HOJU

Ok, it's late and I'm very tired... Over the last week or so my 4runner has been acting up, the shifting pattern seemed to be different( it just felt off) it would just act weird for only a second or two every once in a while... then tonight I was heading up one of the local canyons with a "friend" and with the SC I usually can fly up the canyon, but I couldn't get it above 3500rpm and roughly 55mph so I pulled off at the next exit and wham the check engine light turns on. Let it sit for a while, pulled the battery cable, checked the tranny fluid (fine) and decided that it was probably a good idea to get back home and forget about the canyon…. What do you think it is? I’m not as tech savvy as I’d like to be, but I’m trying…. I’m guessing my tranny is on it’s way out, maybe a rebuild? who knows….

Any advise or things I should check?

DudeBud

why not just check the code

HOJU

i plan on it in the morning, but with what was happening right before it went on I can only imagine it would be my tranny

FilthyRich

did it idle funny or surge?

Cebby

My Maxima did something like that when I overoiled my K&N drop in once.

rimpainter.com

Will it go above 3500 in Park or Nuetral while revving it?

(May not be a smart idea at this point to try it, but I am just curious if you attempted to do this before)

HOJU

surge..... a little. Over the last week when it would act up, it almost seemed like it wouldn't want to shift from 2nd to 3rd..... then last night I had it floored and it wouldn't go past 3500, then i downshifted to 2nd and the rpms went up so the boost got me going. so i'm wondering if maybe i just need to look at new 2nd, or 3rd gears?

then again there is a A340F tranny with 22k miles on it for $400, maybe that would be cheaper...

HOJU

the code said it was a knock sensor- or the connector itself, or rattle/knock in the engine.

would a faulty knock sensor cause the weird shifting? or at least by malfunctioning cause the engine to act as though the shifting was jacked up?

CynicX

in theory I think it could....kinda like if you floor it. Its gonna shift at red line. If you are climbing a mountain its gonna shift higher.

If something is preventing the RPMs for getting up there its not gonna want to shift....

Would it shift if you were just driving it around on level ground really slow?

HOJU

driving down to autozone, it didn't seem to act up, but i was also taking it REAL easy... and coming down the canyon it was barely noticable...

AgRunner06

The tranny isn't going to keep your rpms low, however the motor will. I would imagine the weird feelings that you were having are from the knock sensor intermittently causing a weird power output from the motor and thus making the tranny shift weird or what have you because it can't decide what to do.

Fix the knock sensor and your problems will be solved.

BTW you can't just buy new 2nd and 3rd gears.

:bounce2:

HOJU

i know that i can't just buy new gears, but thought that would be the problem if the tranny was going out- I'm going to pick up the knock sensors today, and try to get it done tomorrow- hopefully that'll do it

rimpainter.com

Yeah, this makes sense. The knock sensor only kicks in after 3K RPM. So, once you went past that RPM, it started retarding the heck out of the timing. Now that leads us to the question: Why is the knock sensor freaking out?

HOJU

well, what would make the knock sensor go out?

rimpainter.com

Ask Mark (midiwall) I think he had one crap out on him. I am pretty sure if they get bumped or something. Any recent work in that general vicinity?

HOJU

well i put the SC on in feb.

MTL_4runner

Yeah, Mark did have the same thing happen. I think it crapped out on him shortly after he put on his S/C (yours may have done the same).
You will need to fix it and the timing should return along with some major new found power.

Here is the thread you need:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/cel-code-p0330-saga-56080/

midiwall

I'm here now.

Allen, what was the actual code? There are a couple of different knock sensor codes.

It sounds like you could have the same issue I did, and for the life of me I really don't know what happened to cause it. Now, the bad thing about my situation was that after replacing the one bad one, the OTHER one went about 2 weeks later. I've been told by a couple of Toyota techs that one going was weird enough, but to have two go was just nutty. And so goes the story of my luck.


Are you planning to replace them yourself? You're in for a treat if so. They're UNDER the intake manifold. That means that you're looking at pulling the S/C, then the fuel rails and the intake manifold. Plan on spilling fuel when you pull the rails, and you'll need to drain about a gallon of coolant BEFORE you pull the manifold.

The intake manifold has a couple of gaskets between it and the block, and they're EXPENSIVE (about $38 each). With the blessing of a Toyota tech, I chose to reuse the gaskets and seal around the water channels with Permatex red. That'll lmake sense to you when you pull it apart.

Another hint... take the hood off. You'll need to get to a heater hose and a manifold breather and it's a lot easier with the hood off.

Now, if you wanna skip this and really wanna play some games, then try what I did and electrically bridge the good knock sensor to both of the ECU inputs.


oops...
I just looked at the thread that Jamie pointed to and it looks like I'm repeating myself here. I'd fogotten I typed all that up! Okay... "refer to the thread that Jamie pointed to" and lemme know if you have any other questions or concerns.


GOOD LUCK!

HOJU

I'm starting first thing tomorrow, Saddle up 'n' Ride!

HOJU

Well, that was an adventure.... took a while, but then again i put in a tranny cooler, replaced my thermostat, boost guage, and two damn knock sensors! what a stupid place to put those sensors, why didn't Toyota just bury them further into the engine?