I was driving the '91 4Runner with the 3.0 today. I had to put it in low range to get up the hill near my house.

Also taking off in first is nutso.
I know the 3.0 is gutless, but c'mon!!!

I was working over the engine yesterdya, and I pulled the passengers side spark plug wires. Didn't make a change in the way the engine ran.

I am wondering if I have some bad injectors.
Wouldn't the Check Engine Light come on if I wasn't firing on all 6 cylinders?

Anyhow

Thanks for any input

 

Does it still run if you put those wires back on & pull the three on the other side. If it were a bad injector then I would be suprised if all 3 were bad. Was there spark coming out of the wires? it almost sounds electrical.

Matt

Hey be thankful, you should be getting great fuel economy running a 1.5 litre 3 banger! jk

 

Does it rev really high but not get you anywhere? You're clutch may be slipping BAD, if that's the case.

 

It revs high and then really gets moving.

But going up the hill this morning, when I let out the clutch, and slipped it out, the motor just died.

 

?? Please explain a little better. Did it stall becuae the clutch grabbed or are you saying it is slipping??

 

I didn't try that. I will later today.

yeah, there is spark coming out of the wires. zapped myself pretty good too.

The motor runs But it shakes and I hear a bunch of valve noise, and a ticking noise like a spark plug shorting out. But I can't see anything when I look under the hood at night.

That said, I am not sure what is 'normal' for a 3VZ.

 

It stalled when the clutch grabbed.

NO slipping

 

Give us some info:

How many miles
How old are the plugs
How old is the cap & rotor


I had a simular problem in mine and it ended up being the cap& rotor

 

218,000 (rod knock)
Plugs are new OEM (installed a week ago, along with new OEM wires)

Cap and rotor was my next step.
I don't know how many miles are on them.
I pulled the cap and rotor last night and sanded the rust off of the contact points and I also cleaned up the rotor.

 

if you actually needed to "sand the rust off" i would just replace the cap and rotor. they're cheap.

 

Ha - I did the same thing on my jeep last night. It wasnt rust, but carbon buildup on the cap and rotor - I cleaned it off with a screwdriver.

 

sure, yeah i know; carbon. but the point remains, if there's carbon buildup on the cap and rotor you are due to replace it.

service manuals still recommend "checking the condition" of spark plugs, etc. and cleaning them, too. but given the low cost and high, well, functionality for lack of a better word at the moment, impact of these items it is better to replace them than to "recondition" them.

 

OK, I replaced the cap and rotor a little earlier this evening.
Works much better.
However, it's still pretty gutless.

Anyhow, I Am going to fiddle with it a little more.
There is some ticking that sounds like valve noise (increases with engine rpms) not sure if I am so gung ho about messing with those, though.

 

UPDATE

I ran up the same hill this morning.
SAME problem. The truck stalled out when I attempted to climb the hill.
That said the engine was not warmed up yet. But still this thing... I can't believe that all 3VZ's are this gutless.

 

I did a few things today
compression check
fuel pressure check
itming check.
Seafoam

Compression was OK

2 - 120
4 - 135
6 - 140

1 - 150
3 - 30 (yes, 30)
5 - 145

So I have a dead cylinder
Also, I checked the timing.
It was WAY off.
After I adjusted the timing, the truck has alot more power, but the rod knock is more noticable.

Looks like I know what next!

 

I don't understand the above post. You say "Compression OK" yet you list #3 at 30

I don't understand. What do you think is next?

Sorry if I am missing something here...

 

OK was rather tongue in cheek.
It's NOT ok.

Whats next?

Rebuild or replace.

Or..

Upgrade the motor to a 5VZ.

 

Man, my 3.0 isn't that slow or underpowered, something's wrong with yours, give it some TLC and it'll appreciate it

 

Yea, like a dead #3 cylinder (read his post above)

 

2 - 120
4 - 135
6 - 140

1 - 150
3 - 30 (yes, 30)
5 - 145
As always, what I say doesn't seem to apply with 3vz-e's, but that looks like crap across the board, not just 1 dead cylinder. Nearly every Toyota economy engine of the 80s-90s has 142psi minimum, 178 psi normal. No more than 14psi difference between high & low. (Anything more than 14 indicates a problem brewing)
That being said, I'm fairly sure the 3vz-e falls into the 178psi normal, 140psi min.
As a side note, on this 3vz-fe the last time I had a blown HG & torqued the SOB down to 100ft-lb, compression rose out of spec to 185 psi.

I would buy some good head gaskets. (Victor's Nitroseal graphite gaskets @ Napa/Car Quest seem the best over the counter that can be bought w/o going to custom MLS / Copper.)
Send the heads to a machinist to get repaired. most machinist shops will check for warpage for free.
If a side is out of spec, great - you just saved another blown HG down the road.
Most will also include a basic valve job (Lapping + re-surfacing the seat/face if need be) with their basic head repairing surface. They also generally don't charge (or charge much) for re-shimming the valves if they re-assemble it & it's out of spec.
They do most of the heavy cleaning.
More reputable ones will including & checking for cracks / welding them.

Head repairing really isn't expencive if you can take them off yourself & a lot of good comes out of it.


If you've got extra money, 3-angle valve jobs can be had for $10-20 a valve.
Generic porting is bound to do great things for the SOHC heads & isn't very expencive.
If you've got lots of extra money, O/S valves run around $40-50 a valve.

I love good machinists. They're great people. =)