Hello everyone. Just a quick intro, my dad worked for Toyota Corprate for years and his first company company car was a second gen 4runner. I’ve always liked 4runner’s but I always had Tacoma’s. Through his employee lease I had a ‘96, ‘98, ‘99, and a 2000 that I owned for 15 years until it sadly got totaled. My wife had a ‘99 4runner that also got totaled (rear ended at a stop light). Fast forward a few years I replaced my Tacoma with Subaru STI, and my wife ended up with a Honda Pilot (never again with Honda). I was missing having a Toyota truck and came up on an opportunity to buy a 1995 4runner 5 speed 4x4 in decent shape really cheap. It has become an extra vehicle that I’ve modded lightly to be an off-road toy and keep the miles on the STI lower. In the past year of having it I’ve done some little things as well as a head gasket job. It still leaks a little oil but otherwise I drive it almost everyday.

tldr: since getting it back from the head gasket job, my idle is pretty high. I recently figured out a way to get it back to normal idle by very lightly tapping the gas pedal a few times and the rpms at idle drop down to where they should until I start driving again and when I come to a stop again it the rpms stay high. (About 1200-1500). When cleaning the throttle body at one point, the cover and little sponge thing on the dash pot fell off and were lost so my dash pot is open. Not sure if that would have anything to do with it. The fact that I can lightly tap the throttle and the rpms drop makes me think it’s something with the throttle plate closing. I also think I need to trace all the vacuum lines and replace them since they are very old. Thanks!!! Glad to be back to the Toyota Family.

 

It could also be the throttle cable needing a good lubrication. Maybe it's sticking slightly, holding the throttle plate off the idle stop. When you give the throttle pedal a few taps, it may allow the cable to go all the way to it's idle position properly.

The throttle plate is very easy to lube, too. A small shot of a dry-skid type lube will do the job nicely, and keep it from gathering dust, dirt, etc.

As to the dash-pot being "open": it is anyway. That little foam piece is just to keep dust/dirt out when it's drawing air into itself, through the small hole in it where the foam was, allowing the throttle plate to close more slowly, rather than slamming shut when the pedal is released suddenly, like when shifting gears. If you have any doubts, just disconnect the dashpot from the throttle body, and see what happens. It won't damage anything when you pull it off for a short test. I wouldn't drive it that way, or shift without a daspot installed too many times. A short test is safe, though.
Dashpots like that are pretty inexpensive, I am certain. Having said that, as long as nothing came out of the dashpot when it came apart, just glue the cover back on, and spot-tie a piece of foam onto it again. Then test it to be sure it's properly functional. The FSM has to procedure for testing it. Pretty simple test.

Good luck!
Pat☺