toy running like a sewing machine

[johnboy1]

First off its a 1990 toyota 4x4 w/ a 22re and there was recent motor work (timing chain, headhasket and rebuilt injectors. roughly 200 miles ago)

Started last night (wednesday) after driving for estimated 25 minutes with a prior idling time of 30 minutes, as i was coming into town i noticed the motor sounded off, almost like it was missing a cylinder. There wasnt any loss of power but it was running a little rougher than normal. It then went back to normal about 5 minutes later just before i got home.

Looked at it this morning (thursday am) and thought that maybe a couple plug wires came loose. Also checked the MAF and TPS to be sure they were secure. Checked all wires and started it, ran like a champ. Let it idle for about 15 minutes, decided to go for a test drive to see if maybe it would change when the engine is under a load. Didnt even miss a beat, still running great.

So i decide to drive it to work (about 9 miles from home) and i get about a mile from my work when it starts running rough. As i get closer to work it gets rougher. By now it sounds like its only running on 2 cylinders. Severe loss of power, very hesitant throttle response.

Checked a few things at break, seems that there is no change in idle when i pull the #2 and #3 plug wire but yet when i check for spark the wire appears to be carrying it. Pulled the plugs but they werent even so much as dirty.

So my question is this, what could the possible ailments be? I really dont want to aimlessly start throwing money at it to no avail. Could it be a bad MAF? Perhaps one of the injectors failed?

Im at a loss right now and am very flustered because i just bought this truck last friday and it has since ran like a dream up until wednesday night.

 

[WHITE TRASH1]

Not saying it is but I've had headgaskets fail between 2 and 3 before.

 

[crapyota]

x2 on that,
after we put a crate engine in my sons truck it ran awesome then something happened..
my sons truck would run alright at first,but farther he drove from home.the worst it got with no power. pulled head, and gasket was shot between cylinders 2&3.. did you ever re torque head after work? we found after a slight break in the head sometimes need re torqued..

 

[zukkev]

Do a compression test, or better yet a cylinder leakdown test, to determine whether or not the holes have the ability to produce fire...cyl leakdown will tell you exactly where the compression's going if they don't hold....:awesomework:

 

[Jacob]

When I was growing up, anything that was running as a sewing machine was running good. That was the term that us Southern Boys used to say it was doin' gud. Other than that, I am just wasting space in this thread.

 

[johnboy1]

Thats about what i figured but was hoping it wasnt. I was planning on doing a compression test this weekend to double check :booo:


oh and trashy, nice to hear from you! miss seeing you around the other home. but you arent missing much.

 

[CHOP SHOP]

Sounds like a victim of a "lift and tuck".

If you buy a toyota that the owner says, I just did a head gasket. EXPECT to do it again soon.

NOBODY does a good job at replacing head gaskets. They dont do it right. They dont use toyota gaskets. They dont adjust the valves. They dont torque correctly. they dont clean very well. They dont INSPECT the head for ROT.

The lift and tuck is when a crappy previous owner has NEVER EVER maintained his old toyota. Now it EATS a HEAD, not a gasket. The head gets so rotted out that the gasket has nothing holding it anymore and it fails.

Now the owner wants to fix it and UNLOAD it on someone like you. Since he is planning to sell it he does the absolute minimum to fix it.

The lift and tuck is when the bare minimum is taken apart to allow the head to be lifted and the new gasket slid in and then bolted back together.

The owner has no idea if the head is rotted out and doesnt care, he is going to sell it anyways.

Now YOU buy the rig and within the first three months it eats another head gasket because the gasket was not the problem, THE HEAD WAS.



I would be willing to bet money (and IM cheap) that if you perform a compression test and those two holes are whacko then the head will be rotted out when ya remove it.

Hope Im wrong and you just have an injector plug or ground issue.

 

[johnboy1]

yeah that sounds about right chop shop. But since i bought it from a friend, who wasnt looking to sell the truck but was willing to help me out im gonna keep a more positive outlook about it. I really hope he would have the decency to not purposefully screw me over.

 

[johnboy1]

oh also im assuming (yeah i know, never assume) he did the HG when he did the timing chain and injectors.

 

[CHOP SHOP]

yeah that sounds about right chop shop. But since i bought it from a friend, who wasnt looking to sell the truck but was willing to help me out im gonna keep a more positive outlook about it. I really hope he would have the decency to not purposefully screw me over.

I hope ya didnt get hosed by a buddy. He might not have a clue and didnt me to hose ya either. Sometimes lack of knowledge can hose folks with out bad intentions being present. I seen people with the BEST intentions still be bad mechanics! lol!

Think positive and do that comp test. That will tell ya everything.

Hope its something simple. :beer:

 

[johnboy1]

yeah im hoping he just didnt prep well enough.

 

[skinny_pedal]

Got a coolant pressure tester? Pull all the plugs, put pressure in the system and see if coolant leaks into the cylinders.

 

[johnboy1]

***update***

Compression test results;
#1 - 181
#2 - 174
#3 - 175
#4 - 179

Going off of the assumption the headgasket blew between the #2 and #3 cylinder i watch for the pressure to bleed off at all on those 2 cylinders. Nothing. Not even a pound. So therefore that means to me its good.

So next i tried 2 different MAF sensors but that produced no change.

Then i decided why not change the cap, rotor, plug wires and plugs. Nope. Still runs like before.

So i then talke to the friend i bought it from and he said that it sounds like its the same syptoms as when the injectors went bad. Luckily there is a 1 year warranty on them. Im gonna try a trick to clean them using a little water and the main vacuum line going to the intake so as to basically steam clean the injector tips.

Im still confused though because i can still pull the #2 and #3 plug wires with no change to the rough idle but when i pull #1 or #4 it will try to die. My though was maybe its the ignitor but im not that familiar with gas motors anymore so im not very sure.

Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[WHITE TRASH1]

Check the wires to the injectors. You can get them without pulling the upper intake but pulling the intake is easy and it makes life easy.


I heard that bercrawler (its better without tim :haha: ) was a ghost town as of late. Too bad it was fun once upon a time.

 

[cheesemaker]

I heard that bercrawler (its better without tim :haha: ) was a ghost town as of late. Too bad it was fun once upon a time.

Yeah, there is a couple of us brothers that still frequent it. But there has been no TImmay for a long time. He just pays the monthly bill, and lets us run it. Some of us have been waiting for the drain to unplug and watch it swirl down the drain.

 

[johnboy1]

Check the wires to the injectors. You can get them without pulling the upper intake but pulling the intake is easy and it makes life easy.


I heard that bercrawler (its better without tim :haha: ) was a ghost town as of late. Too bad it was fun once upon a time.

yeah i pulled the plugs for the 2 and 3 injectors and it seems they arent getting any power. Its possible my computer is bad so im having a friend come by that has the twin to my truck so i can test his computer.

and yeah its dead there. i miss the good ol days when us OG's were all there. now its just a bunch of kids and is empty.

 

[johnboy1]

Well I tested my computer in a friends Toyota and it is still good. So now its back to square one. Thinking it may the injectors but then again I don't know. Maybe tomorrow ill bring my multi meter home from work and see if there is power going to the injectors.