RedYota93

So I have a 2000 3.4 4x4 automatic. I waspulling a trailer about a month ago when all of a sudden my truck "popped" (possibly backfired, but I didnt think so) and started running rough. My transfer case also came out of 4x4 when this happened. If you put your hand on the intake plenum or hold the steering wheel(or sit in the seat really) you can feel the truck shaking pretty bad. I ran a compression test and had a low cylinder, so I broke down and did my first head gasket job. Checked my valves and had my heads shaved. The machinist said they were warped pretty badly. I got done and cranked it up only to find it still shaking. There are no codes or lights on the dash. Also have lots of oil on the passenger side. Posted on Tacoma World but they were no help. Please help, I need my truck back!

old87yota

Were you able to verify that the head gasket was the cause of your low compression?

I would run a new compression test to see if you still have low compression on one (or more) of the cylinders.

Are you sure you got the timing belt lined up correctly?

What do you mean by lots of oil on the passenger side? Do you have a substantial oil leak?

I am not as familiar with the 5VZ-E as I am with the 22R-E, but I hope that gives you a starting place.

akwheeler

#1 where is the oil coming from? only you can tell us.
#2 which cylinder is misfiring? put a timing light on each spark plug and see if they are all firing, pull one off at a time until you find one that doesn't change how the engine is running.
#3 is that plug wet?
#4 is the compression good on that cylinder?

fierohink

RedYota93

On the first compression test before the head gasket, I had all cylinders between 150-160 psi except the #4 cylinder at 118 psi. After the head gasket they are between 149-159 psi, all of them . As for oil leaks, never had a drop come out before the day it started running rough. Only noticed the oil when I popped the hood to see if I could find the problem . I already cleaned most of it off, but it was most everywhere on the passenger side .All over the inner fender, in the exhaust heat shield, on the side of the motor. The one place I know there was not a drop was the cv axle.

RedYota93

And Im quite sure my timing is right, I double checked my cam timing, and spun my timing marks around twice to verify my belts timing.

fierohink

the timeline and results of any testing prior to the bang and vibration are basically irrelevant. When you had the big pop, and the truck jumped out of 4wd, something happened. Whether it was teeth shearing off in the transfer case or putting a hole in the block.

You need to perform another compression test, if you can, with the vibration.

Check the oil to see how much you lost. Hot oil as a mist can coat a lot of things but not amount to much, if you're down 2+ quarts you have a whole somewhere.

akwheeler

So, is it the #4 cylinder that is misfiring? or is it random?
if you have verified timing and the compression is good now the only things left are to verify that you are indeed getting spark to all of the cylinders and all of the injectors are working (also not continually spraying fuel) and eliminate the possibility of a vacuum leak.
As to the oil leak, we can't see your truck so you need to tell us where the oil is coming from.

RedYota93

Ok, I think you might have the timeline a little but off, or maybe I mistyped it. The pop happened and I did a compression test, had bad compression and changed my head gasket . Now I have good compression . As far as the oil goes, I drained it the day it happened(last month) and it honestly seemed like it all came out, and clean . The oil that was on it was smoking amd burning off, and now that has stopped also(yes, I still have oil) I know I probably have a leak somewhere maybe when it gets pressure, but I honestly am only worried about getting it running correctly right now. All my injectors, plugs, plug wires, and coils have ohmed good. I cant find a cylinder that doesnt drag the motor down when I disconnect the plug wire . I plan on buying a fuel pressure tester soon if that is a good idea? Also, after a little research, I believe I could have a clogged injector? Is there any way to know this? I cant fit my spark tester on the passenger side where the coils go, but I can hear them arc to the motor when I disconnect then . Cylinders 2, 4, and 6 all had a decent spark in the tester .It has new plug wires from 4 months ago . Also got a new alternator and tps sensor then .

akwheeler

I think you need to hook up to a scan tool that will show cylinder misfires. if it is running rough, there are cylinders misfiring. if it is the same one all the time you can try switching coils or plug wires or spark plugs from one to another and see if the miss moves from one cylinder to the other, you can do the same with injectors but it is more trouble. if the misfires are random you need to be looking at vacuum leaks or maybe fuel pressure issues.
with the pop you mentioned I would suspect you had a backfire and now there is a vacuum leak somewhere.

akwheeler

you verified the belt timing (valve timing), but did you put a timing light on it to verify spark timing?

fierohink

Testing injectors is tough. If you have the equipment, pay someone who does, you can flow test them by measuring how much fuel they pass over a given time. I think brown tops flow around 275cc. If they are flowing less than that, that's a problem. The other trouble with injectors is they rely on coil inside to function, and that coil shorts or fails often with age and temperature. So you would need to heat up the injectors and then bench test them to see how well they are working.

If you have the truck running long enough that it will throw a misfire code, you can swap injectors around and see if the misfire code moves with the swap.

Can you take a video with a phone or camera and upload it to youtube? Hearing and seeing things can help us jump to better conclusions. One mans rough running is another mans stumble and hesitation.