Hey guys,

I have a 97 4Runner SR5 4WD. Today, after taking a quick, one hour, road trip, I noticed that my truck started to act up. At around 50 mph, it starts to jolt. It almost feels like something is slipping, but I cant tell for sure. From a start, I also feel like something slightly slips before it takes off. When I am at speed, around 50 mph, and just touch the gas to accelerate a bit more, it will also give a stuttering feeling. I cant tell if it is the transmission or just bad plugs or something like that.

I did do a search on this subject, but I couldnt find much info about this, or maybe I am an idiot and just dont know how to search right. Anyways, any suggestions that ya'll could offer would be greatly appreciated. At this point, I have no clue what could be wrong, but then again, I guess thats why I am asking ya'll.

Thanks everybody, I appreciate it.

-Jonathan

 

this a auto or a 5spd ?

 

i would start by lubing all the drive shaft zerks. bob has a write up in the tech section. i had close to the same problem, when your on the highway and let off the gas and give it a slight tap, it makes a faint thud...when you caome to a light and brake kinda quick (nose dive a bit) and then let off the brake, same thing but a bit worse....axle wrap! incurable to the 4runners, all we can do is lube everything up. There is a "slip joint" as it has been refered to.

heres a similar thread.https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...ght=slip+joint

if your not haveing the same problem as mine, it still wouldnt hurt to grease the dirve train. heres the link to bobs site: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76371

 

good question! my reply is for probs with the auto!

 

check codes and see if there are any tranny solenoid codes!

 

Oops, my 4Runner is an auto. Sorry about that.

Thanks for the replies ya'll. Hopefully I will have some time tomorrow to play with some things and try and get this problem fixed.

Fireteacher, my problem sounds fairly similar to the one that you had, so I will definitely check out that link.

Thanks again for the help!

 

if its studdering under acceleration, it could also be plugs/wires.

Hit up advance auto parts and ask them to read your codes.

welcome to YT!

If you need a shop to get anything worked on, Virginia Import Service off of Horsepen is awesome. Whitney is very knowledgeable when it comes to Toyotas.

 

of course you can get rid of axle wrap...i did with my tacoma by just upgrading the springs to stronger ones...never had it since then...

 

taken from bob's writeup:

does anybody know which one to use for 2000 and up? does it really matter that much?

 

Valvoline markets a synthetic NGLI-2 grease with moly disulfide added. I've used this for years on both the u-joint and slip yoke Zerk fittings on my '98 and current '03 Runner with good results.

 

Hey guys, I figured I would give ya'll an update on my truck. Yesterday, I took it to one of my mechanic friends and had him read the codes. We figured out that the O2 sensor was running slow and that one of the cylinders was misfiring. That being said, we went ahead and dropped a set of new NGK plugs in. Sure enough, when changing the plugs, we found a carbon trail on the outside of the plug that was misfiring. I also decided to have him go ahead and put on a new O2 sensor because the original one seemed to be wearing out. Finally, we changed my fuel filter, as the original filter was still on the truck. My friend was surprised by the fact that the original filter was still in relatively decent shape, but I guess that goes to show how good these trucks really are. Considering the truck is a '97, I figured that 9 years of service is more than acceptable out of an original O2 sensor and fuel filter. All that being said, my truck is running great again.

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions that ya'll offered, I certainly appreciate it.