Hey all, I'm just at a complete loss this time. I'll admit I'm essentially teaching myself auto mechanics through this site, the FSM and YouTube University. All that being said, I have an 86 4Runner that is new to me. I've been slowly bringing her back to life but she's had a HARD life prior to coming to me. Anyway, she failed CA smog as a gross polluter. Ran great, but failed smog. Used to drive up my hill no problem doing 35 mph. Third gear at the lowest no problem. After doing all the repairs she's now harder to start, truck shakes and she'll barely drive up the hill in second gear doing 20 mph. I'm not sure what I did that screwed the pooch so badly. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Here's the list of everything I did:
- New CA catalytic converter
- New exhaust header, gasket and "donuts"
- Repaired leaks in exhaust pipe
- New O2 sensor
- New vacuum lines
- New PCV valve and hoses
- Valve adjustment (cold 7&11 mm respectively)
- New plugs gapped at .8mm
- New wires
- New distributor cap
- New rotor
- Cleaned valve cover head interior, new gaskets
- Rebuilt power steering pump
- New O ring and seal on oil pump
- Pulled throttle body, cleaned it, found valve was set open so I reset it fully closed and backed it off 1/4 turn per FSM, tested and adjusted TPS, reattached with new gasket
- New EGR valve with new gaskets
- New BVSM
- Found several of the intake manifold bolts loose so tightened them down
- Oil change
- New idle adjust screw washer
- Timing set to 5 deg TDC with port jumped, timing at 12 deg TDC unjumped
- idle set at around 950 at full operating temp
- Ran a cam of sea foam treatment through throttle body and one can in the fuel tank prior to doing work. Added fresh high octane fuel today.

I may have missed a few things but I'm pretty sure I covered it all.

What I'm finding is, it's harder to start, engine shakes a lot, there's a huge power loss and as it warms up the idle continues to creep up till it gets somewhere around 1150 or more. I'm learning a lot but I've exhausted my knowledge base. I simply don't know what I don't know. Looking for some help. Worst part is, I still haven't taken it to get retested for the smog yet. Thanks y'all!

 

idle at warm should be closer to 700-750 rpm, not 950.

don't bother with "high octane" fuel. regular unleaded is exactly what these need.

 

Time to retrace your steps check the resistance on the new o2 sensor to make sure it’s actually good and check your re-adjusted tps and check all your intake boots, clamps and hoses it wouldn’t hurt to check the airflow meter either

 

Try advancing your timing to 8° with the jumper and see if that helps with power.
My old 22re was MUCH happier at 8°-10° than the 5° the factory called for. I'd set it to spec for smog tests and then just change it back right after. I had it marked on the distributor and didn't need a light for it.

 

Yes, I plan to redo the valve adjustment and TPS checks again tomorrow. I'll check the O2 sensor as well, although it was new out of the box. Thanks

 

I'll give it a try but I'm more concerned with the new difficulty starting and engine shaking coupled with the power loss. All signs seem to point to timing in my mind but I just can't figure how it got out of whack with the repairs I did.

 

you replaced and adjusted a long list of things. doing one of the things incorrectly can have a cascading effect, and until the initial "problem" is corrected, other adjustments won't fully correct that. so, yeah, you're probably going to have to really dig into it to find out the problem, which sucks, but what other choice is there?

 

When I was a kid, I took auto shop my last year in high school. my folks had a '57 Plymouth with a V-8. I did a shade tree tuneup, but in the driveway. Engine didn't run right and was shaking a lot when I blipped the throttle to check the success of my endeavor. Seems that the mechanic had reversed #5 and #7 plug leads; ran fine after I hooked them up correctly...

 

Found my problem...
Warped head? Head gasket isn't leaking...
So pissed!

 

Did your supervisor/teacher have all 10 fingers? If so, he wasn't a good shop teacher

 

Yikes! Well, that’s a new one for me.
if you get a used rocker assembly off a 1990-1995 22R# it should have the updated rocker arms with better oiling.
I’d put a new headgasket on at the same time, and take a good look at the chain guides. But that’s your call.

fyi I’ve posted more than once how to set TPS with a timing light instead of the FSM multi-meter method. I can’t stress enough how this is a vastly more accurate, and easier, method.

