1992 Toyota Hilux Surf 2LTE Power Loss On Hills (1 Viewer)

[5doomslayer4]

Hi all, I bought a 1992 hilux surf with the 2lte last summer. Lately the engine has been a dog on any decent hill and misfires on start up with lots of smoke out the exhaust but runs ok once warmed up. Truck has decent acceleration on flat. Pedal to the medal the truck will only do 30/km/h up hill and looses speed and rpm quickly if you hit the hill at speed. Recently I discovered my wiring for my intake air temp sensor wasn't reading properly I ended up fixing the wiring so it gets the proper 5 volts but my sensor is shorted to so I am waiting for a oem replacement. Not sure if that would be my issue I know I am making boost my green turbo light lights up around 1800rpm and I have a boost gauge and can see I am making 12lbs of boost. Ive tried to raise/ lower the boost with no success. If anyone has some info it would be really appreciated. Thanks!

Truck specs: 1992 Toyota Hilux surf ssr-x 2lte
New turbo
New head gasket/water pump/ timing belt
New alternator
2.5" exhuast
Egr delete
Intercooler
Injection pump rebuild
All rubber hoses replaced with silicon hoses
Ported exhaust manifold
Boost controller
Boost gauge
Pyrometer

 

[4Ruster]

I have an 85' non turbo 2L and I can tell you right away your engine aint right. I was driving around with a melted piston and could still do most hills at 50-60 km/h. Check your compression. If it's misfiring you could have a faulty injector or possibly a faulty IP.

 

[5doomslayer4]

The shop I took it to get the head gasket replaced is very reputable and the mechanic is a factory trained Toyota mechanic from Japan. He was saying someone upgraded the head and there is very little blow by. From what he was telling me the engines in good shape. I am starting to think the problem is in the injectors/ pump. Could I take my injectors out and bring them to any injector shop or is there someone I can send them to that is familiar with the 2lte injectors? Or would it be better to buy replacement injectors?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[4Ruster]

The shop I took it to get the head gasket replaced is very reputable and the mechanic is a factory trained Toyota mechanic from Japan. He was saying someone upgraded the head and there is very little blow by. From what he was telling me the engines in good shape. I am starting to think the problem is in the injectors/ pump. Could I take my injectors out and bring them to any injector shop or is there someone I can send them to that is familiar with the 2lte injectors? Or would it be better to buy replacement injectors?

Thanks for the reply!

They’re very simple injectors, any shop that can work on old TDIs can pop test and shim your injectors. Also, you should try running the motor and cracking each injector line to get the air out. Possible you have a bad air bubble trapped.

 

[5doomslayer4]

They’re very simple injectors, any shop that can work on old TDIs can pop test and shim your injectors. Also, you should try running the motor and cracking each injector line to get the air out. Possible you have a bad air bubble trapped.

Good to hear. I will try to bleed the injectors and see if that helps. I should probably take my injectors out regardless and get them checked just to be sure.

 

[Dougal]

What does your pyro say?

 

[5doomslayer4]

Honestly not sure if my pyro is working properly because it jumps around a lot. Sometimes it reads 300-4 steadily cruising and other times it will jump up to 800- 1200 on hills. I was told to keep higher rpm to reduce temps on hills but my egts stay the same Still unsure if my gauge has a problem. My probe is mounted before the turbo.

What does your pyro say?

 

[Dougal]

Honestly not sure if my pyro is working properly because it jumps around a lot. Sometimes it reads 300-4 steadily cruising and other times it will jump up to 800- 1200 on hills. I was told to keep higher rpm to reduce temps on hills but my egts stay the same Still unsure if my gauge has a problem. My probe is mounted before the turbo.

1200F is normal under full torque to full power conditions. Cruise is way cooler. If you had a fuel supply problem your pyro would read cold all the time. If you had an air supply problem your pyro would read hot all the time.

 

[5doomslayer4]

1200F is normal under full torque to full power conditions. Cruise is way cooler. If you had a fuel supply problem your pyro would read cold all the time. If you had an air supply problem your pyro would read hot all the time.

Ok I guess my pyro is working properly. I took the truck for a spin today and it seems like even cruising my egts keep climbing is this normal? I took a few videos to show the misfire on start up, deceleration on steep hills and how my gauge is operating. I dont have a video but on the highway my egts are around 6-1200F cruising. Edit: the start in the video is better then usual. Most the time it smokes a lot more and for double the time.

 

[4Ruster]

Yikes that white smoke tells me low compression from experience. I'd highly recommend doing a compression test.

 

[5doomslayer4]

Yikes that white smoke tells me low compression from experience. I'd highly recommend doing a compression test.

