I have a 1987 22re i purchased about 3 years ago. it came with all records and info that the motor was rebuilt. has around 15-20k on the rebuild. I recently had a problem with my 3rd cylinder not firing.
I adjusted valves and they were not off that bad to make it miss fire. Note i had put new plugs, wires, cap and rotor about 3-4 months ago. I finally got my hands on a compression tester and 1,2, and 4 were all about 120. is that to low? And #3 had 0 compression. Iv'e began taking everything apart to remove the head so I can see if maybe I have a burnt valve or something. I love my 4runner and its the 2nd one iv'e had, this is the first time I have had to dig in and tear apart the motor. I really would like some help/input on this as I am wanting to drive it again very badly. Is there something i'm overlooking or not looking at?
Please and thank you for your help and advice, also a random question I have is which is the best spark plugs to use? I dont know the difference between iridium or g-power or platinum.
Thanks again for y'alls input.

 

You won`t know till you get things apart.

Did you do a wet compression test in #3??

How does the cam look were those lobes wiped ??

 

Check the oil and coolant. Are they mixed at all? I had a hole in cyl #3 too, so I'm curious as to your outcome.

 

Wet compression test?? If that is put a little bit of oil on the cylinder, then yes I did that if not then I am sorry, please explain how to do so. I am also sorry but I am sort of teaching myself as I go. What lobes are you referring and what do you mean by wiped?
I drained some of the coolant and there wasn't any oil in it, I need to drain some oil and check, but so far no signs of them being mixed.

 

 

How about fuel? Injector plugged in and firing?

 

In order to have 0 compression, you must have a bad/burnt/bent exhaust valve or bad head gasket or #3 intake valve not opening at all. You don't need fuel, spark for compression, just the piston moving and valves working correctly.
Yes 120# is low. A freshly built 22RE would be about 170#.

Can't wait to see what you find.

 

Thank you Melrose, helpful info most definitely.
is there something I need/can to do to get the compression up? I've got a bunch of things coming for it as well as the head gasket, would a new gasket and seals for valves and what not bring up my compression?

 

Can you tell from the receipts you have exactly what work was done? Were the cylinders honed and new rings installed? Was it running fine up until now? Any oil consumption or smoke?
Looks pretty clean inside from your photo.

The new head gasket won't solve the compression problem on #3 unless compression was leaking past it which should have been noticeable unless leaking into a water jacket in which case you would see bubbles in the radiator when running. The valve seals keep oil from travelling down the valve stem and getting burnt in the combustion chamber. Faulty valve seals are most noticeable when you see a cloud of oil smoke on startup. Again, unrelated to compression.

One possibility for low compression across the cylinders is if the rings weren't installed correctly. but I would expect that to result in a lot of blow-by and oil consumption.

What you want to do is pull the head, fill the #3 exhaust port with water, gas or solvent and see if it leaks past the valve. If it does, pull the valve for closer inspection.

To bring it up above 120# you would have to hone and re-ring it. First I would try a different compression tester to see if the results are consistent. squirting about two tablespoons of oil down the spark plug hole may be good for another 10#. Did you spin the engine until the gauge stopped climbing?

Will be watching. Good luck.

One more thing. Post a pic of the tops of the pistons after you pull the head. If #3 is cleaner than the rest, that means coolant was getting in past the head gasket or possibly a crack in the head.

 

Great, thank you. I will try all of those things.
The motor was honed and everything at a machine shop, and then he had it dyno tuned when is was all done. I havnt had any smoke, but there has been some oil loss. I've had to put maybe a quart or so in every week to every other week, but that's also been on driving it somewhat hard... I have to drive up a canyon to work everyday so it was pushing that little 4 cyl for sure.

 

 

I'll look through all that I have for the rebuild and see if I can find anything on it. Thank you I would have never thought of that

 

Figured it out real quick when I got the head off and looked at the valves... hard to have any compression when an exhaust valve is chipped.
my question is now, how difficult is it the change the valve? I have a spring compressor and all the seals. Can I put a new valve in, or will I have to get it honed and what not to make proper compression?

 

 

Ok, thank you so much for your help on this your very much appreciated.

 

Good work and good learning opportunity. My first car was a '69 AMC rambler (no I'm not that old, it was an antique when I inherited it) and I learned all knds of stuff on it. After I rebuilt the engine it never leaked oil, nor did it have any power. I learned a lot and have drove and loved Toyotas ever since.

 

I just lapped this valve and the seat is still a lil crusty, do I lap again or leave it?