I have a 91 toyota pickup with a 3VZE 5-speed 2WD. Recently i have been experiencing lack of power from the truck. Some days when i would start the truck up it would spit and sputter from the exhaust. It was almost like a knocking sound coming from the exhaust as if it was misfiring. When i would go to give it gas all it would do would spudder and slowly gain speed but some days it would be completely fine. I also noticed that the engine was running a lot hotter then usual. I thought it was my spark plugs, rotor, cap, wires, and all that stuff so i replaced all of it. Had my fuel pump replaced, as well as fuel filter and fuel pump sock. New injectors and all that good stuff. Today it started acting up on me again and running like crap, pressed the gas and it would just spit and knock from the exhaust. Took her home today only to find that the dipstick for oil wasn't reading any oil at all, i was about 2 quarts low. Filled her up and she seams to be running alright. Would low oil levels cause these types of symptoms or would it be something else?

 

could be completely unrelated.
how could it eat that much oil?
when was the last time you checked it?
last change?

clean your throttle body and check your air filter.
also check the intake for cracks in the hoses

 

I got to the "2 quarts low" part, and now I feel ill. That might be a concern, yeah. Hope it ain't trashed. I gotta go get some air.

 

2 uarts low still shows on the dip stick, these engines have a huge oil pans, it amazes me.

 

i just brought the truck out maybe 2 weeks ago, before i brought it out i changed the oil and oil filter. When i checked the oil last night it was only showing up barely on the dipstick. It runs fine now that i added oil but i cant believe its leaking that fast. Air filter is brand new, intake is brand new, along with all the silicon couplings. New TPS, MAF, spark plugs, dist. cap, rotor, wires, valve cover gaskets, ignitor/coil, alternator, radiator, all hoses, almost everything has been replaced. Its fine now just still seems to have loss of power. I put a new fuel pump in about 2 weeks ago because my engine was hesitating really bad and was only pushing about 12LBS of pressure. I replaced that and the truck ran awesome up until last night. The engine isnt trashed, i keep great care of the truck believe me, about a week ago the oil was completely fine, i have no clue why it just started running like ☺☺☺☺ again, but now its fine, no taps or anything and runs great, but still feels slugish then what is used to, maybe i water in the gas or something.

 

I always check my oil daily when i first buy a truck .. Until i learn what its going to do.. Its a good habbit to make your self do.. The first few days if i'm running it alot , i might check it several times

 

so is it leaking or is it burning it? if its not leaking you should do a compression test

 

x2 on the compression


also, fuel filter?

 

missing oil + "hotter than normal" i'm thinking possible HG?

 

He said fuel filter in first post.

I leak about a quart every week or so (rear main, oil pan, valve covers....) and have has it so it was just barely touching the dipstick. If you were only 2 quarts low you should be fine. Back in the day they would drain 2 quarts to get more horsepower.

 

I don't think 2 quarts would have done any damage, especially since you caught it.

When I first bought mine, I was told it had a rebuild done 10K ago, I checked it when I first got it home and it was full, so I didn't check it for a few weeks, and when I did, it took me 3.5 quarts to get to the Full line on the dipstick. I was running around towing a trailer with A/C on and all with about 1.5qts in the engine. I felt physically ill for about 2 days.

But the engine never even hickuped, and never made any noise and I haven't had any issues at all.

Now I check it every day. Must be burning a lot because I went through 3.5qts in about 750 miles.....no leaks anywhere!!

I agree with Robrt32, when you get a new(used) truck, check it every day.