Hi all,
I own a bone stock, well cared for 97 FZJ80 CE with 228k on the odometer. I'll preface this post with I know just enough to get myself in trouble, have a brother on here (shout out @tplane2 ) who does his own work, and lots of tools (lift, every stinking tool known to man, etc) at my dad's house BUT as my friends put it I can f**k up an anvil with a rubber mallet. I tackle regular PM stuff and don't wheel, just drive the cruiser and enjoy it. So go easy.
My issue is my truck runs great 80% of the time. The other 20% for no reliable reason at any speed during any activity from driving slow/fast or just idling the engine starts running "rough" and the steering wheel shakes, pressing the accelerator does not gain speed well, and like clockwork the check engine light blinks for a bout 10 seconds then stays on. This will last an indefinite amount of time before randomly stopping and going back to normal. Sometimes weeks, sometimes hours.
Hooking it up a scanner only gives me a code for miss on cylinder #1 (i think, it may be #2 but its the same cyl every time). One can reset it and then the check engine light is turned off, only for it to happen again at a totally random time. I have imo a great relationship with a local Toyota/Lexus mechanic who has looked at it for me half a dozen times, keeping it a week at one point and not charging me enough frankly. He's pretty conservative with the 80s saying he's chased down things like this before throwing used parts at em only to find out it wasn't right or the part wasn't good to begin with. I respect him for that.
The only change he's made thus far is to change out the plug wire to the offending cylinder. I drove it home (reset of course) and the problem reared its head before I got back home. ECU has been discussed as the culprit but he feels that should cause a problem that isn't intermittent like this. I almost want it to get permanently worse as at least that'll give him something to work with because when it happens I try to run it over to his shop and the cruiser will have normalized by the time I get it to him.
My only urgency is I'd like this to be my DD (short across town commute) or I'd like to commit to selling it with a clean conscience and keeping my 07 4Runner. @tplane2 has an 96 for parts I can grab an ECU off of but I don't know if this'll work year to year or if its even any good. I've tagged him here but he's across the earth for the next couple of years with work obligations so brother can't really help. He suggested a post on Mud so here I am. Thanks for any input.
I own a bone stock, well cared for 97 FZJ80 CE with 228k on the odometer. I'll preface this post with I know just enough to get myself in trouble, have a brother on here (shout out @tplane2 ) who does his own work, and lots of tools (lift, every stinking tool known to man, etc) at my dad's house BUT as my friends put it I can f**k up an anvil with a rubber mallet. I tackle regular PM stuff and don't wheel, just drive the cruiser and enjoy it. So go easy.
My issue is my truck runs great 80% of the time. The other 20% for no reliable reason at any speed during any activity from driving slow/fast or just idling the engine starts running "rough" and the steering wheel shakes, pressing the accelerator does not gain speed well, and like clockwork the check engine light blinks for a bout 10 seconds then stays on. This will last an indefinite amount of time before randomly stopping and going back to normal. Sometimes weeks, sometimes hours.
Hooking it up a scanner only gives me a code for miss on cylinder #1 (i think, it may be #2 but its the same cyl every time). One can reset it and then the check engine light is turned off, only for it to happen again at a totally random time. I have imo a great relationship with a local Toyota/Lexus mechanic who has looked at it for me half a dozen times, keeping it a week at one point and not charging me enough frankly. He's pretty conservative with the 80s saying he's chased down things like this before throwing used parts at em only to find out it wasn't right or the part wasn't good to begin with. I respect him for that.
The only change he's made thus far is to change out the plug wire to the offending cylinder. I drove it home (reset of course) and the problem reared its head before I got back home. ECU has been discussed as the culprit but he feels that should cause a problem that isn't intermittent like this. I almost want it to get permanently worse as at least that'll give him something to work with because when it happens I try to run it over to his shop and the cruiser will have normalized by the time I get it to him.
My only urgency is I'd like this to be my DD (short across town commute) or I'd like to commit to selling it with a clean conscience and keeping my 07 4Runner. @tplane2 has an 96 for parts I can grab an ECU off of but I don't know if this'll work year to year or if its even any good. I've tagged him here but he's across the earth for the next couple of years with work obligations so brother can't really help. He suggested a post on Mud so here I am. Thanks for any input.
