Multiple Misfires, Chasing Cause (1 Viewer)

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I saw that ECU harness damage on other threads but mine is all good, no wear behind the glovebox.
 
I may have missed it somewhere, but have you determined if you have spark with this latest No start problem? If you have no spark at the spark plugs, that should be your focus. If you do have spark, good fuel pressure must be ruled out.

The wiring harness will show damage on the side that faces the EGR pipe. Radiant heat and/or contact with the pipe gets it there. Your pictures don't show that side, and all that black crap could be covering up the problem.

Rereading your first post, you said it got much worse after you did plugs and wires. Did you use a Toyota cap? The Toyota one has the numbers on top that tells you which cylinder wire goes to each post. I would recheck your work here. Then follow each wire to confirm proper placement. I know I'm not the only wrench monkey to have screwed this simple task up once before. Yes, it's a pain, but you are saving yourself $120/hour trouble shooting this problem.

Kick it's Ass, Sea Bass!
 
It's hard to get to but I'll put more time into cleaning and spotting that side of the harness to fully rule that out.

The only way I know to test for spark is to pull one, ground it to the frame, and try to crank the engine to look for the spark. I'll do this for #1 and #2, since 1 reports a misfire and 2 doesn't.

The cap and rotor are both Denso, the wires are NGK. I'll triple-check but both are labeled numerically and I'm pretty confident it's not screwed up
 
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Big update!
No spark visible from either plug #1 or #2; prior to my no-start I had misfires in 1, 4, 5, and 'random'. Engine still tried to crank a bit the battery is getting low from all my attempts over the past several days. I'm 100% learning as I go, so does this mean I've got an issue somewhere in HT wires/dizzy?
Still can't get all the insulation off the bottom of the harness by the EGR to confirm it's condition, but that part of the insulation is stubborn so hopefully that means it held up
 
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Charge your battery before you damage it from too deep
a discharge.

I use one of these NOCO chargers (G7200 Model),
some auto parts stores sell them in-house, otherwise, online.

 
Haven't swapped in any known functioning parts as I don't know any local 80s to borrow from.
Ignition coil is a thought that hadn't yet occurred to me though
 
That Ohm meter will tell you all you need to know about the coil. It will also tell you if you have a bad coil wire. Tracking down a No spark is not too complicated. You first start at the power source and work your way to the ditributor. You first need to make sure your Check engine light comes on when you first turn the key on. It will tell you IF you have power going to the ECU. Then check the three fusible links coming off the positive battery terminal.

Better yet, read this :
 
You might be surprised...

IMG_3373.jpg
 
Unfortunately I relocated and haven't updated. I'm in Tampa, FL.
Mighty, I know the intake tube can crack and cause problems, but I haven't found any damage to mine and it's still fairly pliable; although it doesn't look any better than the old one in that photo..
Hombre that troubleshooting file is great! Going to start going down the list and see where it leads me
 
Unfortunately I relocated and haven't updated. I'm in Tampa, FL.
Mighty, I know the intake tube can crack and cause problems, but I haven't found any damage to mine and it's still fairly pliable; although it doesn't look any better than the old one in that photo..
Hombre that troubleshooting file is great! Going to start going down the list and see where it leads me
Surely their is someone on Craigslist or even on the classifieds here that would sell u a distributor.
 
Sounds like you are making progress. On the wiring by the EGR in my case it wasn't causing a no start but rather a bunch of misfires. Once you clean it up and rule out any damaged wires be sure to secure it away from the EGR so it doesn't get damaged in the future.
 
Do a compression test. A sticky valve gave me this headache. Did everything mentioned here. Look for a random spark pattern on
one of the wires. I know it doesn't make sense.
 
Reading your post my first thought was that you installed the secondary wires (spark plug wires) incorrectly. But since you've checked for a spark and didn't get any, then that points to something else. Do you have a copy of the Factory Service Manual? There are PDF's you can find here. It sounds like you need to use your multi-meter to start testing parts. (Wires, coil, etc).

The wire loom next to EGR generally are the injector wires which fail, so you're probably OK there.

Have you verified that the secondary wires have specified ohm reading? Connected properly? I'd really inspect the wires visually and with a multimeter. The fact that you got more misfire codes after your work makes me think it is related. I'd start there. Are there any other codes being read besides the misfire codes?

Here's the very first page of the FSM in ignition section if there is a no spark condition:
1571489785072.png
 
So I feel silly, I guess I was so used to seeing the check engine light on for the misfires that I didn't realize that with this new no-start problem, my CEL is not on with the key in the On position; I'm going to pull the glovebox off now and check under there again, but assuming those wires are in great shape and plugged in, does that point to the ECU being bad? What other things can I check before I start calling around for one to pull from a yard?
 
Doing some searching and finding a lot of info on this, but if anyone wants to chime in with advice I'd love to have it.
EFI/ECU/ignition fuses are all good, power is getting to the ECM, underhood fuse box, and distributor.
 
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SHE LIVES!
Jumped #2 and #4 under the EFI relay (had to jump start the truck) and it fired right up. Even my CEL for the misfires went away, and it seemed to be running well and actually not misfiring, although I couldn't test drive it as I was blocked in at the time.
I left it running to charge the battery a bit while I reinstalled my glovebox, and while doing so it died on it's own and then wouldn't restart without me wiggling the wire I used to bypass the relay. When I started it back up the CEL was back on and it sounded like it was misfiring still/again.
Could this all just be due to an imperfect bridge with that EFI relay?
 
Ok so now I'm back to square one:
I got the CEL to illuminate with key in the On position by jumping terminals #2 & #4 under the EFI relay, and got the truck to start twice under that scenario. Ran to the local Pull n Pay and grabbed a couple 90987-02004 relays, came back and now under no circumstances can I get my CEL to illuminate or the engine to fire (any of my available relays, or the terminal jumping that worked before).
I can hear what I assume to be the fuel injection module (or whatever) clicking under the hood when I insert the wire to jump the terminals, but CEL does not illuminate again after my first success. Can anybody smarter than me explain what this means? Did I fry something by jumping the terminals and allowing the truck to run?
 

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