1984 FJ60 Sudden rough idle problem...

[Ozarks4WD]

Engine was working like a sewing machine before, until last night.
But, let me start from the beginning, I installed mechanical water temp gauge on the upper radiator hose yesterday. Test it for leaks, all was good, took LC for the ride, all good, no issues. Let her sit for a while, checked for any leaks again, went for another ride - all good. No issues.
At that time, I connected light bulb in the autometer gauge to the cigarette lighter bulb wire, tested lighting, all good. Took it for another ride, gauge was working perfectly, no leaks, I'm happy. Car was sitting for few hours after that, and then i decided to park it under the car port. After short drive, when opening the gate, i noticed that suddenly LC idling is rough. I parked the car and didn't do anything else last night because it was dark already. Today i checked the engine bay, looked for maybe some unplugged wires, pinched vacuum hoses, anything wrong - all seems to be fine. There is a fuel in the carbteur window, idle solenoid is clicking and when you unplug the green plug when engine is running, engine will die immediately too. Well, without revving up, engine dies off too. See the video.
Please help...anyones has any ideas where to start "digging"?

 

[Ozarks4WD]

Ok, i have removed and cleaned and checked the gap on all sparks. Put cables back. Removed and cleaned fuel filter (it was nasty).
Took her for the spin and magically everything is back to normal...she idles like nothing happened.
Now, look at the sparks, all are looking the same. This does look like she is running little rich to you?

Also, old fuel filter

 

[OSS]

These old engines can get the spark plugs oily and then black by running the engine for short jaunts - not allowing everything to get real hot and burn crud off.
Short trips play hell on the spark plugs.

 

[Ozarks4WD]

These old engines can get the spark plugs oily and then black by running the engine for short jaunts - not allowing everything to get real hot and burn crud off.
Short trips play hell on the spark plugs.

Thank you for replying!

 

[Paullus]

Do you have a filter sock on your fuel tank pick up tube? You may have some rusty dregs in your fuel tank. The spark plugs do look a little too black.

 

[Ozarks4WD]

Do you have a filter sock on your fuel tank pick up tube? You may have some rusty dregs in your fuel tank. The spark plugs do look a little too black.

Agreed, there had to be some garbage which went into the tank...
@Spark plugs - I'm trying to drive more and more at the longer distances now that i plowed through the basic maintenance and tuneup.
This car was sitting basically for the last decade or so. It was drive from time to time around the neighborhood but that's pretty much it. Let's just say that car wasn't in the "highway ready" condition. That all changed now. Baby steps.
Today I hope to check timing on it. I already did compression and vacuum tests - all is looking great. Once with all the results in hand, I will probably look into the carb tuning. Maybe my 60 is running little too rich...

 

[Ozarks4WD]

Agreed, there had to be some garbage which went into the tank...
@Spark plugs - I'm trying to drive more and more at the longer distances now that i plowed through the basic maintenance and tuneup.
This car was sitting basically for the last decade or so. It was drive from time to time around the neighborhood but that's pretty much it. Let's just say that car wasn't in the "highway ready" condition. That all changed now. Baby steps.
Today I hope to check timing on it. I already did compression and vacuum tests - all is looking great. Once with all the results in hand, I will probably look into the carb tuning. Maybe my 60 is running little too rich...

Ok, so my timing was slightly off. I set it up at 7 degrees now (per manual).

 

[mongoose2231]

I had a simillar issue years ago on my gasser. Turned out that aftwr doing everything under the sun to get it to idle right, it was seafood that fixed my problem.

Thread 'truck will not idle and bucks under half throttle under 2000 rpm.'

Dec 24, 2012

So after 4 days of searching and trying to diagnose the problem I figured it's time for me to start my own thread in order to get some adequate help. have checked the fuses and wiring to the ICS, I have also disconnected the hose from the EGR and still will not idle. I didn't however check the voltage at the ICS though. The problem started about a week ago after replacing and refreshing all my vacuum lines. As a precaution I said to myself to better change all of them so that I would not run into trouble down the line. She ran just fine after that for a couple days. Then, probably...

• mongoose2231
• Replies: 86
• Forum: 60-Series Wagons

 

[mongoose2231]

Ceck my last post in the old thread of mine.

 

[Ozarks4WD]

Ceck my last post in the old thread of mine.

Awesome, yes, i put the can of seafoam too. I strongly believe it was dirty fuel or some dirt got into the carb. All is working fine now tho.
And lol, I have to rebuild my AC too. Previous owner just bypassed AC compressor after it went bad...I may have to rebuilt connector on the compressor too, because wires are just dangling from it...baby steps.