2LTE started misfiring, smoking, 1991 Surf (6 Viewers)

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Joined
Sep 3, 2019
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112
Location
Abbotsford BC
Hey guys, still kind of learning my way around the vehicle world as this is my first rig, so bear with me. I'll try and post anything that i think is relevant.

Last weekend while doing a road trip, i was about 1/4 through a trail and my engine started misfiring/smoking at lower RPM's, this was while the engine was still warm, with a bit of load in the vehicle. Proceeded to inspect everything and it looked OK, and on the highway back i was cruising at full speed as if nothing was wrong. Another thing to add that over the past few months, i get absolutely 0 power when i start from a dead stop. I have to ride the clutch for almost all of 1st gear just to get it in second and even then it chugs up from second.

My oil pressure never goes between 1/8 and 1/4, coolant temp sensor stays at a consistent level right below the midmark, I've only seen it go barely above the midmark on 2 occasions, both about 2 months ago when we had a heat wave going up hills.

When i FIRST got the vehicle, i overfilled the coolant reservoir, and only recently it decided to pressurize and dump a s*** ton of coolant on the ground, its sitting at the MAX line right now.

Ive inspected for telltale signs of a head/gasket, and no fumes are coming out of the rad cap, neither does the coolant or oil look funky.

My crankcase breather tube has a decent amount of oil in it.

When i take off the oil cap, there is a decent amount of air blowing out, along with some oil.

I just cleaned the air filter, fuel filter is pretty new, and i ran some injector cleaner through it about 2 months ago.

Head gasket was done about 40k ago. Engine is sitting at 215k as of today.

Video below of it starting up, with me revving it a bit. I can also hear some weird klanking noise as well coming from it only when its cold.


 
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Ive gone over the entire engine again for visual tells, every hose seems secure, however the coolant and oil level look lower than i recall (However i have a shotty memory which might be it). It's a sign of a headgasket i presume. I'm due for an oil change regardless so i'm going to drain the oil and see if any coolant comes out with it.



EDIT: started it up thismorning, after about 10 seconds it was idling smoothly. 30 seconds later it was intermittently misfiring again while idiling (And blowing smoke when it misfire). Whenever i rev'd it misfired and puffed out smoke whenever it misfired. No oil comes out of the crankcase breather tube
 
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A few ideas come to mind:

- Pull the ECU codes. 2.4LTE Fault Codes

- Look for diesel leaks around injection pump, and the primer pump and fuel filter. If a ton of air is getting into the injection system it could easily cause your problems.

- Pull the glow rail off, and use a multimeter to test the resistance of each glow plug. Replace if any have gone high resistance or open. Make sure to get all the little isolation spacers right when you put the glow rail back on so you don't short to the intake manifold by mistake (I've been there). Glows would just impact starting, but not the rest of your problems, so if the glows are bad, they won't be your only issue.

- You could check the pick-up in your tank to make sure the pre-filter is not plugged with debris/algae.

- When were your injectors last rebuilt if ever? One or more may have some issues.
 
Thanks for the help GTS, you seem like the resident expert on the 2lte around here so i appreciate you giving me a hand.

1. No codes flashing at the moment, but ill see if anything comes up anyway and report back.
2. No leaks as far as i can tell, but ill go over it again.
3. Glow plugs are 6months old, ill check it again though.
4. Unsure what you mean by pickup in the tank, but ill poke my head around the fuel tank and see if i can find what you're talking about
5. As far as i know, never.
 
Thanks for the help GTS, you seem like the resident expert on the 2lte around here so i appreciate you giving me a hand.

1. No codes flashing at the moment, but ill see if anything comes up anyway and report back.
2. No leaks as far as i can tell, but ill go over it again.
3. Glow plugs are 6months old, ill check it again though.
4. Unsure what you mean by pickup in the tank, but ill poke my head around the fuel tank and see if i can find what you're talking about
5. As far as i know, never.

You're welcome. I'm not sure about the Hilux, but many of Toyota's diesel have a little 'fuel sock' in the tank pick-up that pre-filters the fuel before it travels toward the engine. It's a bit of work to get at usually. Was just an idea.
 
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Checked the engine light, blinked as if it was normal.

Re-inspected everything in the engine bay, noticed a couple of the rubber hoses were leaking quite a bit more oil than i thought they were, so i have those in my shopping cart. Unsure how that much oil got inside the air assembly though. Maybe the dripping oil corroded something. When i check the glows and rip it all off then i will look into it.

Looked at a couple drawings of my fuel tank setup, looks like i have to drop the fuel tank to get to it so it might be a project. Ill get back to that.


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Checked the engine light, blinked as if it was normal.