 

Thanks Jim, I'll check out your post on the TPS. I think I know what I did wrong. I didn't pack or prime the oil pump and didn't turn the engine over with the coil disconnected to build oil pressure before starting it. Likely didn't have enough oil moving to the top of the head and just overheated the rocker arm assembly. Hopefully I didn't fry the valve or warp the head. Stupid costly mistake that I won't do again. Live and learn.

 

I don't think you caused it. 22R#'s are very good about turning black and blue when lack of oil is an issue. The oil pump would start moving oil very quickly, well before a failure like that.
A few possibilities leap to mind.

1) Let's say the prior owner blew a headgasket. head was warped, and they machined it. Now, you can make the mating surface flat again by machining, but the top is still warped. The big flaw in this theory though, is usually the camshaft breaks first. But worth taking some measurements off the head to see how much, if any, prior machining has been done.

2)the other possibility is someone thought torque wrenches were a marketing scheme and relied on calibrated brute strength when tightening down the head bolts. That might explain the broken shaft and the tower cracking.

 

Interesting theory Jim. I had suspected that a while back but hadn't thought on it again till now. Engine was Rebuilt 70k ago according to PO. But it leaks oil like crazy, exhaust manifold was leaking at the front port and I bought some of the billited half moons from 22reperformance. The rear one fit fine but the front did not. PO also drove it with a blown water pump gasket. You can see where I'm going with this. Now with your theory, light bulbs are going off. As I lifted the rocker assembly out, the head bolt next to where it cracked was difficult to pull out, almost as if the hole for the head and the block were not lined up. Maybe when I made all the changes and fixes it was just enough to send it over the edge... Truly appreciate the communal brain feed to problem solve on this forum!

 

Leaking oil?
I’d definitely pull the head at this point. Before you do, look at the timing cover where it seals to the block. If you see anything questionable, like silicone sealant oozing everywhere You might consider pulling that, too.

With the head off you’ll get a good look at the timing chain and guides. If you have grooves in the guides from the chain hitting it that would be a good thing to consider once your that far in. But keep posting here as you find things and you’ll get good input.

you’ll never go wrong buying genuine Toyota parts, just buy from cheapest source you can find. But there are options. Ishino Stone makes a very good head set gasket kit, and OSK is a good timing chain source. More than one timing chain replacement has gone south by the owner getting inferior quality parts, especially the tensioner.

edit: do you think you could post a picture of the head, and one of the valve springs? Kind of an angle shot that gets the side and top of the spring. Curious.

 

Many thanks Jim! The new O ring and seal seem to have gotten the oil leak under control. But pulling the head is likely what will happen next. I'll keep posting.

 

Believe it or not, I have a complete rocker assembly on my shelf. I've looked it over trying to make sense of that crack in the tower and broken rocker shaft, and I've got nothin'. i thought maybe the broken tower might have gotten assembled pointing the wrong way, but I can just make out the arrow in your first photo and it looks like it was pointed the right way. My gut feeling is someone made a mistake during assembly, as that's not a typical failure. The other possibility is the head is aftermarket; and has casting issues. But these are just guesses

 

It's been a while. A looooooong while but I finally sorted some important things out. After finding the rocker arm assembly shattered I pulled the thing. When I had the head resurfaced they found a burned valve on the intake side. Hence the loss of power. She's all back together now with lots of new parts and she ran great! Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that she'll pass smog...🙄 Thanks to all for suggestions and encouragement. It was a steep learning curve but I think I'm there for now. Haha!

 

Hey Jim, turns out the person before me put one of the head bolt pins in incorrectly. It had a bur on it from what looks like a heavy hand trying to set it with a drift pin. In turn when they put the head bolt in they had to pound it in with a hammer. Had a gouge all the way down the threads... Once again proving that brute force is not always the answer. I'll post pictures soon.

 

Right on! Happy for you. Truly