I just purchased a 1st gen '88 4runner and the previous owner installed a '95 3vz engine in it. The original engine harness and ECU are still in the car but not everything was switched over to mate with the original harness. The items that I still need to replace are the distributor, fuel injectors and knock sensor. It looks like he switched over all the other sensors already. The distributor is pretty straight forward but can I just relocate the knock sensor so I don't have to tear the engine apart? Or, do they sell a pigtail converter to connect the '95 sensor to the '88 engine harness. I don't want to cut into the engine harness. I actually have the same question for the fuel injectors. The connectors don't mate with the '95 fuel injectors so i was wondering if someone sells a pigtail jumper to connect the two.

 

Does the truck run? I wasn't aware that the harnesses were different between 88-95, though i do know a few bits and pieces are slightly different between the years.

 

It's currently not running but the engine only has 60k. The previous owner had it running but he said it did not run well. He thought it was electrical so he started cutting and splicing everything under the hood. The engine harness looked like spaghetti when I got it so I purchased a new '88 harness since most of the sensors were switched over already. From my research, I think the 89 - 95 years are very similar but the '88 has some differences. I found out that even though the connectors for the fuel injectors and distributor look the same, they do not mate with the '95 parts.

 

Do you have the original 88 motor?

 

No, but I do have the connectors that fit the 95' parts so I think I'm going to try to remove the pins from the '88 engine harness connectors and install them in the '95 connectors. I heard it's not too hard to remove the pins.

 

Sounds like you adopted someone's rats nest of a wiring nightmare. I was going to say that you should just make a hybrid motor using parts from the 88 and the 95 and go from there.