91' 4Runner 3vz-e flooding issue. fixed! (1 Viewer)

[DaKruiser]

Long time lurker, I hope you all can point me in a better direction.

My wife and I recently bought a 91' 4Runner. We knew it had issues, cracked intake hose, unplugged cold start injector and TPS, but I thought I could get those fixed pretty easily. I was able to drive it home, about 40 miles running very rough. I've not been able to start it since, plugs are wet with fuel after a few short cranks.

I have replaced the intake hose. My VAFM tested bad on test two, open circuit, so I bought a rebuilt unit from oreilley auto parts and it tests the same. I'm not totally convinced I'm testing them correctly.
I have a new toyota TPS on the way, it's the only code I'm getting from OBD. I tested it and had a bad reading between IDL and E2, with a .5 mm feeler guage it was 52 ohms, no where near the 2.3k it should be. With it unplugged it should idle though, correct?
I've also replaced the cap, rotor, wires and plugs, all Toyota and Denso.

Any suggestions on where to look?

Thanks in advance

 

[KLF]

Wondering if the injectors could be gunked up and sticking open? Not easy to pull on that engine, but might be worth a look.

Yes, the engine will run with the TPS disconnected.

Spark OK?

 

[DaKruiser]

I have great spark, and the rotor turns fine when cranking the engine over.

I'm not real sure I'm ready to pull the intake to check the injectors.

 

[DaKruiser]

I have a little more info. I pulled the cold start injector leaving it connected to the fuel line and cranked the engine over. No fuel at all came out of it either connected to the wire harness or not. Current temperature here is a pleasant 88°, yuck!
I also tried the same with my old VAFM connected and unconnected with the same results. No fuel from the cold start injector.

Tomorrow I will have a new TPS and another VAFM, fingers crossed.

 

[DaKruiser]

Well, new TPS and VAFM did not fix my flooding issue. OBD shows all clear now.

I'm going to check my wiring on the fuel injectors next. Anyone rewired there's? I've read a few posts about the connectors getting brittle and breaking, as well as harness junctions causing problems.

 

[DaKruiser]

I have at least one broken fuel injector connector. It appears to be plugged in and it makes no difference if I hold down on it while someone else cranks the engine. Would a loose connection cause the injectors to stick open, or miss fire? I've not had much luck finding threads concerning that. @KLF is it really possible for the injectors to get gunked up and stick open?

If anyone has any threads or videos on removing the intake and rewiring the injectors I would sure appreciate them. Or a good Toyota 3vz-e mechanic in central Indiana, lol

 

[Mudder]

I'd get a noid light. It'll verify that the injectors are getting power at least.

 

[DaKruiser]

Update: I have a local exhaust shop I use, turns out he’s a Toyota truck enthusiast and knows a little about them. So I towed the runner over for him to check out, he felt it was out of time and took the front cover off. Someone has welded the harmonic balancer to the crank. The timing gear behind the balancer was able to spin because of the stripped key.

He’s going to grind the weld off and I’ll update after we see what all we have to replace.

 

[KLF]

WTF. Some people...

 

[DaKruiser]

WTF. Some people...

IKR! Hopefully the crank is salvageable, then a new harmonic balancer, all the timing belt stuff with water pump and I can get this thing on the road.

I have a solid front Toyota axle that’s begging to be put into something.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! That's too good!!!! I'm sorry that it's your problem, but that's really funny!

Take some pics if you can! That's wall of shame stuff for sure!

 

[DaKruiser]

Update: I drove it home last night!

My mechanic was able to save the crank by carefully grinding away the weld. He installed a new harmonic balancer, timing belt gear, key and timing belt kit with water pump and all the other goodies. It still has a miss around 2500 rpm, I’m hoping that it will clear up with drive time.

@2ndGenToyotaFan I didn’t get any pics, but to add to the shame. Whoever done the welding also pulled the distributor and moved it a tooth, I guess to get it to run the little that it did. Crazy stuff people do!

Thanks to all that replied, I’ll update later with some pics. I hope to somewhat restore this Runner, and just maybe do that SAS if it proves to be reliable.

 

[DaKruiser]

And another update: My miss at 2500 rpm was really from 2000-3000 rpm, which made it bad because that’s the sweet spot for accelerating.

I put 150 miles on it with no change so I pulled the plugs to see what they looked like. They all had a little carbon on them but nothing I thought should cause a miss fire like I had.

The last plug I pulled, the back drivers side was my problem. Somehow I managed to bump the plug without realizing it and closed the gap almost completely.
After regapping it the Runner now runs great.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Hahaha, I dropped a plug once and didn't check it before installing.... I'll never do that again...

 

[DaKruiser]

Done a few more things to the Runner in the past week. Thanks to the FAQ my manual shifter works much better! I cleaned out what was left of the old shifter bushing and replaced it with a factory replacement. It took maybe thirty minutes to do, now it shifts like a new one.

And a few pics from taking it down into the woods. I needed to rehang some steel targets so I used the opportunity to try four low.