve, sensors, hoses, etc...)
- Blower motor recently ate it (it still runs, but poorly and sounds off balance.) I think a recent surge due to a bad voltage regulator may have done that, but not sure. I already replaced the alternator.
- I have yet to do a full tune up since purchasing it (ie: cap, rotor, plugs, oil/coolant change)

So my questions are...

1) What all should/can I do while the VC is off? I will be removing the VC to perform a valve clearance check/adjustment, put a new VC gasket in and ensure it isn't over tightened, and a will include a visual inspection of the T-chain guide to observe wear on the guides.
2) When checking items related to idle, I am having trouble determining a specific order to go in? ECT sensor, AAV, IAC, vacuum hoses, throttle bottle cleaning? I want to test things first before buying anything (even a bottle of propane to check the hoses), so using my multimeter and checking resistance seems to be my starting point, but is there a systematic approach to it?
3) With a 20 year old truck with some maintenance records but nothing too extensive, I often wonder what things I should should replace as preventative maintenance? For instance, all the vacuum hoses appear intact, but are old and stiff and looked dried out. I read a post the other day where a member here just got in a set of LCE silicon vacuum hoses. At $30, it kind of seemed like a good investment. Would likely never have to worry about those again. Just curious what you all do with items like that.
4) Lastly, could a voltage surge really fry my blower motor?

Thanks all!

-Chris "babyfood1217" Gerber

scope103

I have a 3VZE, where replacing the valve cover gaskets is a MUCH bigger deal, so I can't add much.

My rig has all factory-labelled vacuum hoses, and I would hate to lose that. So I will only replace a vacuum hose if it needs it. You can make any hose last a lot longer by warming it up to remove it; I use a heat gun but that's really too powerful. A hair dryer would be just right. Once you get the hose off (and warm) squeeze it. Did it crack? No? Keep it. I'm sure silicone vacuum hoses are very pretty, but the rubber ones have already lasted 20 years. If your replace them with ordinary rubber, you're just gonna have to replace 'em again in 20 years ....

A voltage surge could fry a motor, but if that happened I would expect it to be dead, not noisy. My guess is that you've sucked some dirt in there. You might be able to clean it up, or you could have trashed a bearing (which will not be worth replacing).

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

I try and follow the every so many Miles or Months in the repair manuals and work my way down the list. Not everything will need to be addressed, but it will eventually cover all aspects of what needs checked. I would suggest looking at each one and if good, go to the next step if needed.

Scope103 brought up a good point on the blower. You would be surprised at how much dirt and debri gets into the ventilation system. I have tried to show it a few times in some threads along with some pictures. Under the windshield cowl on the passenger side, it eventually leads down to the blower. Leaves and such can throw the fan blade off balance.

I would suggest to pull the blower motor out and there is an 8 mm nut that holds it to the motor. Pull the blade off and take a compressed air and blow the dust out of the motor assembly. Most likely it will be dust off of the electrical components. I dont fully understand electric that well, but if the dust is from the brushes like on alternators, usually I get alot of dust out of it. It will be black, fine, gritty dust from the electrical components.

If cleaning it doesnt fix it, just replace the blower motor. From my experince, a blower motor just stops working completely from being used all the time and all at once. Really no warning of it going bad.

The fan speed control switch is a poor design in these trucks. Would suggest checking the switch before swapping motors.

babyfood1217

Now, as I type this, the blower/squirrel cage fan is sitting on my table waiting to be cleaned out, but I wanted to show what it looked like when I finally got it out...

Testament to the truth of what the PO said about both the truck sitting on their property unused for more than a year, as well as the son driving around the muddy power-line access road. There is enough moss in this thing to cover a PNW tree, and enough dirt/dust/lint/fuzz to fill the belly buttons of every man in America. I'm gonna clean this little guy up and throw it back in. Hopefully it will quiet things down

In regard to the VC removal and valve adjustment and T-chain inspection, things looked and went pretty well. T-chain guide looked good and most valves were in check. #4 intake and #3/#4 exhaust rockers had been replaced with what appears to be steel rockers? Maybe they are aluminum but just look darker. The corresponding nuts that go with those rockers (to set the adjustment screw in place) are 13mm, which is a pet peeve of mine. Perhaps in the future, if I ever swap in a ported/polished head with a HD valve train, I will be able to rectify that issue. For now, I don't care. Felpro VC gasket set with new grommets and half-moons (those half moons sure are large in comparison to the openings!) and torqued to 43 in/lbs per the FSM Hopefully the slight valve adjustments along with a properly torqued VC will eliminate the ticking. If it is still there, I'm thinking my problem may lie at the injectors or an exhaust leak.

Oil change with Valvoline 10w-30, Microgard filter from O-reilly's (I know they are made by FRAM now, and I also have a FRAM sitting in a box in storage, and I know how shoddy FRAM stuff is, but this truck doesn't get used that much, and the filter came free with the oil. Rant over.) I dropped in a WIX air filter as well. I decided against doing a coolant flush for the time being. I want to make sure I know exactly all the items I should be checking in regards to diagnosing my high cold-start idle. I may even do hoses at the same time just as a safeguard, and I could retain the current hoses as backups down the road. Not sure on that: it falls into the same category as vacuum hoses. If it ain't broke...