I have been swaped now for nearly 5 months and I love it! For the background i put a 5 sp 1997 runner 3.4 into a 95 4runner that was auto and did the manual swap at same time.. I have been living with three issues and finally want to start looking into why they are occuring. First - I am getting a bad fuel smell that feels like its almost running rich. I don't see any leaks anywhere on the return or main fuel line. I am thinking it is something with the evap but not sure how to trace it back to that. It is really bad when I open her up all the way to pass a car or beat an idiot in a chevy off the light.. Thoughts?Brakes - this is one I just dont get. I didn't touch anything with the brakes but after the swap I am having "spongy" brakes and it almost feels like it is pulsing when I stop. I looked at the vacuum line going to the booster and made sure it was tightened up. I also bled the system some and it helped for a while but started doing it again.. Just weird.. Thoughts? i guess it could just be time for new ones and the timing is making me think they are connected when they really are'nt.Last one - High rpms on freeway - From what I can tell the rpms should be around 2500 when I am going about 70 on the freeway. Mine is anywhere from 3100 to 3700 while I am flying down the highway. It is driving me nuts and I know it is causing me the bad mileage I am getting. I am getting around 15.5 to 16.5.. I really thought with the 5 sp and the 3.4 I would be getting at least 19 or so. I havent had a super amount of time to troubleshoot these items. I am wondering if I have a wiring problem to the ecu or I guess it could actually be a bad vacuum leak. I have messed around a bit looking for a leak but can't find anything. I really don't want to take her into the toyota stealer for some checks.. Can you guys give me some diagnosis help to check on a few items to see if maybe I just missed something putting her together? Also could anyone send me a picture of their evap system and label where their lines go to? I was never able to find someone with a 3.4 to make sure I have them routed correctly.Thanks again guys, I never could have smogged my ride here in cali if it wasnt for ya'all!! Yep, BAR certified baby!!

 

Sorry for the long story above.. I don't know why when I post it doesn't look anything like what I have typed. It won't put in the returns and spacing like it looks when I type it up... So sorry guys.

 

Glad to hear you got your swap done. On one of my swaps I had a bad fuel smell for a while and it turned out to be a leaky injector, it was very slight but smelt awful. I replaced all the o rings and it fixed it. If you do that be very careful you lube them and don't pinch them, I had to redo my like twice. It sucked. I am pretty sure mine was around 3500 rpms on the freeway and I was getting around 20. Maybe a leaky injector is hosing you. Just a thought.

 

Thanks and how did you track it down to a leaky injector. I actually have been thinking it was something with my injectors. I will try to research the procedure for determining this but if you have a second could you let me know what your process was? Also, did you just replace them all since you have to do it on one? Thanks again!

 

What I did was removed the plenum so I could see the fuel rail and injectors. Then I put power to the COR pin in the body harness plug, so it would jump the fuel pump. While the fuel pump is going you can see if you have a leak. On mine it was bubbling slightly where the top of the injector met the fuel rail. I replaced all of the o rings while I had the fuel rail apart. Make sure they go on easy so you don't tear them. Use lube. I used Vaseline. Good Luck.

 

hmmm So I have a richness smell when my engine is cold. Is that what you are talking about? seems like it is using more fuel than normal? And for the brakes. I have noticed that sometimes I lose my vacuum even though I know I have the 1-way valve going the right way in the line. So sometimes when I am going to start it on a hill it kinda sucks.

High rpms.. So this is something that I have been fighting since I did the swap. So if you are used to an auto, then you are not going to like this. But you most likely have 4.88 gears in your runner. The auto has like a .70 overdrive. This gave you the lower rpm at freeway speeds. The 5 spd has a .83 5th gear. If you have stock tires, with 4.88's and a 5spd, then yes you will have really high rpm's at highway speeds. I have 5.29's with 35's. It kinda sucks. BUT I am in the process of trying to find a 5th gear out of an r452 tranny. With that, our 5th gear would go to .70. It should bring us down to low 2k's..

Sorry for the long post...

 

I have the stock gearing with the gears and auto and running just 31.5's so no big tires or anything. It is weird when I hit 81ish. Feels like my truck is gonna fall apart! It is more when I punch the gas is when I really smell the fuel smell. Sometimes its all the time.I have a question for you guys, do you have the fuel pressure vsv hooked in? I just noticed I don't have one and I was praying that my fuel issue is related to this. I saw a check for it in the toyota repair manual and I was so excited that it may be the issue for me. It looks like it should be hooked in at the back of the engine right by the plenum and pressure regulator. Although I don't see any non used plugs at all so either it was cut off or njust not used. My motor was not complete when I got it so I may have just missed it but if you guys could do a quick check. I think my vacuum routing is jacked some.. I am also getting a whistling sound down by my power steering pump so I don't know what to make of that. I am thinking of having someone do a smoke check on it to figure it out..

 

I personally have had no evap or vsv's and did not have that issue. I remember smelling fuel way bad, it was hot air as well. It was weird but went away once I fixed the injector.

 

So the reason why I know about the high rpm thing is that I just did a 3.4swap and auto to 5spd swap. And the 4runner had stock 4.88's from the auto, and is running on 31's. The owner hates it. way to low for his liking. And he isn't planning on lifting it any more than the 1 inch body lift to clear the motor.

I thought only 95 and 96s has the FPU vsv. ppl have bypassed it though. Then it is like everybody elses. a vacuum line from the regulator to the nipple coming from the intake. maybe the regulator is messed up and is causing to much pressure in the line? or something...

 

For the brakes: A pulsation likely means warped rotors. Drums "usually" dont warp. Check the rear brake adjustment though, everybody seems to overlook that. Lightly pull the parking brake until they just start to touch, drive it like that and if the sponginess is gone, they need to be adjusted. As far as the fuel smell: Is it running rich or is it leaking? Do you have a check engine light on? If it is actually running rich, it might set a p0171. Yes that is a lean code, It means the ecu is being confused into thinking its lean and is adding additional fuel when it isn't necessary.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I haven't been back on for a while so sorry for that. I still havent fixed any issues except I did replace a couple vacuum lines and the slight surges during idle have died down some. Chris I did verify I have the 4.88 set up. Have you thought about replacing them with a 4.56 set up? Or even lower ratio? It drives me nuts too. Seriously it feels like my car is coming apart at 80mph. If I were to replace the gearing down to a lower ratio what do I need to replace? I did remove the intake plenum and looked around for gas leaks and didn't see any coming out the top so if I do have a leak it is internal. The exhaust does smell rich but I am not getting any codes at all so I don't understand it. Maybe I do have an injector leak and just didn't detect it. One weird thing though, I hooked up a fuel pressure test set to the fuel rail (borrowed from autozone) and I had nothing registering on it. Either when I tured the key to on or when it was actually started. I must have hooked it up wrong because obviously I can't have zero pressure because the engine cranks up fine and runs.. Am I missing something.? I will do the rear brake adjustment test tonight. Hopefully that is something this easy. Thanks again guys!

 

If you have 4.88 gears, this is a good excuse to get bigger tires....throw in a mild lift like 1.5" then put 33's on it.