hellonweels89

This is a 1994 4Runner with a 3.0 V6 3VZE

ok so me an j are almost done with my engine its cranking but it wont start and we think it might be the timing because we have spark and its getting gas. so we were wondering how to adjust the timing or if it might be something else please let us know...thanks

This is a 1994 4Runner with a 3.0 V6 3VZE

toyaholic

if you have tried cranking with no starts yet, i would recommend pulling the plugs and cranking the engine over a few times and maybe oiling the cylinders through the plug holes. on first start if it doesn't fire and fuel is being dumped into the cylinders it is called washing the cylinders and you can ruin the crosshatch on the cylinders walls and the rings if you don't have a proper oil seal. when i first tried cranking my truck after my rebuild i forgot to plug the afm up and i flooded the engine unintentionally and once i realized that the afm was unplugged and i plugged it in i still could not get it to crank. i thought that i had a timing issue but it was just that my cylinders were full of gas. after i pulled the plugs and turned it over and aired it out then replaced the plugs.........VROOOMMM! Just double check all of your connections. if it is the timing, pull the plug on the number one cylinder, pull the efi fuse, and bump the ignition over. stick your finger in the plug hole and you should feel either two slight strokes of nothing much or a slight suck, push, then a real strong suck and then push. when you feel the strong push, stop, you are at top dead center. line up your crank timing mark to 0, then make shure that you insert the distributer with the rotor pointing at or just before the number one contact. that should be it. reassemble your distributer and spark plug and plug the efi fuse and give it a try. good luck.

hellonweels89

Alright, thanks I'll go try that. I really appreciate the help on this 6 month project!

SpeedyJ

Im working on this with Hellonweels89 and we tried toyaholic's advice and nothing worked. I know there is spark since we can see the end of the wire spark when grounded and the engine is cranked. Im starting to second guess that there is fuel. I do know that there is fuel in the fuel rails because we initially had a leak in one of them where fuel was being pumped straight out. The leak is fixed now and my only other guess is that the injectors arn't doin their thing. Is there any common plugs or wiring that might be left undone that would cause this? Im pretty sure the injectors are still good. They worked up untill the old engine was waterlogged and broke a piston rod.

My other idea is that the timing is off. We have set the main pully at zero and then alligned the rotor pointer at the number one contact point, is this enough? Or is there more to it?

Any advice or ideas would be extremely helpful! We are trying to leave for a Holister trip by 11am tomorrow and it'd be sweet to bring this truck along.

hellonweels89

just to add on what j said we set the main pullry to 0 the first time and the distributor we had the gold thing pointing straight up and then we cranked it...it didnt work then we read a lil and put the main pulley to 10 and then the distributor's gold thing straight up again and then it didnt work but when we put the main pulley back at 10 again the distributor's gold thin was pointing straight down so i moved it back up

Flash319

I assume you are working on a 22RE? Make sure that the crank is at the mark on the compression stroke. I usually have the valve cover off and look at the number 1 cyl cam lobes. Both valves should be closed. Then put your distributor in so that the "gold thingy" is pointing just before the number one cylinder spark plug contact in the cap. That should be it to get it to start. Also check that your plug wires are in the right firing order.

misterzee

If your distributor rotor is under the 1 cyl post at 0-TDC, there is enough range in the adjustment of the dist to get you where you need to be, so you must have another issue. Are the plugs bone dry? If so, make sure all your efi electronic wiring is properly connected and fuses good. We forgot to plug in the injector resistor...

toyaholic

you should be able to turn the key to the on position and hear the fuel pump kick on. have you guys checked the fsm troubleshooting? it has some great checks. check the efi troubleshooting section.

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...sm/engine.html

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...86troubles.pdf

by the way, did you pull the plugs and turn the engine over and air it out? make sure you stop when you bump the ignition and feel the hard push, then line up the timing mark on the pulley, then set your distributer. unless your cams aren't lined up, you shouldn't have any problems. i did the same thing when my engine wouldn't fire. i thought of every expensive and painstaking possibillity untill i used the fsm to troubleshoot and found my problem by probing the back of the computer for votlage.

SpeedyJ

Oh sorry we forgot to say, its a 3.0 V6 3ZVE. Its not my 4Runner in my sig, sorry about the confusion!

Do you have the above links a 1994 3ZVE?? Thanks

SpeedyJ

What does this mean?

Oh do you mean when I have my finger in the number 1 cylinder and feel the compression stroke when setting the timing?

toyaholic

yeah, that's what i meant, sorry. those links have the 3.0 info as well. just scroll down the page and you will see it. the 3.0 always comes after the 22re info.

SpeedyJ

I think oiling the cylinders through the plug holes made it too wet in the combustion camber. Right now we are airing it out and we are going to clean the cylinders and plugs out with brake cleaner, as recomended by a professional mechanic who is our friend. Then we are going to check the timing belt and then adjust the timing to align it with the compression stroke. Hopefully all this works, I'll let ya'll know.

toyaholic

if he's a pro and you trust him, go ahead, but that sounds real nasty. my "pro" buddy recommended me lubing the cylinders up again by squirting the oil in after pulling the plugs and pushing the fuel out. after lubing the cylinders i meant that you should crank the engine again with the plugs out pushing all the excess oil out. i don't know?

SpeedyJ

Yeah it sounds like a good idea, I think we just put tooo much oil in there. It was a good idea and I appreciate the help.

Elvota

I may have missed this in your thread... but make sure you are not 180 degrees off. Meaning, the pulley and #1 may read TDC, but you may be at exhaust not compression, or vice versa.

Turn engine one full rotation CW and bring timing marks back to TDC. Now set the distributor to #1 and try again.

Mine wouldn't start either until I realized what I had missed. Hopefully this helps.

SpeedyJ

WE GOT IT! Only now it runs really rough and then dies soon. The timing was off, it was on the exhaust stroke rather than the compression and the cyclinders were extremely flooded. After letting it dry out, spraying brake cleaner on the spark plugs and cylinders, and then cranking the engine to push out the brake fluid it worked. I'm going to start a new thread/search for our symptoms of the roudh/dieing idle.