Thanks for the info again. Looking at it now I guess first off would be checking to make sure the engine has proper compression. How much compression are these engines supposed to have to run good? Testing compression same as gas engines? Screw the tester into the glow plug hole and crank engine 10 revolutions and check psi? Or is there a different way for these engines?

 

[4Ruster]

Thanks for the info again. Looking at it now I guess first off would be checking to make sure the engine has proper compression. How much compression are these engines supposed to have to run good? Testing compression same as gas engines? Screw the tester into the glow plug hole and crank engine 10 revolutions and check psi? Or is there a different way for these engines?

Yes testing is the same, however you need a diesel compression tester, gauge is much higher and threads into glow plug holes. Spec is 450 psi, minimum is 280ish but you don’t really want anything lower then 400.

 

[5doomslayer4]

Awesome, I just ordered a diesel compression tester. Should be here later today and I will share my findings. Is it worth it to do a dry and wet compression test or just dry?

 

[4Ruster]

Awesome, I just ordered a diesel compression tester. Should be here later today and I will share my findings. Is it worth it to do a dry and wet compression test or just dry?

a compression test will tell you so much about your engine. Do it dry at first, then if it comes up lower then 450ish, drop a teaspoon of oil in and see if it improves.

If it improved with oil then it is most likely rings. If there is no improvement then most likely valves not sealing. Also note how fast the compression rises. If it comes up slowly then that tells you valves. It is a compression after all, no good if it takes 10 turns to get enough compression to run

Let us know!

(Also don't forget to unplug your glow plug relay lol)

 

[5doomslayer4]

a compression test will tell you so much about your engine. Do it dry at first, then if it comes up lower then 450ish, drop a teaspoon of oil in and see if it improves.

If it improved with oil then it is most likely rings. If there is no improvement then most likely valves not sealing. Also note how fast the compression rises. If it comes up slowly then that tells you valves. It is a compression after all, no good if it takes 10 turns to get enough compression to run

Let us know!

(Also don't forget to unplug your glow plug relay lol)

Awesome, I got my tester late last night so I waited till this morning to check my compression.
Cylinder 1: 480
Cylinder 2: 460
Cylinder 3: 460
Cylinder 4: 500
I just unplugged the injection pump cranked the engine 5 times and that's what I got on each cylinder. I didn't do a wet compression test because the dry numbers seem ok. On my glow plugs cylinder 2 and 3 there was a little bit of fluid around half way up smelt like diesel or oil... I watched a video of compression testing the 2lte and he had the same issue and said its a failed or faulty injector?

I also ended up replacing the glow plugs and it doesn't smoke white at all during start up now and doesn't misfire and shake the s*** out of the engine. Thinking my performance issue on hills would be something with the injectors? I haven't tested the truck on any hills since replacing the glow plugs but I don't believe the glow plugs have anything to do with that.

 

[RyanMiller]

my money is on a leaky injector for this one... compression is good, white smoke and high EGTs..

 

[5doomslayer4]

my money is on a leaky injector for this one... compression is good, white smoke and high EGTs..

Where is a good place to get new injectors or should I have the old ones rebuilt?

 

[RyanMiller]

Where is a good place to get new injectors or should I have the old ones rebuilt?

Personally I would find a highly regarded local farm/ diesel shop and ask them to replace the nozzle and pop test it. They should be able to do the pop test and adjust with the appropriate shims. try to do your homework for the pop pressure and nozzle part number beforehand if you can.
I have done it myself, but the cleanliness and inventory of a diesel repair shop makes the job a breeze. Consequently you can order entire nozzles on ebay, but thats a gamble itself sometimes.

 

[5doomslayer4]

Personally I would find a highly regarded local farm/ diesel shop and ask them to replace the nozzle and pop test it. They should be able to do the pop test and adjust with the appropriate shims. try to do your homework for the pop pressure and nozzle part number beforehand if you can.
I have done it myself, but the cleanliness and inventory of a diesel repair shop makes the job a breeze. Consequently you can order entire nozzles on ebay, but thats a gamble itself sometimes.

Just took out my injectors today, The injectors look pretty fresh but I tried to find the company that's stamped on there and couldn't find anything. I was wondering if these are just cheap injectors from wish and if I should get some Toyota ones or bring these to a shop and see if they test good?

 

[4Ruster]

Just took out my injectors today, The injectors look pretty fresh but I tried to find the company that's stamped on there and couldn't find anything. I was wondering if these are just cheap injectors from wish and if I should get some Toyota ones or bring these to a shop and see if they test good?

View attachment 3138516

View attachment 3138517

Those are factory Toyota injectors. The ND stands for NiponDenso, which is the OEM part brand.