The trip out to Hidden Falls this weekend was great!

I had two GoPros running most of the time, and I think I got some pretty cool footage. Unfortunately, someone kicked in the front door to my house Friday night, and my laptop is one of the things they took. So, I'm not sure when I'll be able to get all the footage edited. Hopefully around the New Year I can have a video put together.

The sliders were AWESOME. They really opened up more options for getting over tough rocks. I used them to pivot the truck around more than once. I'm completely thrilled with them.

Here are a few pics my friend Jeff got with his phone.










I'll try and post more details of the trip soon.

 

Here are a couple videos I've been able to put together so far. No real "editing" yet, so these are all single-viewpoint.

 

that is a cool picture. bet those lockers helped alot here

 

The only thing keeping me from going further was my rear bumper dragging. The Trail-Gear design sticks out pretty far.

 

i wouldnt say its a bad design, most tube bumpers are like that and i bet yours doesnt hang down as much as mine does. its time to bob the rear end lol

 

Oh, it certainly has advantages sticking out that far. For instance, if you pop out of gear on a ledge and the thing that stops you is a tree... your tailgate doesn't get damaged. That will probably show up in a video later. :-D

 

Ocell - wow it's like watching a Toyota grow up. Everything you do is just a nice steady upgrade and the truck just gets better and better. I want some of those 4x sliders, that is on my wish list for 2014. Have a happy holiday, hope you get some goodies for the truck so I can watch them get put to use.

 

Hey coryc85, thanks! It has been fun adding things one at a time. I think it really lets me appreciate the benefits of the upgrades.

I think I'm going to treat the truck to a LED light bar for Christmas.

I also think I've decided on a 2014 resolution. Solid front axle.

 

light bars are awesome. the SA will be sweet

 

My buddy John and I got to hit the creek bed and play a bit today. There was a massive flood a few weeks ago (40 feet higher than normal water level) that dramatically changed the area.

Here's a quick video of some of the areas that didn't change much. I just got an iPhone 5S so I'm playing with the slow motion video.

 

I haven't had time to sit down and learn Premiere yet, but here's a quick video I did to test out having two cameras running at once, synced up. Being able to switch between two views really makes a difference!

 

Greetings Ocell. I'm a fellow Austinite wondering where did you source the bolts that you used to replace the studs on your front diff? What size? Got some v6 4.88's at the wrenchapart with the carriers for $137 and wanna make it easier on meself! Sweet rig man I've enjoyed reading its development! Thanks a lot

 

Hey motahead,

I've got this in my notes:

CV Axle Bolts
M12-1.25 x 35 Hex Cap Scs
You'll want to get the metric equivalent to Grade 8. The place you buy them from should know what that is. (A quick Google search says it's 10.9 or 12.9, but I'm not sure.)

I was able to find them at Austin Bolt Co.
https://plus.google.com/116177611534...33/about?hl=en


Hit me up if you ever want to go check out Hidden Falls!

 

Looks like fun!

 

I was hoping I could fix this myself before posting, but I'm running out of patience. I've searched and I haven't found anything that seems like the right fix for my problems.

We had a cold spell of high 20's (that's cold for central Texas) not too long ago. In the morning I drove my 4Runner to work with no issues. In the evening I went to go home and it wouldn't start. It would crank all day, the starter had plenty of power and never bogged. All of the electronics (radios, lights, etc) worked fine. I had it towed home and even used my winch to pull it in to the front yard of my house.



My friend had the same problem with his 87 4Runner a day or two before me, and he has been driving it fine ever since. I tried starting mine the next morning and it also acted like nothing was wrong.

I drove it a couple more days before having it refuse to start for me at lunch. I left it until the end of the day, when it started fine again. I started to drive it home but after a mile it died on me. I'm not sure what all the dash lights were, but I know for sure the battery light came on when it died. Again, it would crank all I wanted, but never fired. Lights/electronics were fine. I tried the fuel pump test where you jump +B and FP on the diagnosis port with a paperclip, but nothing changed and it still wouldn't start. I had it towed home again.

This time I used the starter in-gear to drive it in to my front yard (instead of the winch). After I was done I could smell fuel. I had been assuming I had a fuel pump relay issue, but smelling all of that fuel makes me think it's getting gas, so it must be a spark issue.

Ever since then it fires up fine, but I don't trust it enough to drive it! At the same time, it makes it pretty hard to diagnose the problem since it's running fine. I just fired it up and let it idle for half an hour without issue.


I did pull the cap off of the distributor. The post that the rotor slides on to had surface rust. I cleaned it up with a wire brush, wondering if cold/condensation could have interfered with the connection to the rotor? But that seems like a long-shot to me. Here are some photos of the condition before I cleaned it.








In Summary:
- 4Runner refused to start, cranked strongly with no electronic/battery issues but would not fire. I could smell fuel after cranking for a long time.
- After sitting, it will crank fine with no issues.
- Once, after firing up fine, it died about a mile in to my drive home. I haven't driven it since.
- When it wasn't starting I tried the Fuel Pump test by jumping +B and FP on the diagnosis connector with a paper clip, with no change/fix.
- It cranks/runs right now, making it difficult to diagnose.
- Fuel filter is new
- Spark plug wires are relatively new. I unplugged and replugged them when I had the starting issue and nothing changed.


Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Hey ocell have you looked at your circuit opening relay? Is it clicking a lot when it won't start? Mine went bad and it would CLI k like crazy but never bust off. Just a guess yknow. Its behind your passenger kick panel above the CPU. Mine was all scorched. Easy pic at a junkyard. I have a spare one out of a v6 if you wanna give it a try I live in town. Word

 

Just read your whole build, you got a nice 4runner their, next time your truck won't start try pulling a spark plug wire from the plug and holding it close to a bolt to see if it sparks when cranking. Have you tried checking for codes?

 

Hey motahead,

Thanks for that offer. When your circuit opening relay went bad would the engine still crank, or would it just click and nothing else? My engine cranks fine and very strong. It just never fires up.

twistedyota,

Thanks! I'll try checking for spark next time for sure. It hasn't had trouble again, but I'm also not driving it much because I don't trust it. I don't drive it, so the problem won't show up again. It's a terrible loop to be in.

I checked for codes and there weren't any.



I tested the ignition coil resistance. In-spec for between the positive and negative terminals is 0.5 to 0.7 ohms. I was reading 0.9 ohms. The reading between the positive terminal and the plug wire going to the distributor was within spec.

I'm wondering if that 0.9 ohm reading is far enough out to be an indicator of anything. At the time of the reading the truck was starting and running without any issues. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?

I guess I could buy a new coil (not too expensive) and keep it in the truck with the tools needed for swapping. Then if it refuses to start again I can swap it out and see if that fixes it.

 

That's exactly what happened with my circuit open relay. It would give me problems on hot restart and then eventually I pulled into an auto parts store and it died right there. It would crank and crank and never start. When I went to replace it I found that it had arced and was constantly checking voltage. It probably could have caught fire if I didn't catch it in time, and was so hot that it literally blister burned my hand. Replaced it and never had a problem since. I have two spares in my parts kit that I bring with me.

 

Thanks for the input Mark.

I went down the Circuit Open Relay road in my research already. I did the jumper on the diagnostic port which I think is supposed to by bypass the relay (pictured below), but it didn't help it start. I also smelled gas after cranking for a while, so that makes me think the fuel pump is turning on fine, and it's a spark issue.



I'll see if I can get to the relay anyway and make sure there aren't burn marks.