95 4Runner 4 Cylinder, Rough Start/Shuts off. What is this pin?

[Trigrammaton]

Hi Guys,

Hoping to get a little insight on a problem I am dealing with. The car has needed a bit of priming before starting since I got it. Usually a couple presses on the throttle, and it starts up and maintains a high enough idle while I give it some more gas until it settles in. At present, If I just try to turn the ignition, the car will not turn over. With a 2 presses of gas pedal, it will turn over but quickly sputters out and , at first, doesn't seem to react to giving more throttle. Used to only happen in the morning, or after it had sit for a while, with no problems starting throughout the day. Now the idles at times want to dip down and shut the car off completely if I don't give it more throttle to keep the rpms high.

A mechanic friend of mine believes this has to do with the Carb. It has 186k miles on it. He isn't 100% but he is wondering if it has to do with this little pin at the top of the carb.

Here are some pics of the carb as well as the pin I mentioned above. What is this thing? What does it control...and could it be the culprit?

 

[Mudder]

Did someone convert your 95 runner from efi to carbed?

 

[Mudder]

My first thoughts would be has it been sitting a while? If so is the carb gummed up? Is it getting the correct fuel pressure that it needs? Is it just draining the bowl of gas and not getting anymore gas in it?

 

[Trigrammaton]

Hey Mudder,

I don't believe it has been converted...I think this is a Japanese Version, as I am in Ecuador. Altitude is about 6,000 ft. Not sure if that matters either.