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So - I have to say, I've started reading your thread before I did my engine work.... and it may be the single largest source of my fear and paranoia around building my motor! I'm sorry to hear all the struggles you've had and are having around it, no fun at all. But your persistence is encouraging!
Your work is all very awesome, love the door panels and tweeter mounts. Bumper designs look awesome, dual battery mods look awesome.... thanks for sharing and keep it up, appreciate everything!
So - I have to say, I've started reading your thread before I did my engine work.... and it may be the single largest source of my fear and paranoia around building my motor! I'm sorry to hear all the struggles you've had and are having around it, no fun at all. But your persistence is encouraging!
My biggest suggestions would be to pick a machine shop that knows what they're doing if you're rebuilding (aka have done some of these before)- it also helps if they're close to where you live and stand behind their work. Don't go to a hot-rod shop as they won't give your little motor much respect next to all the hemi's and big blocks they have around. Buy good parts, Toyota Head Gasket, and spend a few extra dollars on the metal backed timing guides and ARP head studs. It's not as complicated as some may think.....I had never taken apart a car engine before any of this.
My biggest suggestions would be to pick a machine shop that knows what they're doing if you're rebuilding (aka have done some of these before)- it also helps if they're close to where you live and stand behind their work. Don't go to a hot-rod shop as they won't give your little motor much respect next to all the hemi's and big blocks they have around. Buy good parts, Toyota Head Gasket, and spend a few extra dollars on the metal backed timing guides and ARP head studs. It's not as complicated as some may think.....I had never taken apart a car engine before any of this.
Well lucky me... I live in Oregon and work about 15 minutes away from engnbldr's shop.... so you can guess where I went and who did my work and where I bought my parts! 300 miles in so far and all appears to be well....
Got the engine bay degreased, adjusted the angle of the MAF, replaced the gasket on the valve cover, set the timing correctly, and filled it back up with oil. Just from the 30 minute drive into work today, the back windshield is completely soaked in oil splatters and it had more than a few drips on the ground when I pulled up and parked. I probably will just sleep up at the shop the next couple of days until I get it sorted out and find the source of the leak as I don't want to be driving it back and forth losing oil like this. I have to admit though, it ran smooth as silk with the timing set correctly (I also think that corrected the heat issue, but not sure).
I've got all of the stuff up at work to get the rear panels fabricated and will also try to get that buttoned up......ANNNND I managed to pick up a set of Rugged Ridge fender flares (for when I go to bigger tires) as well as a cheap distributor for the carb motor and a spare AC pump off craigslist from a guy that swapped in a V8.
In the meantime, we also got the 86 stripped and are prepping it for a coat of UPOL Raptor bedliner inside and out as you can see below:
The more I think about the oil leak, the more I'm suspect that it's the oil pan to front timing cover seal that's leaking. I put the motor together on a stand, but had to pull the timing cover off after I had installed the pan. I think I'm going to try to get it up to the shop tonight so I can toss it up on the lift and pull the pan, clean it all, and re-seal it. After I got the motor installed, there were a few drips coming out of the front at the bottom right of the timing cover.....at the time I didn't think much about it and tried to smear a little more RTV on it. Now, I'm guessing under pressure and warmed up, that little leak is what's causing the oil issues.
In other news.....I decided to get a little crazy and do the entire back panel in one piece. I had already cut the templates out for separate pieces, but once I realized there's an extra plastic part below the front seatbelt and that it would need to be seamed somehow in the middle, I said to heck with it and went full bore. Here's a shot of the cardboard mockup (tried it without cardboard first and it failed miserably.....don't cut corners) as well as the initial panel cut out.
Obviously I've got to figure out the Sub box, 6 1/2" baffle, how I want to do the locking cargo panels, and whether or not I'm gong to add in any lights or fans (for the amplifiers) and where those would go.....but I thought it'd be good to at least get the initial panel set up and ready for the "add on" stuff I want to do.
seams? Ain't nobody got time for that!
one single panel....going to get pinch trim on the top and bottom edge - ends wrap and tuck under existing pinch trim. You can see that 10" sub hole is going to be tight. May have to get some shallow mount subs instead of the ones I have now.
Well, I pulled the oil pan in the parking lot at work. Tried to reseal it, added oil and drove home.
Lost 3 quarts on the drive home and the entire undercarriage was soaked as well as the back window......I think that made it even worse.
So.....what to do....what to do.....
I drove it up to the car wash and degreased everything, soaped, then washed it all off, including the engine bay and the underside of the hood. I wanted to see If I could pinpoint where the oil was coming from. the short drive home was less than a mile, and wasn't at any kind of speed, but by the time I got to the house there was oil everywhere again. No luck finding it. I was even going to try and add in the UV Dye and see If I couldn't see it under a blacklight, but with oil all over everything, I didn't even think that would help.
whelp.....That was the straw that broke the camel's toe. I decided that I needed to pull the motor and go through all of the seals to double check everything (and also get a good seal back on the oil pan.
