Mobius1

Hi guys, I'm new to these forums!

I have a 1986 pickup, 22RE that has been a real struggle to take on the highway. I live in Montana, and the highways here can have their fair share of hills, and my truck can barely hit 50 MPH on many of them, downshifting into 4th. Some steeper hills I even downshift into 3rd gear and it's a struggle. I get a lot of people pissed off at me because the speed limit is generally 70, and everyone loves to drive 80!!

The truck is mostly stock, but it has a header and 31 inch tires. It has a pretty light camper shell on it, but I don't really notice a difference with it on or off. I have suspected the gearing could have something to do with my troubles, but then again even in 4th it feels way too gutless. I tested the compression and I got 150 on every cylinder. Not great, but not THAT bad, right? It has new plug wires, new igniter, new plugs, new distributor. I cleaned and tested the fuel injectors too.

One thing I have noticed, is once I get about halfway on the throttle, giving it any more gas makes no noticeable difference. This makes me suspect it's a fuel issue. I checked the TPS based on what the manual says, and everything checks out, but I suspect it could be that. I did check the throttle and it is fine - fully closed when not giving gas and fully open when the pedal is down.

Anyone have any ideas on this? Or is this motor just truly this gutless? I could rebuild it which would help some, but is 150 compression really that bad? As far as the gear, aren't these 4.10 stock? That should only mean like a 10% difference going to 31".

toyoda addict

I can't say you are not having some kind of an issue but the 22re is pretty gutless. 50 up hill is pretty standard if the hills are big/long. These trucks where never intended to do 70+mph.
Gearing will help but depending on what you use the truck for it might make more sense to go down a tire size or two. I think the stock size was 29". If you are interested in larger tires you could gear to 4.88 and see how it does with your 31's and if its too much gear for your liking move up to a 33's.
4.56 is supposed to be the ideal gearing for 31's but it seems like a lot of expense just to run a slightly larger tire. I guess if you really want the 31's and don't ever plan on running a larger tire it would make sense. You can also find stock diffs with 4.56 gears, if your lucky.

All said and done the 22re is what it is. Short of possibly adding a turbo, their is nothing you can do to it that will have you pulling the big hills at 60+mph. I would not recommend rebuilding your engine unless It absolutely needs it.

Mobius1

That's what I was worried about.

The other option I have been considering is to do an engine swap.

Honestly, I don't need a LOT of power. Off road my truck does wonderfully, and I don't drive fast on the highway anyways. It's just so bad it's not only awful on the highway where I live (lots of stretches with no passing) but also terrible for my fuel economy. I've thought about swapping to an OM617 or 3L-TE, but I would much prefer to keep it as simple and stock as possible. I also bought a brand new AC compressor which cost me a pretty penny, so changing the motor hurts in that regard too!

Discombobulated

Yup, these trucks were made in a time when people weren’t in a huge damn hurry

After getting 31’s I noticed a huge difference in power loss, changed to 4.56’s and I was back to happy, will this get you to where you want to be? Who knows but it will help.

As far as the gas pedal, sounds about right my truck has one speed, mostly floored until I get to speed, at a certain point it’s all gearing doing it’s thing not power.

Here in Colorado it’s fine but man when I take it up the hills it’s lame, but I love my truck and the people behind me………I like my truck way more than I do some guy behind me, they can deal with it!!!!!

I would love to swap to a 3.4 I just can’t justify it yet, my truck runs great!!!!

But of course not actually having another truck to compare with it’s hard to say if something is wrong, but it just sounds like an old 22re to me.

aztoyman

The larger tires and stock gears are definitely an issue. I had 31's with 4.56 gears in my 88 and it was back to what it should be. Still a 4 cylinder but back in it's normal power band.

I ended up building a fresh 22RE and did some mods that were great for my daily highway commute. I-10 is 75 where I live. I did some head work, blended the bowls, gasket matched the ports and larger valves. Header and 2 1/4" exhaust, universal cat, I used an Engnbldr 270 cam. (no longer in business) Was a midrange cam and said to be the biggest cam I could run with stock EFI, I might have put on a 3rd gen throttle body, I don't remember. I deleted (plugged) the EGR. Still passed emissions. Man it ran great. I think the cam made the biggest difference for highway driving. Here's why I believe that.

I built almost the exact same engine in my son's truck but he wanted the torquer cam. Everything else the same. We both had basically the same truck, gears, tire size. I had an 88 with W56 B transmission and he had a 91 with a W56 C?. I built both trucks. He would get a tiny jump on me off a light and then I would just walk away from him. I could creep up to 100 on I-10 flat ground (OEM speedo, not GPS) He ran out of steam way before that. I don't know what my actual speed was, we didn't have GPS on our phones back then. It was a joy to drive again on my daily commute.

Find some 4.56 gears and you will like your truck again.

JoeS

Check the fuel pressure as might not be sending enough fuel.

Mobius1

Where is a good place to buy gears from?

I plan to test the fuel pressure but I need to get a new tester. I figured using a banjo bolt adapter on the cold start injector would be the best place to test?

