This has happened once before about a week ago. Get in the 4 runner with the 3.0L engine, turn the key, engine spins good and healthy, but it wont start up. I check the shift lever(automatic) and everything I can think of. Still no luck. Seems that as its turning over, it will fire and sputter some and try to run a little as long as I am turning the starter. Once I relese the key, It just stops cold. The last time it happened, I just kept trying it and it finally fired up just fine. I have not had any problems since then untill now. This time, there was not enough time to fiddle with it, so I had to take the wife to work. Its only been a few months since I had the head work done and was supposed to have had the fuel filters replaced at that time. I will check on that. Any other ideas? I dont smell any gas, or see any fluids. It had a full tune up including plugs, cap, rotor when it had head work done. HELP!!!!! I posted this on ODW also. Thanks yall.

 

Has it been getting much colder overnight where you live?

My '91 did the same thing when I got it Nov. of '98.
It did it during the winter, and into the cold mornings of spring.

It sounds like it could be your cold start injector.
This is separate from your 6 fuel injectors.

Could be a lose wire on it, or it could be bad also.
I ended up having mine replaced at the dealer.
Ran me about $130 I think which included the labor.

The problems disappeared right after that.
When starting it, I bet it sputters and coughs a bit to, then springs to life?

If I can find it in the factory service manual, I will try and scan it later for you, unless someone else comes up with the picture first.
This is a common problem also with the 3.0 with these going bad from time to time.
It may also be able to be cleaned.

Can't find any info in my FSM. The info must be in the other manual that I don't have.

 

Anybody know where this injector is at and how I can test it??

 

I know it has a switch on it that may be able to be adjusted.

http://www.international-auto.com/tbsensors.html

http://autos.yahoo.com/repair/results/ques092.html

I beleive it's on the passenger side under the manifold.
You can get to it without taking the manifold off if I remember.
If you know a mechanic at a dealer, they might be able to show you where it is.

There are ways to test it with a meter to see if it's getting current to it.
I just wish I had that FSM to scan you some pics, but I don't.
Corey

 

Willie, someone esle was having the same problem on another forum and I think this may
help.

The guy has a pic of the system in his Webshots account.
He also mentions where it is.
However I do not know what engine he is referring to though.
Corey

 

Thanks Corey. I looked at all those links. That gave me a good idea what to do. Got home this evening, and before cranking it any at all, I just started checking the sensors and wireing. It was a rainy day here and about 68 all day. I found and checked the injector with an ohm meter, then found and checked the cold start timer that controls the injector. All seemed fine. I made sure all wires were seated good. climbed in the 4 runner, turned the key and it sprang to life. I figure, just my luck. Thats how it is sometimes fixing computers. They just get fixed and you dont know how you did it. Any other ideas??

 

condensation in the distributor has probably made your contacts bad. Lightly File or sand them off.

 

Check out this thread. Read the 6th post by Jay. Believe it or not, I just diagnosed my CSI. It bolts right into the passenger side of the intake. It's not too hard to miss. There is two 10mm nuts that hold it in there. Just remove those and pull it out. Mine was pretty dirty so I cleaned it with some throttle body cleaner and a rag. I then noticed that I could wipe the nozzle clean and it would quickly become wet with gas. So my diagnosis is that it is leaking a little. The only problem that I've had is that when it's cold in the morning, sometimes it will sputter for a sec or two before it goes up to the cold idle.

Good Luck

 

Thanks for the additional info. Since the first post, this has happened several more times. Once leaving me stranded at home again. I did change the CSI that time. But guess what, first few cranks produced no running engine. I pulled and reseated all wires and plug wires, then it worked. Happened a few more times. Im starting to think the problem is with the wireing to the distributor. When it wont crank, if I fiddle with that, then it will. Anyway, the last time it did that was in 10/03 I tweaked on only that wire bundle, then it fired right up. Have not had a problem since. Hope my luck holds out.

 

You might want to check the condition of your spark plug wires as well. You mention changing plugs, cap etc but not the wires. If you are suffering problems when it is damp out, they may well be the problem. The insulation breaks down over time and then moisture gets in.

 

Seems pretty cheap to just replace the cap, rotor, plugs and wires and be done with it.