I pulled the motor and went over everything. Resealed it all. EGR crossover obsolete plate, sensors, pan, timing cover, oil pump, water pump, heck, I even decided to RTV silicone the stinking valve cover on when I was done.
determined to find and eliminate that oil leak
A while back, I helped a buddy convert his rig to propane, when doing so, I noticed a great little cheap mod that I went ahead and incorporated.
The heater pipe that attaches to the lower intake right below the sensor is a PITA to get on there because you usually have to loosen or completely remove one of the bolts on the EGR crossover which is about 1/2" from the firewall and tough to get to (without ratcheting box end wrenches). by adding a short length of heater hose to that pipe, you give it enough flexibility to move a little for ease of installation without having to pull that rear bolt. I figured since I had everything out and was going through it all, I might as well add this mod in now. I bought a pipe flaring tool to add a bit of a flare at the end of the pipes to help keep them from leaking or pulling the clamps loose.
gear to give a little flex to the wrap around heater pipe
I decided to cut the jog out of it....roughly 3" or so
end flared a tiny bit to help the hose stay on
cheap flaring tool from Ace hardware ($15 or so)
both flared ends and then filed to make sure they aren't sharp and cut into the hose
heater hose (roughly 6") installed
Flex that line!
Sadly, I didn't have any "Eureka!" moments or find any specific thing that was certainly the cause or location of the leak. However, there were 4 or 5 things it may have been. The main seal got replaced (must have been nicked when it was installed and had a seal saver), rear EGR crossover delete plate was loose (from the bolt that has to be removed for the heater pipe), the half moon seals were both loose, and the oil pan was bent on all 4 corners (from someone hammering a chisel or something in it to break the seal). I bought the crazy industrial sized can of Ultra Black and used it like Paula Dean uses butter. I have to admit, after squeezing and rolling multiple metal tubes of RTV in the past, the new design that's pressurized and works almost like string cheese or your shaving cream and is worth it's weight in gold for ease of use and being able to get into tight places.
Finally got it all back together and drove in to work (after a slight overheating issue that was remedied by adding a full gallon (I was really short) of antifreeze). So far, not a drop of oil on the ground underneath the rig when I got to work, and everything seemed to run fine (although I need to reset the timing).
Here is what the rear panels will look like....I managed to get one of them covered with the vinyl diamond tread although I still need to build the sub boxes, brackets to mount the amps, soundproof everything, and make the rear access panel removable with my fancy boat pull and locks.
Out of town for a while, but hoping to work on the interior this weekend.
pretty darn tight fit.....hopefully waterproof once I get the rest done (and yeah.....I'm the kind of guy that tries to get the pattern to match all the way across.
Access panel will get a stainless marine hatch pull and lock (keyed to the same key as my ignition)
hole for the rear 6 1/2" speaker and the crazy jog on the passenger's side to accommodate the fuel neck hump.
Man... you sir are nothing if not persistent! I would have set that rig on fire in the driveway and watched her burn long since. My hat is off to you, much respect for sticking with it, hopefully you've got the issues licked!
Was working all weekend at the office and didn't get much of a chance to get anything done on the rig. I did however have the nice opportunity to be riding about 70 only feet away from a retaining wall on one side and a big rig on my other side while my front left tire decided to completely come apart at the seams. Luckily I was able to get a GI Joe kung fu grip on the steering wheel and ride it out until I was over the bridge. Of course I had cleared everything out of the back (including my spare and jack), so had to take an Uber to the house, remove a tire from the '86 Runner and grab a jack and Uber it back to the rig. Got everything swapped out and drove it back to the house. Obviously the tires are different sizes along with being different rims, so I'm trying NOT to drive it much this week commuting back and forth and staying near the office. I quickly remembered why I had made the spare that particular tire after I saw the horribly uneven wear on it. That must have been the front right tire when the shock had pulled out of the tower - completely worn on one side and hardly at all on the other - major camber or castor issue that has since been resolved, but I didn't even want to put that spare on. So.....it looks like I'll be buying a couple new tires this weekend....I just didn't realize that these particular tires would be so tough to find. Federal Couragia M/T 30x9.5x15 - really like the look of them as well as their overall performance as they're like a light version of the interco thornbirds with flat road contact areas and a few aggressive lugs towards the edges.
I'm eventually wanting to go with 33" x 12.5 x 15" with the 3" cutout fender flares, but I'll have to do a mild body lift, regear from 4:10s to 4:88's, and get new rims (with bigger backspacing).....so that's a little further off time and budget wise at the moment, so some replacement tires is probably the way to go and I'll move this set over to the '86 when I upgrade.
However, I did make a little progress after work last night on getting one side soundproofed and getting the tailgate cover installed.
Inside side panel fully soundproofed
Still have to use some Black RTV silicone to finish the edge at the top, but looks pretty good
got two new tires put on today and they look great. I guess I didn't realize how worn out my others were (Until I saw them next to the new ones), so I may need to get a couple more coming up sometime soon and keep the best old one for the spare.
