1984 FJ60 Engine Sputtering, Bucking - FIXED!!! (1 Viewer)

[LittleRedWgon]

Wondering if these guys just took me for a ride....

So, today the AC clicked in after setting the resistor yesterday and shaking my head and walking away for the night.
When I started the girl up and warmed up...I turned on AC...RPM's went from 700ish up to 1000ish and almost immediately, cold air..I mean COLD air...started blowin..like it did 5years ago with A12...it was awesome, considering it is almost 110* here today. So I drove it and ran a few errands....went to the gym for an hour, came out, started right up. AC fired up and didnt really start blowin cold until I was driving for 3-5 min or so....Then, I was at a stop light and noticed in my Passenger side mirror that smoke was comin out...Holy Sh**t...I pulled over and it was gone immediately. Temp was fine, Oil pressure was fine...AC started blowin warm....yeah,..was thinking something blew. Shut down AC and pulled into my house in 2 minutes....kept her running and popped hood. noticed that there was oil like all over the engine bay on the Passenger side....looked like a hose blew and sprayed all the AC oil all over???? I am guessing that The guys that charged this thing over charged it?? or hoses were bad?? They said that they leak tested it and charged it to specs....but, it did not seem right since I got it back. Now, if I turn the AC on, Quickly, the Idle does not go up and Clutch does not engage...

So, is my compressor toast ???? or is it salvageable? I am guessing I need 1 or more new hoses...and Im sure that they are discontinued, Right?? Will an AC shop Fab some up to work?? or now am I totally screwed?

Any thoughts or tips from anyone??

I guess my Questions are as follows:

1. Is my compressor Trashed?
2. Where can I get hoses?
3. Could this be a bad condenser causing this?
4. Is it possibly old hoses or an overcharging of R134?
5. Who can buy me a beer?

thanks.

 

[SteveH]

Don't panic...

1. Is my compressor Trashed? - likely not - it disengaged after the hose blew, so the clutch won't engage either. This is normal.
2. Where can I get hoses? - worst case, have them made; best case, still available.
3. Could this be a bad condenser causing this? - likely not.
4. Is it possibly old hoses or an overcharging of R134? - old hoses, most likely. If the hoses couldn't handle a significant pressure hike, they were doomed anyway.
5. Who can buy me a beer? - not me - too far away

You ought to buy some pressure gauges and monitor the high and low side pressures after you get it repaired. Heck, get/borrow the equipment and fix it yourself!

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

There are places that do hoses. Had it done on mine. ^^^ on pressure gauge. I have a HF one that works great.

 

[LittleRedWgon]

There are places that do hoses. Had it done on mine. ^^^ on pressure gauge. I have a HF one that works great.

Thanks! HF--???

 

[LittleRedWgon]

Don't panic...

1. Is my compressor Trashed? - likely not - it disengaged after the hose blew, so the clutch won't engage either. This is normal.
2. Where can I get hoses? - worst case, have them made; best case, still available.
3. Could this be a bad condenser causing this? - likely not.
4. Is it possibly old hoses or an overcharging of R134? - old hoses, most likely. If the hoses couldn't handle a significant pressure hike, they were doomed anyway.
5. Who can buy me a beer? - not me - too far away

You ought to buy some pressure gauges and monitor the high and low side pressures after you get it repaired. Heck, get/borrow the equipment and fix it yourself!

Perfect, I appreciate the info. This is what I thought and or was hoping for... will work on finding hoses... guess I should just bite the bullet and replace them all.. eh? Would be the smart thing to do..

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

HF = harbor freight

 

[LittleRedWgon]

HF = harbor freight

Duh....thanks.

 

[Gretsch]

So I finally have gotten back to this. Sorry for taking so long here. To be honest the truck has been running really well until the last couple of days and its not really presented me with an opportunity to diagnose my issue any further. Plus I have been working on other things with the truck (PS pump replacement among others) and just have not had opportunity to look into this more.

