85 4runner sputtering and hesitating

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greenseaman

greenseaman

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Threads
189
Messages
2,899
Location
Conway, SC
Website
www.lowcountrylandcruisers.com
I've had my 85 4runner with a 22re for about a year now. Most of the time its parked but I've driven it for a week straight and it ran ok. Until it started raining yesterday... It's started doing this hesitating and sputtering and won't accelerate. It's done this ittermittently since I've had it but now it has been doing it a lot. When I floor the gas it will pick back up and drive right for a while. I've replaced the fuel pump and filter and some more stuff. I'm wondering if it might be that the distributor is getting wet??? I'm going to try to dry it out and replace the rotor button and the cap to see if that helps. Any ideas other than this? Thanks!
 
Howdy! Check the electrical socket that goes to the throttle position sensor on the side of the air horn. It is a large, 1/2 x 1" socket with 6 or 8 pins in it. Mine cracked the little ears that hold it tight up onto the other socket. I just made a custom choker with piano wire. Holds pretty good now. John
 
x2 i had a friend who's 88 would run like that when there was a lot of moisture in the air. turned out he had never changed the plugs wires or cap and rotor. the wires would spark into the air when it would rain. oh and he had 180,000 on it .
 
I have a cracked #1 injector plug that would always give me problems when there was a lot of moisture in the air. Finally tracked it down and put a little silicone around it. Helped out a lot.

It wasn't so much the moisture as it was just not getting a good connection and causing the injector not to fire. The moisture just seemed to make it a little worse.
 
i've had a similar problem that i still have not rectified yet. sputters like a fuel pump going out, or a bad fuel filter. but a while back another forum member advised that i check the ECU maybe getting wet - he said to open up the kick panel to see the ECU, and let a hose run above the windshield, and that water would probably be pouring over the ECU. i have not done this yet, but i may just test it out today...
 
I had it tuned up a while back and I think he replaced the wires but I guess one of them could be defective.. .? I'll have to maybe change them again and see if that helps. I'll check your thread. I guess I'll also check the ECU... Thanks!
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned your igniter. I'm having some hesitation problems withs my 4rnr ('88 with 22re) and I'm leaning towards igniter or ECU problems. I'm not too good with testing electrical stuff, and a couple guys on YT mentioned a method of checking something to do with the ECU, but I feel it may really be an igniter issue (the hesitation doesn't always come with this, but I often have erratic tach issues that are NOT reflected by actual engine speed.) Luckily, used igniter/coil assemblies are fairly common or can be source from junk/salvage yards, etc. The downside is that there is apparently no way of testing igniters, so... got a friend with a clean running 22r/22re? swap theirs out and drive around for a while. Try to remember when the engine is hesitating/acting up.
 
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