Sadly, another super hot project popped up at work and I'll likely be working on that most if not all of the weekend. However, I did find a pretty good deal on a 22RE 89-95 full engine for $50 some guy got in a storage auction, So I may have to take a break and try and figure out how to load that badboy by myself....into the back of the 4Runner (I plan on just stripping it for parts / sensors / etc.)
Hoping to have a chance to get more stuff done soon......
Checking all the fluids and stuff today before heading home and noticed oil in the radiator overflow and in the radiator. Here's the kicker....plain oil (not milky sludge) in the oil pan. That means I'm getting oil into the cooling system, but not antifreeze/water into the oil or crank case. Puzzling.
I'm going to flush it out tonight and run a house through it (heater open) to see if I can't clean it out and see if more oil gets in there.
When I had the motor on the stand, I'm thinking I could have tipped it over and some of the residual oil made its way into a water passage. Radiator flush, new fluid and see if it happens again.
I put some antifreeze additive in it that may not have mixed well with the pink. Flush, new fluid, no additive..hopefully it's fine.
Otherwise I'll pull it and do all new gaskets (already have a set I was going to use on that other motor)
After thinking about it this weekend, and literally going over everything I've learned about these engines in my head, as well as everything leading up to this point ....I may have a completely different scenario as to why there it's oil in the radiator.
After dropping the motor back in the other day I forgot to run it up to warm and top off the radiator. I was already late to work (after having to take a day off to work on it) and just hopped in once it was running and took off. The air pockets in the motor quickly made their way back to the radiator as the engine warmed up and it started overheating. I did exactly what I normally do...turned the heater on full blast and limped it to a nearby PepBoys to get more antifreeze (i knew almost instantly I had a brain fart and had forgotten to properly fill the system.) No big deal...more antifreeze and I'm off right? No more over heating.
Of course I had flushed out the system including running the heater after the engine had blown so badly the first go around so it should have been completely clean. However, and kind of oddly, my actions the other day mimicked those the day it blew. I turned on not only the front heater full blast, but because my rig was an SR5, I also have a heater core and squirrel cage fan in the console for the rear floorboard that I had also turned on hoping to circulate and cool as much fluid as possible. My guess is that I never flushed that rear heater core or lines as I haven't had any reason to turn on the back heater until I overheated the other morning (it's funny how our behavior doesn't change in crisis modes).
It could be the that some oil got down a coolant passageway when I turned it over on the stand, or maybe that console heater core was still full of sludge from 2 years ago (can't believe it's been that long), either way, I'll flush it and replace everything with new fluid and see if it continues to happen before doing anything further.
I also think having a weekend off and having time to sit and think about it really helped.....annnd I picked up another 22RE (same year as mine) for extra parts, sensors, etc for $50 this weekend, which is also nice
Last edited by joelsmithdesigns; 07-17-2016 at 03:22 PM.
wow... I have really enjoyed this thread... thanks for the hours spent in this discussion.
I'm new to the 22RE and just acquired a 1985 Auto 4WD truck. any chance you can help me identify a part?
It has a cable coming out of it which is attached to the throttle...I believe it is part of the cruise control system.
There's a blue & white wire that are twisted together that go to what I believe is some kind of coil but it's broken and was just hanging...
not sure where it goes to but I think maybe it is supposed to attach under the EFI in front of the thermostat housing. (I may just need a connector to fix this)... here's a couple of pics.
Again, as a total newbie, if this is not an appropriate place to ask, let me know and I will remove this post.
not sure where it goes to but I think maybe it is supposed to attach under the EFI in front of the thermostat housing. (I may just need a connector to fix this)... here's a couple of pics.
The piece you think is missing goes to the EGR BVSV (or the Exhaust Gas Reticulation Bi-Metal Vacuum Switching Valve). It's just a little cap that covers a sponge filter and allows air to be sucked in through that switch. You can spend a cool $95 on a new one here 1/2 way down the page:
I'm new to the 22RE and just acquired a 1985 Auto 4WD truck. any chance you can help me identify a part?
It has a cable coming out of it which is attached to the throttle...I believe it is part of the cruise control system.
There's a blue & white wire that are twisted together that go to what I believe is some kind of coil but it's broken and was just hanging...
I don't have an automatic (thus my cruise control is a size 13 cowboy boot wedged against the floorboard), and the '85-88 EFI motors are a little different than the '89-95 (what I have), but I'll check my manual and see if I can't find you a decent wiring diagram with the color codes. Definitely looks like your PO (Previous Owner) hacked and terminated something there.
That box which you claim is cruise control is not factory. You'll need to try to find a manufacturer or model number and research that to find any wiring specs.
Don't waste your money replacing that valve with a new one. If you're concerned about the little cap missing you can get one from the junkyard for way less.
06-24-2016, 11:04 AM
