I will start by apologizing if any of this was covered recently...I've been reading a lot on the site (which rocks) and didn't really find what I was looking for.

I bought my truck wrecked (I think it was a 4X4 toy of a friend of a friend). Damage to the passenger front (bumper, fender, grill, etc) and it steers wierd. Has no power at all, I mean NO POWER. and it clatters and makes lots of noise when I drive it.

Last night we changed the plugs, wires, cap and rotor. nothing changed at all as far as the motor's concerned, but I feel better knowing those beat up parts are off the truck.
We checked for front end damage and found the passenger tie rod end and bearing are way damaged, which I will replace and get an alignment.
The steering box was loose and my friend told me (prior car mechanic for 5 years) that you guys on this site might know of an adjustment to get it back tight again.

It's throwing a code, but autozone won't read it because it's too old. Is there a way to get the code read for a decent price? I'm going to start with fixing that, then try a valve adjustment and cleaning the injectors and replacing the injector O-rings.

Injector cleaning question: I have an ultrasonic parts cleaner here at work and low pressure air lines (up to 140 psi). The parts cleaner has Mineral Spirits in it, but can I submerge the entire injector in that fluid? or none at all?

I'm hoping I don't need a rebuild, but I will understand if I do.
Any help on any of these problems would be greatly appreciated.
This site rocks!

 

Which engine does it have? There are code readers to be had for some models.

 

damn, I knew I forgot something. it's the 3.0 3rze (something like that).

 

Check out the 3rd post:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show....0+code+reader

If you don't have a Haynes Manual, post the code here and somebody will look it up.

 

Code reader information is available here:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...CheckConnector

You can try tighting the adjuster nut/screw on top of the steering box. Also, have someone crank the steering wheel back and forth (just to the point the wheels begin to move) while you poke around underneath watching the steering linkage. Watch for the point at which things stop moving and that is where the play is.

 

thank you for the referral in that link, I'll do that tonight

 

Does Florida require emissions inspections? Maryland does, for the price of a fourteen dollar inspection hookup they can read all my codes on a better machine than my mechanic owns!

 

nope, FL doesn't care what comes out of your tailpipe I guess.

 

Thats the good thing about Florida. You can have a beat up car and still drive it. I know if i moved to another state that did emmisions tests that I would most likely fail.

 

yeah, my bikes would fail too, with the pipe work I have done.

I read the long thread about the SEAFOAM cleaner, I'm gonna try that stuff today after work...hopefully O'Reily's has it.

 

That would be a good combo with cleaning the injectors. Seafoam it, then clean the injectors. I'm not sure if they can handle being soaked in Mineral Spirits, though.

 

noone seems to know what's safe. maybe use a can of seafoam on the injectors??? for cleaning by hand?

I'm also thinking about resetting the timing to make sure that's good, and maybe doing the timing belt. also want to make sure that the valves are gapped right. anything else I should to that I don't know about?

 

some pics of the ride. I'm assuming that there's a user gallery but I'll put these here for now.

 

this last pic is of the hose that I put the seafoam into, progress to be posted later.

 

so my check engine light came back on. I searched (really I did) in this site and can't find anything on what to jump, and where, for reading the codes. also couldn't find the section in the Haynes where it has what the codes mean. I'm getting tired of driving such a gutless truck. no power and HORRIBLE gas mileage. the SEAFOAM didn't do anything to help me at all.

 

Try this link: http://www.off-road.com/toyota/tech/codes/index.html

It is a really good explanation of how to check the trouble codes on OBDI compliant vehicles.

 

thanks, I'll check it out today

 

all you have to do is hook a jumper wire from the 'TE1' terminal in your diagnostic connector,to the 'E1'terminal.turn the key to the on pos. and the chk. engine light will flash the codes in a series of 'blinks'.get yourself a haynes manual and look towards the end of the emmisions chapter to find details on how to do it,and how to read the blinks.

 

Save your money on the Haynes manual and just go burn a $20 bill. There is a factory service manual for a 1993 posted online:

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...fsm/index.html

which will work for you. If yours is a different year it will practically be the same on most all the sections.

 

This needs to be made a sticky! THe FactorySeriviceManual