So finally tonight the stars lined up and not only did I catch it doing the sputtering/rough idle thing again, but I had actual time to look into it some. Pulled it in the garage, popped the hood as it was breathing its last breath. It turns out its exactly what @Landpimp and @SuperDuperCruizer had predicted it was. The fuel cut solenoid. I was able to actually confirm this tonight.

As the engine was trying its best to die, I unplugged the solenoid plug. Guess what. No change what so ever. Engine sat there sputtering as it was with the plug plugged up. So this tells me that the solenoid is already closed when this was going on. Plugged it back in and still no change. Finally the engine gives up and stops. All is quiet. So with key still on, I unplug the solenoid once again. I hear nothing. Plug it back in and nothing. I do this several times. No sound. Then I get it to finally click. Then keep plugging and unplugging. Sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn't. This is totally new as I have done this before and its always clicked when doing this. This time its hit or miss. So while its not clicking, I plug it in and start the truck. Rev it and it runs like a top. let off the gas and it starts doing its best impression of a paint mixer, shaking all over the place. I have to hand it to this motor, its runs pretty good with no fuel getting to the carb. Finally again it gives up the ghost and dies.

I mess with the solenoid plug some more and finally hear a click. I immediately get in the truck to start it. It fires right up and idles perfectly. And then for grins, as the truck was idling well, I unplug the solenoid again and it goes back to acting like it has with idle trouble, plug it back in and the engine comes back to life. Amazing. So with the click it idles, without it doesn't, as one would expect. All this time and I was finally able to confirm the issue. So my plan is to ground the solenoid to the carb directly as suggested and see if that handles my issue. I'll report back when I have it done. I have really enjoyed driving this thing around with as good as it has been running, but was getting discouraged with it in recent days because of the idle issues. Now I am stoked I was able to confirm this tonight. Easy fix (if it works) and cheap too.

Really appreciate the replies and the solenoid idea. This forum rocks. Thanks so much folks. Will let you know how the fix goes once I have it in place. Thanks again.

 

[Gretsch]

OK so I implemented the ground fix. Truck was hard to start as normal but once started it idled better than it ever has. And on acceleration I did not get the hesitation I normally do. The engine now seems to idle at the proper RPM. Before the fix it idled at just above 500. Now it seems to be in the more normal 6-700. Can't call it fixed yet but its a nice start and can definitely tell the difference. I'll report as the days move along.

So whats the penalty here for doing this long term? I typically like to figure out why something is happening and avoid bypasses such as this so I will try and spend some time doing that in the coming days. But for now this is working. Anything I should be concerned about with just rolling this way for awhile? Thanks again all.

 

[Gretsch]

OK so this worked for me for a long time....until recently. Nothing changed. Just suddenly won't idle. I re-made the jumper wires to tie the ground to the carb. Still sucks. ICS clicks now so must be something else. Open to ideas here.

 

[micruz60]

Carb rebuild time?
Check your spark plugs for clues of fouling?
Replace the fuel filter?

 

[SuperDuperCruizer]

I’d say a rebuild too... and that may be the solution or just cover the root cause of your problem. Rust in your fuel tank can clog the tiny inlet filter to the carburetor. Run an extra fuel filter and get a spare carb to rebuild. It’s nice to have a spare carb so you can have as a backup, reduce down time & help diagnose problems.

 

[Gretsch]

Thanks all. So the tiny inlet filter.....is that a replaceable item or a built in part of the carb? The PO had the carb rebuilt before I got my hands on it and I replaced the fuel filter as part of trying to chase this down. Current one has been on there maybe 6 months. I did not do anything with the tiny inlet part. Maybe replace that?

