Chasing Ghosts (1 Viewer)

[MacGYVER1979]

88 FJ62 4.0 auto
The long story,
after an 800 mile road trip with some overheating, and trans mixing with T case gear oil also overheating, I made it home and began tinkering.
I drained the trans pan, and refilled with new ATF and some seafoam trans flush.
Drained the T case and temporarily refilled with ATF and some thick lucas trans treatment.
it was derivable and shifted smooth at this point
Changed the thermostat, this is where the engine started fighting back, did both gaskets and replaced the small hoses on the left side, and put in a bottle of prestone flush, ran ruff with high /low idle and flooding.
Cleaned the cold start injector, and new gasket.
New dis cap, rotor button and NGK plug wires, my plugs have less than 1k on them.
Did propane vac leak test and replaced the EGR gasket, and the cold start gasket again.
Removed the throttle body, it was gummed up, cleaned for hours with a toothbrush and acetone, installed with new gasket.
Changed every small vacuum hose.
At this point it ran but ruff, drove it a mile, and as i pulled back in it went to 2000k RPM idle when i shut it off.
it hasn't started scene., the starter turns, get a sputter, and nothing. I smell gas, so i unplug the wire that connects to the cold start injector, no change.
pulled the valve cover, new pcv valve and cover gasket, cleaned the cover for a day, and got the insides flowing.
Still no change.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

pull codes. adjust TPS, reset ECU, adjust valves, burp cooling system and report back for a new list

 

[MacGYVER1979]

doesn't it need to warm up to adjust valves? and be running to check codes?
is pulling the fuse the best way to reset the ECU?
I ordered a fuel pressure regulator today, mine looks original. cant hurt.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

check codes with engine off. every new motor has its valve adjusted cold. pulling the fuse resets the ecu. don't swap out any parts till they verify bad> the newer production stuff is always more suspect than an original OEM part, IMO.....

 

[MacGYVER1979]

in the short time i had last night i burped it again, pulled the ecu fuse , and poorly adjusted the TPS randomly trying different positions till I get an ohm meter. I got help lined up for the valves.
Also pulled some spark plugs, they were moist, black and had sandy grit on them.
I read so many of these problem type threads that dont have an ending, I hate that part. Whatever fixes this thing will be posted.

 

[g-man]

change you plugs, check compression. Whenever a motor isn't running, I always think about 4 things that make an engine run. spark, fuel,air and compression. add timing to that. If all 4 are right then the engine should crank and fire. I think it's safe to assume atf and trans case have nothing to do with the engine failure. Did your engine overheat before you replaced the thermostat? If you blew a head gasket you may see flakes of oil in your coolant. Is your oil at the right level?

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

determination is what separates real land cruisers from mall cruisers. do not waste any time on the tps if you haven't got the tools to adjust it properly. a good burping can take an hour or so. have you downloaded the FSM? baseline that engine. so, check/ change oil, coolant; adjust valves, check/change air filter; check all vacuum hoses are intact and that the main intake hose from the AFM to the TB has no tears in it. check for codes and work thru their flowcharts. my money is on a mal adjusted TPS or a wiring harness issue. you'll need a GOOD ohm meter for these tests.

 

[MacGYVER1979]

Oil has 1k miles on it and looks new on the stick.
I printed the FSM.
The engine had over heated, but could have been just the guage malfunction, fuel also spiked.
I know the trans got hot from the smoke that came in the cab.
No oil in the coolent. And I have one of those prestone T's that makes burping easy.
When it was running after the thermostat swap it got up to tempature and I could tell proper thermostat operation with hot air from both heaters.
Iv got an ohm guage but it's way to fancy and I haven't figured it out.
I'm curious if the cold start injector could fail in the open position causing flooding.
I'll see if I can get correct plugs , a normal ohm guage and a valve gap guage tonight.

 

[micruz60]

Oily plugs with sandy grit.... How's the pcv look? Oil management may be another problem.

 

[SteveH]

Are the spark plugs actually sparking when you crank the engine? I have a plow truck (350 Chevy) where the plugs were coated with a black grunge that caused them to ground out, due to short trips and old-age of the engine. I replaced the plugs with the hottest plug I could find (heat range), and it has run well ever since. During this whole diagnostic process, you might treat yourself to a new set of NGK or Denso plugs from the dealer. Cheap insurance at this point, given the hours you have spent on this so far.

 

[MacGYVER1979]

just changed the PCV the old one looked original, and the grommet had turned to stone, spent a day getting flow threw the valve cover inner and outer, using boiling water and acatone. I dried it well, sanded the outside and painted it before putting it back on with a new gasket.
the spark plugs are fairly new autolights. I know thats not the best but far from the worst. ill get NGK ad check for spark

 

[SteveH]

My FJ62 had the W14xxxx plugs instead of the W16xxx and the 14s are the hotter plugs. I wish I had known that, as I would have installed the hotter plugs. The dealer sold me the regular W16xxxx plugs. (I don't recall the exact plug number, but dealer plugs have a 'W' and a '16' in the plug number.

 

[MacGYVER1979]

I just picked up some NGK copper plugs.
Too cold out to put them in right now.
Are that temperamental that dealer sparkplugs can make the diffrence between running and not running?
The fuel pressure regulator had no effect. $116

 

[MacGYVER1979]

I did the diagnostic port fuel pump test. And loosened a line to verify I'm not getting fuel.
I had fuel when all this started. Is this how pumps act when they are going bad?
I'll start testing wires, and if they all check out the fuel pump will be on the list

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

...
The fuel pressure regulator had no effect. $116

I was trying to tell you...there are more things at play here, than a simple FPR...keep the old one as a spare. you're going to need to dive into the harness and measuring resistances across the different circuits. there's no way around it.

 

[SteveH]

Are that temperamental that dealer sparkplugs can make the diffrence between running and not running?

Generally no, but they did on my '83 GMC 350 plow truck. I had never seen this in 35 years of wrenching. The plugs had a weird black coating that was grounding the electrode. Installing Japanese plugs is just part of a good tuneup on our engines.

 

[MacGYVER1979]

I'll be changing the plugs, but iv got to figure out my fuel pump issue, all the spark in the world won't make it run without fuel. How do so many things break at one time.

 

[MacGYVER1979]

I don't know how or why but a new fuel pump relay, second one in 4 months. It started and ran really bad for about 3 minuits, idle up and down sputtering and then the check engine light went off and it leveled out smooth. Then I actually drove it!
Idle is at 1000, but I located one more vacuum leak. Now I'll be fine tuning everything.

 

[MacGYVER1979]

It went back to running sloppy but running.
I found that my coolent temperature sensor had corroded into a chalky mess. I replaced it and had major improvement.
It starts and idles properly.
But when I give it some gas it ramps up and down. I don't know if it is starved for fuel or air. I pulled a plug and it was clean and dry..
No check engine light. My brother said to check the air flow sensor. All I can find is how to ohm test it.

 

[morganism]

This sounds like a clogged EGR valve. I see you changed the gasket, but you have rocks in the top hat part.

try connecting a longer piece of vac line to the top, and put some suction on it (while running if possible). It should stall out the engine.

Try light tapping while doing it too, you should here the carbon chunks drop down into the oil pan