Re-inspected everything in the engine bay, noticed a couple of the rubber hoses were leaking quite a bit more oil than i thought they were, so i have those in my shopping cart. Unsure how that much oil got inside the air assembly though. Maybe the dripping oil corroded something. When i check the glows and rip it all off then i will look into it.

Looked at a couple drawings of my fuel tank setup, looks like i have to drop the fuel tank to get to it so it might be a project. Ill get back to that.

Often there is an access hatch in the floor of the trucks so you don't have to drop the tank. Not sure on the Hilux/4Runners tho. I'd eliminate some of the other things before worrying about the tank tho.

All your oil dripping is from the Crank case vent feeding oil into the intact tract. It leaks out like that on pretty much all these motors. It's not a clamp problem so much. You're best off getting a high quality catch can or just running a hose into the frame and letting it vent to atmosphere (this is what I do). Like an old tractor, lol. Anyhow, this would not be causing your issues.

I'm willing to bet you either have a bad air leak somewhere or your injectors need rebuild.
 
Any reccomendations on testing for air leaks before i go ahead and rebuild injectors? I think im going to add some injector cleaner to the fuel filter and see if that does anything first. Maybe i just got bad diesel and it's clogged something. And is there a danger to driving around short or long term with bad injectors?

When i was initially troubleshooting this problem, a few other posts pointed me to look at the throttle position sensor, i don't know enough about diesels to know if that would be causing my issues or not.

Another thing i forgot to mention, on the roadtrip this happened i got pretty bad gas mileage, at first i chalked it up to being in lowgear the entire trip (I was doing the whipsaw which you're probably familiar with) but if an injector was going then that might make a bit more sense.
 
EDIT: started it up thismorning, after about 10 seconds it was idling smoothly. 30 seconds later it was intermittently misfiring again while idiling (And blowing smoke when it misfire). Whenever i rev'd it misfired and puffed out smoke whenever it misfired. No oil comes out of the crankcase breather tube

Based on this I’ll put my money on air in the fuel. Bleed everything really good up to the injectors and try again - see if it will run smooth for awhile before symptoms come back. It can be tricky to find because sometimes leaks are small enough that air will enter the fuel system without a noticeable diesel leak. I chased one forever before figuring out the water separator drain oring at the bottom of the fuel filter was cracked.
 
Have never bled fuel before (Short of pushing that priming button after replacing the filter), I'll do some research and bleed it and see if that helps, seems pretty straight forward.
 
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When i was initially troubleshooting this problem, a few other posts pointed me to look at the throttle position sensor, i don't know enough about diesels to know if that would be causing my issues or not.

If it was the TPS it probably would have come out when you checked your engine codes. Have you ever loosened the screws on the ears of the TPS? Usually that's what'll mess 'em up. It's possible to test them and set them back with a multimeter and feeler gauges.

I've only ever used the fuel primer button to bleed my system also. You can pump it a bunch before starting in the morning. The button should get hard right away. If it doesn't, you know there is air in the system. Pump it till it's hard and see if it helps your starting.

Bad injectors (if dripping fuel) can do damage as they cause hot spots on piston and in pre-cup.
 
Getting some weird feedback right now.

1. Pumped the fuel pump primer about 40 times. started it up and idled just fine. While revving it I still misfired. Drove around a bit (so it was warmed up) but was still misfiring while in 1st gear revving/driving.

2. About an hr later (the sun came out too and it's a bit warmer out) I got back out and started it up, can idle and rev'd to around 2k and didn't hear a single misfire. Ripped around the block and it was performing as it was before.


Another thing that may be unrelated, when I shutdown my engine it shakes very vigorously so I think I'm needing new engine mounts, Havent looked at the engine while shutting it down before but its BAD. Maybe its shaking something loose causing air to get in?

EDIT: engine mounts are proving hard to find, looks like i'm janking something up.
 
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1. Pumped the fuel pump primer about 40 times. started it up and idled just fine. While revving it I still misfired. Drove around a bit (so it was warmed up) but was still misfiring while in 1st gear revving/driving.

2. About an hr later (the sun came out too and it's a bit warmer out) I got back out and started it up, can idle and rev'd to around 2k and didn't hear a single misfire. Ripped around the block and it was performing as it was before.

Do the glow plugs have power to them?
You need to have the compression tested. It sounds like you have 1-2 cylinders not getting full compression when cold. I wouldn't be spending money on anything e
The reason it ran well after you started it up an hour later is because the piston rings have expanded a little and the ambient temp.

I know these engines are dirty little things , always covered in oil, but yours looks like it has blowby, another sign of worn oil rings etc.
 
Another thing that may be unrelated, when I shutdown my engine it shakes very vigorously so I think I'm needing new body mounts, Havent looked at the engine while shutting it down before but its BAD. Maybe its shaking something loose causing air to get in?