So I have not been able to do anything on the Toyota for the last few days (holiday cleaning etc....happy wife happy life) until today. In troubleshooting this I took out the ground bypass I did on it and plugged factory connectors back in. Still would not run right so I had to leave it and get to holiday stuff. Got some time this morning so I looked back on this thread where the ground bypass was mentioned. Sometime back I had re-made the jumpers I made initially as I got a bout of engine cut out one night when it finally got cold here. Engine seemed to run fine after replacing them until a few days ago prompting me to revive this thread and brings us to here. I double-checked the thread again for the wiring and then this morning re-did the wiring. I got the cruiser started and took it for a test drive. It ran perfectly. Great power, perfect idling. Like a new truck.

So now I am wondering if when I replaced the jumper wires, I wired it wrong and got things all crossed up. I was in a hurry when I did this and could easily see myself wiring it wrong. I could not remember how I did it. The wiring is right now confirming with the photo at the start of this thread. Would the Solenoid work with the wires backwards, or would it not work at all?

I still need to go over the vacuum hoses and take a look at the EGR as suggested. Time to finally get intimate with the emissions manual. If someone could confirm what would happen with the solenoid wired backwards, I would appreciate it.

Also I am not opposed to replacing the carb at this point just to have it done. I have seen many threads where folks go down the same road I am now only to replace the carb and have everything work after that. Thoughts? As always thanks for the help.

 

[Gretsch]

Also, forgot to ask this. Anything that can be done for rust in the gas tank other than replacing it? Fuel additives of some sort? Would seafoam work for that or is that stuff just a waste of money. I tend to see additives as gimmicks generally, but I have seen lots of folks claim really good results with it? Thoughts?

 

[Gretsch]

OK it seems as though I overreacted a bit here and I am a confirmed idiot. I took a look at the wiring photo at the beginning of this thread again and re-did the wiring on my truck. I may have had something backwards when I re-did the jumper leads. I must have mis-wired it when putting it back together. Dunno. After re-checking and doing it correctly, the truck is running great again. Hauled folks around most of the holidays in it, no issues. Sorry for the freak out. Maybe still something up with it but right now its working.

 

[Gretsch]

OK so idle issue seems solved. Running weeks without a single issue. A new issue has developed though that I wonder would help to pinpoint the cause of the idling issue to begin with. After doing the ICS ground mod, its become really hard to start. After sitting overnight or even a few days, it takes awhile to get her going. Choke on or off seems to make no difference. After getting it started, it starts right up the rest of the day, but if it sits for any length of time it takes forever to get it going. Would that shed any additional light on why I was having the idle issue in the first place. ICS ground is working for me, but wondering if the hard starting would point to some common cause for both issues. I periodically smell fuel in the garage when its parked, but I cannot see any fuel leaks anywhere. Checked the fuel pump weep hole but cannot see any leaking from there. I'll need to look closer this weekend. I also need to confirm the ICS is clicking after sitting when turning the key when cold. Maybe its just stuck closed somehow after sitting and cranking the engine heats it enough to unstick it to let fuel flow. Hard to hear from inside the truck when turning the key so will try and enlist a helper to help me out and confirm its working properly. If anyone has anything to offer here, I would sure appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Do you have swoosh sound when you open gas tank? Check carbon canister.

 

[Gretsch]

There is a little bit of a swoosh sound when I open it but not too loud. When you say check carbon canister, what should I check on it? Leaks? Clogging?

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

If you had a big long whoosh then it would mean the carbon is too saturated w/ fuel and isn’t do its job of filtering.
It can be replaced for aftermarket or cut open and gutted and new material added (that’s what I did).
Could potentially cause difficulty w/ restart after sitting for a short time but prob not the primary cause.
Have you tried hooking the ICS back up the correct way? I only ask cuz I had mine jumped like yours and then was having weird bucking w/ start up after running and once I hooked it up the right way it ran w/o issues.
Sometimes it seems like there’s no real rhyme to reason.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

You can also simply unhook the plug from the ICS while the truck is running. If she stalls out (as long as you have the idle set say under 1k) then that should confirm it’s working.