1986 Toyota 4x4 22re - no spark. I have tried everything I can think of to do. Please Help!

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dixiemudtoy

dixiemudtoy

10 Year 15 Year
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Location
Snellville, GA
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1986 toyota 4x4 pickup, 22re, no spark despite strenuous efforts.

7-8 years ago I had replaced the igniter / coil with an igniter and box style coil from a 1995 truck using butt connectors to plug in the newer unit (s***ty, I know) because I liked the clip-on plug wires that the newer units used. With that I also updated to newer style distributor cap.

The problem started when I went to fix a bad front timing cover oil leak a week ago. I had gotten it all put back together, it was idling fine (making some noise, I think it was coming from water pump - will get to that in a minute), burping the radiator, and then just all of a sudden died, and would not fire back up. Checked all fuses, all connections, grounds, and had 12 volts on both ends of the primary coil lead, but no fire at the spark plugs.

I eventually replaced the coil, and it fired right up.

So I took it to my friends house to diagnose the noise, and when I tried to leave, no spark again...replaced coil again...fired right up. On my way home, while accelerating, something suddenly happened AGAIN and it just stopped accelerating, despite throttle input. I pulled over and it just died...no spark.

I elected to take the truck back to factory style igniter and coil. Ordered everything from Oreillys - factory style igniter with plugs that match factory style plugs (eliminating s***ty butt connector wiring), got an Accell super coil (round cylinder type coil), original spec cap, button and wires.

Go to crank - no spark. swap the positive / negative leads on the coil - no spark. Block ground to chassis / body is good. Fuses are good.

Any ides / helpful pointers from any of the guru's out there? I am at a total loss...solving electrical gremlins are not my strong suit.

Thanks yall! :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:
 
Spark? How about the fuel pump?
 
Toast,

I would love to go back to factory OG equipment, but unfortunately I can't afford $450 for an original igniter...and I've tried for a week to find units in salvage yards. These trucks are extremely rare in Georgia. If you have any sources, please let me know.

Pappy, It is definitely getting fuel...you can smell it as it's being turned over checking for spark. At least I assume that mean's the pump is working properly lol.

Also, I have been doing some research, and heard where someone had an issue with the distributor not sending a signal to the igniter, therefore no spark coming from the coil.

I forgot that I did have to replace my distributor during the timing cover leak repair, as the stem that inserts into the block that houses the distributor gear shaft broke at the o-ring seal. The truck ran just fine before the timing cover leak repair and I never fired it up before installing the autozone reman'd unit.

Could I have gotten a faulty autozone reman unit? I do think the distributor was spec'd for the newer rigs (grey signal plug instead of green), are there any remarkable differences in the internals between older units verses newer units? Autozone spec'd a very slightly different part number (off by the last digit only). I plan on swapping them out tomorrow (well later today) to try and rule it out.
 
Go back to an [good] original style distributor. My money is on a bad s***'Reilly unit that isn't the correct part to begin with.
 
There are dozens of ignitors and coils on eBay. It is very rare that the ignitor goes bad, but they do occasionally. Problem is, there is no diagnostic test, you just replace it with a known good one to confirm.

I had an MSD "Blaster" coil on my truck for awhile at one point, but it made the ignitor get really hot, so I swapped back to OEM. I believe there is a way to wire in a resistor if you want to go aftermarket, but I never pursued it.

Can you pull the good guts out of your old distributor? Have you checked the gap at the pickup (under the rotor)?
 
Toast said:
You need an OE igniter/coil. I bet that aftermarket crap isn't working. Go back to factory original
Click to expand...

I once went through three parts store master cylinders for my clutch. They’d start leaking within days - probably started as soon as installed, but it took me a couple days to notice it. That was my lesson on going OEM for certain things.
 
Okay, time for an update, sorry it has taken me a little while to get back.

As far as my plan of action, I did go ahead and replace the alternator with another AZ unit...and voila! it fired right up. So, problem solved, it was a bad remanufactured distributor, right? Wellllll....

So now it runs, however now it tends to die way too easily at low RPMs under light / moderate load, and after idling for a bit at a truck meet, it suddenly died out of nowhere again...the coil was extremely hot. After about 20-30 minutes, it fired right up and ran, however it has some sort of cut / backfire / lack of spark at anything above 4000rpms. Not that I am running her that hard most of the time, but I think the two problems are related. Also, spark cut / bad running happens more frequently across the RPM range after about 30 minutes of consistent driving / engine on time, and I think it's also due to the coil getting hot.

I replaced the coil with a factory-style coil from oreillys, and then checked all my grounds, and made sure none of the signal wires were catching interference with the primary coil wire, and am still experiencing the same problem with engine / spark cut / poor running above 4000k, have not driven it long enough to test for the coil getting hot and other related symptoms.

Any insight on what might be going on now? Possibly another bad distributor? Maybe a bad injector?

Also, I will look into getting some factory replacement parts from Jim's store. Thanks for the heads up!
 

That's a good idea. How do you go about testing the fuel pump while running through the gears? what's a good way to test spark / injector performance while driving? these things don't exactly have OBD2 ports to plug in a laptop and use EFI Live to see what all's going on lol
 
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