Well I am happy to say that I just finished up putting new head gaskets on my '93 4Runner with the 3VZE! It was a bit tricky, but with all the good reading material on here I had no major problems... if I were to do it again, it would seriously take half the time, but oh well!

Anyway, there are 3 remaining issues that I was hoping people could shed light on:

1. I have maxxed out the throttle cable adjustment and there is still more slack than I would like to see... has anyone encountered this before?

2. I put a timing light on the truck, and although it runs seemingly well, the timing mark shows up quite a ways off of the markings on the timing cover... almost like I am 30* advance. yes, I do have the knob on the timing light set at 0*, though I did not jumper the terminals and I do have a high idle, I cannot imagine that would make that big of a difference. Is it possible my dizzy is a tooth off? i know the timing belt was set dead nuts on, so rule that out.

3. the 4runner smells like raw fuel when driving and sitting. It almost seems like it's losing fuel pressure because it cranks for quite a while at the first start in the morning. Should I check my injector o-rings and pulse dampner?

4. bonus 4th question. High Idle. Maybe it's related to these other problems? at startup it's around 2000 RPM, once warm around 1500 RPM. my innitial though is that maybe one of the fuel injectors is leaking causing more fuel than normal to enter the intake path? Is this possible?

Thanks in advance!

 

1. mine has slack also, maybe someone else can shed some light here.
2. You need to jumper in order to set the timing properly, when you remove the jumper you will notice a timing change.
3. yes
4. related to number 2.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge and better definitions will chime in.

 

I was under the impression that jumping the terminals only shifted timing by 3 degrees or so... that really would hardly make a difference when the truck is 20-30 degrees off where it should be? And how does timing cause high idle?

 

On the throttle/accelerator cable, you're adjusting the wrong end!! Check behind the pedal, there's a bushing on the cable. The bushing cracks/wears out and you end up with half of your pedal travel just taking up the slack in the bushing. Replace with a piece of fuel hose cut to the same length and a hose clamp around it, you'll be surprised what a quick difference it makes.

 

Was it like that before you did the head gasket replacement?

 

You're correct, it's not going to make enough of a difference to get you where you need to be for a stock base/initial ingition timing setting. You probably have the distributor installed a tooth off.

The ignition timing adjustment causes the idle speed to change because you're effectively increasing or decreasing the power output of the engine. The more advanced the ignition timing, the more efficiently the fuel is being burned, and consequently the more power the engine produces. The more retarded the ignition timing, the less efficiently the fuel is being burned, and therefore the less the engine's power output will be. Which is why ignition timing adjustment is an engine tuner's best friend, it's simple/straight-forward and very effective. So getting back to the topic at hand, an engine making more power on a given amount of fuel, or rather air and fuel, wants to spin faster. To lower the idle to the correct speed when the ignition timing is advanced beyond stock requires choking the engine, as in reducing/starving the air supply(which also effectively lowers the fuel's burning efficiency and/or lowers the engine's power output). No real trick there, just turn the idle speed adjustment screw on the throttle body in untill the desired idle speed is achieved. Or in your case, return the base/initial ignition timing to the stock setting of 10° BTDC(8° BTDC without the check connectors jumped).

Now, on the accelerator cable issue. You haven't done anything wrong there. The adjustment should be made in the manner you did. The cable, as with any cable, will stretch a little over time with constant usage. The bushing on the pedal end will also tend to crush, or disintegrate, with usage also. That's why the cable's tension is adjustable. Replacing the bushing should get you some extra life/added ajustability out of the cable.

 

You're off one tooth. There are 13 teeth on the distributor gear; one tooth = 360/13 = 27degrees. Since it is a helical gear the rotor turns as you slide the distributor in (the mark on the gear takes that into account, but it is an easy mistake to make).

 

yes, i noticed that as i pushed this distributer in it turned clockwise by about 30 degrees... i figured they must take that into account. i will try re-installing the distributer and checking the timing to see if I can fix that issue.

the funny part is that the first time i installed the dist i aligned a square mark on the bottom of the distributer gear with the notch putting it about 30 degrees retarded... it actually ran, but barely! they should be more specific in the FSM haha!

 

thanks for the info, your posts on this forum in general are quite helpful! unfortunately a friend did the throttle cable disconnection, so I didn't get to note what it was like before... but i really feel like it's too loose especially for being maxxed out. either way, i just bought this 4Runner to fix and resell so I guess it doesn't matter toooo mcuh

 

It may or may not help, but here is a photo of my throttle linkage since you did not disassemble yours.

 

Well good news on the #3 and #4... I removed my intake manifold last night (so much easier!) and noticed that the middle injector on the passengers side was leaky. Pulled out the rail only to find that I had accidently forgotten the little rubber isolator that fits on the injector and seals with the lower intake... and somehow I put two of them on the front one haha. So I put it all back together and the idle fixed as well! Still gotta check the timing again and maybe pull the dizzy but i'm close to being finished. there was no fuel smell this morning and it started up way quicker on the first try this morning... so that is good news .

I bought this vehicle to fix and sell, but wow... I am so tempted to keep it haha!

 

Thanks for the pic. It looks like I did re-install mine correctly, but to get the slack out of my cable I had to shift the two nuts that hold the cable to the bracket right up against the rubber end cap of the cable. I do notice that your nuts are in about the same position as mine were before I started shifting them forwar to take out the slack... I'm going to check the pedal end of the throttle cable tonight.