JoeS

In 37 years I am on my 3rd fuel pump. Seems to be the 2nd most worn out part next to the alternator.

Melrose 4r

I’ve only had 31’s and 4.10’s in mine and don’t have much trouble on the highway, uphills, etc. Anything over 65 isn’t too fun and don’t have the brakes for high speed traffic, but if you keep it in the power band and have reasonable expectations, you can get by. 2nd and third are where you do all your work going uphills and accelerating. Mine pulls to 55 or 60 in third. No need to hit 4rth until you are at cruising speed. I might rev it higher but don’t have a tach. These trucks are geared like school buses and that’s how to drive it.

toyoda addict

Not sure if you are talking parts or complete setups? These guys all have a reputation for good work.

https://www.marlincrawler.com/differential I was told their ninja gears are yukon, just at a reduced cost. If you're not in a hurry, they have a differential sale every October.

https://eastcoastgearsupply.com/

https://justdifferentials.com/

Mobius1

I decided before I jump the gun on regearing, I should test if maybe the previous owner who got the 31's had done so already. I put it in neutral and counted the driveshaft rotations while turning the tire twice, and....it IS already regeared!

I guess I won't be able to get better performance that way. I guess I'll have to see how much difference the cold air intake and the electric fan make.

If I could just maintain 65 mph in 4th going up the highway hills here, I'd be perfectly content.

aztoyman

It's a good thing you checked. Saved you a bunch of money. It should do better. Have you adjusted valves? Checked timing? (I always liked a bit more advance on mine) Cover the basics. Clean fuel and air filter. I prefer NGK or OEM wires. OEM cap and rotor. NGK or Denso plugs. Denso fuel pump if you get one. Make sure your cat isn't plugging up. How old is your O2 sensor?

Yeah it's a 4 cylinder but it doesn't sound like it's working to it's full capacity. I had a few trucks with the 22R and RE and only with my wife's auto trans 86 4Runner or my son going bigger tires and no gear change in a 91 Pickup did I experience what you describe.

Good luck with it and be sure to post up how it goes for future readers looking for help.

LaurenceHale

Thanks for the help.

Danson

On my drive home from buying my new to me ‘86, I was having a hard time easily maintaining 75mph, needing to downshift for even slight inclines and flooring it. But I supposedly have 4.10s (guess I should check too) and it was on 285/70R17s (33s). I’ve since thrown on 255/75R17s (more like 32” and skinnier) but haven’t tested them on the highway yet. Doesn’t matter, point is it seems like yours is struggling even more than mine and if you have 4.56s that’s not right.

snippits

When I first got my 92 with standard 15 inch wheels and 190,000 miles, it was weak sauce. Over the first six months, I noticed it consuming coolant very slowly, but it was not missing.

Bought a brand new made in Taiwan complete cylinder head, installed a Toyota head gasket, and installed KIA/Hyundai 2.4 engine injectors. I did install a new CAT and Denso O2 sensor. Antifreeze out the exhaust ruins them plus it was the original CAT that had been in the truck for almost 25 years. The engine woke up, and I can pull to 55 mph in fourth easily going up small hills. My truck is for hauling and not crawling, and going from point A to B.

Mobius1

So I hooked up a fuel pressure gauge to it, and at idle it's at 38 PSI, and if I rev it it jumps to 40 for just a short blip and goes back down to 38. If I unhook the vacuum line on the pressure regulator, it jumps to about 44 PSI, and if I pinch off the fuel return line after the regulator it jumps to about 70 PSI.

How high is the pressure supposed to get under throttle? Also, shouldn't my pressure actually be lower at idle?

I'm thinking in this case my fuel pressure is fine under throttle, and it's actually my idle fuel pressure that is the problem.

I also installed a LC Engineering cold air intake, but I have yet to test drive it. I also just got the electric fan which I will install next week.

toyoda addict

I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts on the electric fan, after getting it installed. I've heard that will make a noticeable improvement. With the down side being, giving up the reliability of the stock fan.

Jimkola

Fuel pressure looks fine. at idle it's within spec

Mobius1

But what about under throttle? It's strange that it doesn't increase. I would think this means an issue with the pressure regulator, except that when I remove vacuum from it the PSI does increase.

Mobius1

I was going through my parts on hand (most of which I received from the previous owner when I bought it), and found that I had a second fuel pressure regulator, so I decided to go ahead and swap them out. Interestingly, the one that was installed is part # 23280-35030 and is slightly smaller than the other one I have, which is a 23280-35020. From what I can tell from Google, it looks like the one that was on it is from the 1988+ 22RE's, but the actual OEM for this truck is the smaller one.

After swapping it out, the only difference is the fuel pressure dropped to 34 PSI, and has the exact same behavior. If I rev it, the PSI jumps by about 2 PSI for maybe a second, and then drops back to where it was (34 in this case.). If I disconnect the vacuum it jumps to about 41 (So pretty much the same jump as the other one.).

I do think I found an issue, though. I went ahead and put a vacuum gauge on it, and it's only reading -10 Hg at 750 RPM idle. Looks like I may need to hunt down a vacuum leak.