EDIT: body mounts are proving hard to find, looks like i'm janking something up.

I doubt it. Diesels have about 4 times the compression of a petrol engine. When a diesel is running on 3 cyl , they tend to shake the s*** out of anything.
Body mounts dont have to be OEM. There are aftermarket mounts and its probably easy to make your own.
 
I doubt it. Diesels have about 4 times the compression of a petrol engine. When a diesel is running on 3 cyl , they tend to shake the s*** out of anything.
Body mounts dont have to be OEM. There are aftermarket mounts and its probably easy to make your own.

Alright, my throttle plate is also removed, ill assume that's normal.

Do the glow plugs have power to them?
You need to have the compression tested. It sounds like you have 1-2 cylinders not getting full compression when cold. I wouldn't be spending money on anything e
The reason it ran well after you started it up an hour later is because the piston rings have expanded a little and the ambient temp.

I know these engines are dirty little things , always covered in oil, but yours looks like it has blowby, another sign of worn oil rings etc.

Couple other buddies of mine mentioned they don't think i have compression as well. I'm gonna pickup a compression kit (Can get them for like 60bucks on amazon) and see where to go from there. According to what I've been reading, 284 to 455 psi is what i need, with a maximimum difference between the cylinders of 71psi.

Buddy also reccomended i throw ATF in the fuel filter and fill it all the way up, bleed it through the system up to the injectors and let it sit overnight. It worked on his patrol so I'm gonna give it a shot on mine.

I'll get back to this thread when its compression tested as I think that's the next logical step.
 
I've had pretty low compression on one cylinder of a 2LTE. It only impacted start-up. After about a minute it ran like normal. If I did 2-3 glow cycles it would also start like normal. Usually bad compression doesn't just come and go either. It also doesn't suddenly show up the way your problems have (unless something catastrophic has happened like dropping pieces of a precup). Make me think something else (likely fuel system related) is causing your issues. Definitely worth a compression test in any case, as it'll let you know where you're at.

I believe there is a place in the fraser valley that rebuilds injectors. You can ask on the Coastal Cruisers area in the Clubhouse section of mud. Just MAKE SURE you buy new crush washers before you re-install (the ones that seal the injector nozzle to the cylinder head). All the others can be reused, but you could replace them while you're in there anyhow. If you don't use new crush washers you can wreck new injectors as the nozzle overheats and gets coked up with carbon. This all the voice of experience, lol.
 
I've had pretty low compression on one cylinder of a 2LTE. It only impacted start-up. After about a minute it ran like normal. If I did 2-3 glow cycles it would also start like normal. Usually bad compression doesn't just come and go either. It also doesn't suddenly show up the way your problems have (unless something catastrophic has happened like dropping pieces of a precup). Make me think something else (likely fuel system related) is causing your issues. Definitely worth a compression test in any case, as it'll let you know where you're at.

I believe there is a place in the fraser valley that rebuilds injectors. You can ask on the Coastal Cruisers area in the Clubhouse section of mud. Just MAKE SURE you buy new crush washers before you re-install (the ones that seal the injector nozzle to the cylinder head). All the others can be reused, but you could replace them while you're in there anyhow. If you don't use new crush washers you can wreck new injectors as the nozzle overheats and gets coked up with carbon. This all the voice of experience, lol.

Sounds good. If it gets to that point, I'll make sure I do it right. I reckon next time I'm on the island i owe you some beers, thanks for the help so far.
 
Sounds good. If it gets to that point, I'll make sure I do it right. I reckon next time I'm on the island i owe you some beers, thanks for the help so far.

Haha, no prob; happy to help.
 
Did a bit more investigating, there is no fuel tank access hatch sadly. Also while underneath, a couple of my fuel lines looked REALLY greasy, and something really peculiar caught my eye.

First there isn't much around there that could cause this sort of greasiness on the line other than fuel.

Second, If you look in the picture below, there is a hardline with a rubber sleeve around it. At the edge of the sleeve on the hardline, it looks clean all the way around. I took a microfibre to it afterwords, and the rubber sleeve didn't move too easily, so i'm thinking the only way that spot could be clean is if there was a hardline leak inside that rubber line causing fuel to leech out. Will investigate further. Maybe while i was wheeling a rock shot up and hit it.

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I'm gonna pickup a compression kit (Can get them for like 60bucks on amazon)

They have a high failure rate. Try and hire a quality one if possible or spend a bit more.
That leak maybe part of the problem but you said it still ran bad with the engine running from the fuel container. Leaks tend to let a heap of air in overnight and go away during the day if its driven. Low compression tends to do the same
 

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