Rough cold start...rough idle for 20 sec, then fine (1 Viewer)

[stlbill]

I just bought this 94, with 147k on it. When I brought it home it started fine and drove fine, drove it back home and started cleaning it up, I decided to spray the engine down with degreaser and clean up the engine bay. I did that and since then its had a hard time starting when cold (sometimes). So its not all the time but usually inthe AM when I go to start it the car will sound like its trying to turnover but wont, I have to end up giving it gas for 10 seconds then it will fire up and sound like s*** and idle very rough for 15-20 seconds then it will be perfectly normal. If I kill the engine after that and restart it, it fires back up. When driving there is no issues. Ive check the main fuses and was going to pull the EFI and see what shape its in. Ive researched it for a week and will look at vacuum lines and see if I see anything. Thoughts?

 

[ajax1]

May have got water in the plugs or the distributor or one of the connectors check those blow them dry pack with some dielectric grease on the plugs

 

[stlbill]

Its been a week or so, wouldnt they have dried out by now. I will check the plugs tomorrow and see if there is water sitting in on of them.

 

[drowssap]

No actually! It is still very possible there is still moisture in there. If your boots are dry and cracked...those won't help much either

 

[Crab Sack]

If you don't find water in your spark plug tubes and/or occurs after you clean out the tubes. I would suspect blown head gasket. Classic symptom

 

[AMX390]

It didn't take long for the fear mongers to point at the head gasket, pretty typical here. Those exact symptoms happen anytime I introduce pressured water to the engine bay. Mine smooths out after a few hours, tho. You may want to check beneath the distrib cap, also.

 

[Crab Sack]

This fear monger is also a former Toyota master diagnostic technician. Let's break down the diagnosis with the information given.

1. He just bought the car and has no baseline on how it normally starts.
2. There could be residual water in the spark plug tubes, distributor etc. I believe I said clean out the tubes.
3. Water and electricity don't mix at any temperature so the vehicle would show misfires at all temperatures, not just when cold.
4. When a head gasket blows a very small passage from the coolant passage to the combustion chamber it pressurizes the coolant and keeps most of it out of the combustion chamber until that engine is shut off and cools down where coolant will drip into the combustion chamber causing a misfire until it clears out the coolant residue on the next start up (usually after it sits overnight after the engine was at operating temps the night before.)

Not trying to scare anyone, just want to help the guy out

 

[AMX390]

I'll buy #4.

 

[Mighty690]

Blackstone oil analysis should be automatic with any 80 series purchase, IMO. My commodities-trading uncle always reminded me, "Get the facts before the facts get you!"

 

[drowssap]

It didn't take long for the fear mongers to point at the head gasket, pretty typical here.

This fear monger is also a former Toyota master diagnostic technician.

 

[stlbill]

I went out this morning after a night of rain and the truck wouldnt start, I ended up pulling off the distributor cap to see if water had gotten inside, it was dry, the wells were all dry. After putting it all back together It ended up firing up. It was again rough for 20 seconds then I rev'd the engine and it flattened out and idled smooth at 550rpms. I will let you guys know I am not very mechanical but am eager to learn so please bear with me if I dont get it all right off the bat.

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[stlbill]

Here's what it sounds like when it's not starting


This is how it runs for a while then settles down.

 

[stlbill]

Went out this morning and it fired right up

 

[Crab Sack]

Strange that this only happens when it gets wet. Make sure that the windshield is sealed properly and that water isnt leaking past a poorly installed windshield and allowing water to contaminate the ecu. Does this only happen when the vehicle gets wet?

Videos did help. thanks for posting

 

[tominboise]

Just so we know, are there are any fault codes in the ECU?

 

[stlbill]

When I jumped te1 and e1 the cel just kept blinking. I stopped counting after 150 blinks.

 

[stlbill]

It started again today but it a rough idle and idles around 400 rpm.
Any chance it could be the 10year old gas that's still in the tank. When I got it thw tank was full and I've only driven 83 miles.

 

[Crab Sack]

Most definitely it could be fuel that is that old. does the fuel smell like turpentine when you pop the fuel filler cap off. If you have gas that old you will want to drain and wash the tank, inspect the tank for rust, replace fuel filter, and run some kind of fuel injector cleaner through the system.
Did this thing really sit for that long?

 

[Crab Sack]

Also with fuel that old it can cause the intake valves to varnish and stick open. in the video when cranking it does sound like a loss of compression.

 

[stlbill]

I took it to a local "toyota" mechanic to have it looked at real quick and he said at first when he tried to fire it up it sounded like it wasnt getting compression, then again same thing, then it fired right up and has been firing up since? He said he doesn't know what it could be (real helpful). Said it could be one of the heads sticking???