Hello mudders,
I bought a 1995 KZJ78 Prado yesterday, it was advertised for sale as a none runner, got it towed home.
The person I bought it from said it was driving perfectly for the 2 years he had it, a few weeks ago it just cut off whilst driving, no previous warning, no smoke, no noise - just cut off and did not want to start again. I don't have a reason not to believe him.
So this morning got under the bonnet to check the obvious, timing belt is fine, fuel filter had diesel, the primer pump was pumping diesel out..... then cracked an injector whilst cranking the engine to find no diesel at injector nozzle.
The return pipe from the injection pump WAS returning fuel back towards the fuel tank - but not to the injectors.
I figured it must have a fuel cut off solenoid, I found it ontop of the pump towards the rear, a grey plug with 1 black and 1 red wire coming out, solenoid was not clicking with ignition on so i pulled the plug to find it was only getting 0.03 volts with ignition on, (on my other prado a 2lte it was getting almost 12 volts with ignition on - that one starts and drives as it should) so I gave the red wire 12V from the battery - still no clicking, I gave the black wire earth and and red wire 12V together and the solenoid clicked (red/black wires of the IP solenoid) .....ahaaa
So I got assistance to crank the engine whilst applying 12v directly to the solenoid red and earth directly to the black solenoid wire..... and.....the motor started ! BUT revs kept rising steadily and there was a HUGE cloud of grey smoke.....yes GREY (NOT black,blue or white)
I pulled one of the wires from the solenoid and the engine shut down....... tried again after making sure all injectors nuts were tight......again with the red and black wires as before ... the engine started again with the same huge cloud of grey smoke and engine revs rising steadily quite high so I pulled the wire to switch the engine off.
Once started the engine sounds OK, obviously loud as the revs kept rising but I didn't notice any odd knocking.
The only way I can get it started is by applying 12v and earth directly to the 2 solenoid wires on top of the IP pump. I noticed the solenoid got quite hot during this process.
Also I noticed that the glow plug light stays on continously - I am sure it should go off in a few seconds but it doesn't.
Q1) Why do I have to give 12v power AND earth (negative) DIRECTLY to the cut off solenoid?
Q2) Why the huge cloud of GREY smoke?
Q3) Why do the revs keep climbing without me pressing the accelerator?
The vehicle does have some sort of alarm system, I dont know if it is also an immobiliser, it beeps with remote key and locks and unlocks the doors.
Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated.
I have attached a couple of pictures to show the solenoid plug/wires and the KZJ78 itself.
Thank you all in advance.
I bought a 1995 KZJ78 Prado yesterday, it was advertised for sale as a none runner, got it towed home.
The person I bought it from said it was driving perfectly for the 2 years he had it, a few weeks ago it just cut off whilst driving, no previous warning, no smoke, no noise - just cut off and did not want to start again. I don't have a reason not to believe him.
So this morning got under the bonnet to check the obvious, timing belt is fine, fuel filter had diesel, the primer pump was pumping diesel out..... then cracked an injector whilst cranking the engine to find no diesel at injector nozzle.
The return pipe from the injection pump WAS returning fuel back towards the fuel tank - but not to the injectors.
I figured it must have a fuel cut off solenoid, I found it ontop of the pump towards the rear, a grey plug with 1 black and 1 red wire coming out, solenoid was not clicking with ignition on so i pulled the plug to find it was only getting 0.03 volts with ignition on, (on my other prado a 2lte it was getting almost 12 volts with ignition on - that one starts and drives as it should) so I gave the red wire 12V from the battery - still no clicking, I gave the black wire earth and and red wire 12V together and the solenoid clicked (red/black wires of the IP solenoid) .....ahaaa
So I got assistance to crank the engine whilst applying 12v directly to the solenoid red and earth directly to the black solenoid wire..... and.....the motor started ! BUT revs kept rising steadily and there was a HUGE cloud of grey smoke.....yes GREY (NOT black,blue or white)
I pulled one of the wires from the solenoid and the engine shut down....... tried again after making sure all injectors nuts were tight......again with the red and black wires as before ... the engine started again with the same huge cloud of grey smoke and engine revs rising steadily quite high so I pulled the wire to switch the engine off.
Once started the engine sounds OK, obviously loud as the revs kept rising but I didn't notice any odd knocking.
The only way I can get it started is by applying 12v and earth directly to the 2 solenoid wires on top of the IP pump. I noticed the solenoid got quite hot during this process.
Also I noticed that the glow plug light stays on continously - I am sure it should go off in a few seconds but it doesn't.
Q1) Why do I have to give 12v power AND earth (negative) DIRECTLY to the cut off solenoid?
Q2) Why the huge cloud of GREY smoke?
Q3) Why do the revs keep climbing without me pressing the accelerator?
The vehicle does have some sort of alarm system, I dont know if it is also an immobiliser, it beeps with remote key and locks and unlocks the doors.
Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated.
I have attached a couple of pictures to show the solenoid plug/wires and the KZJ78 itself.
Thank you all in advance.
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