Now this guy is in the 60 series threads? New to me, 1988 FJ62 (1 Viewer)

[toyotaspeed90]

Well even that didn't go well.

Cut the stud the ground both sides flush with the manifold.

First pilot bit snapped in the stud. Titanium bit stuck.

Went from the other side, the stuck bit pushed the new bit in a different direction and barely ended up drilling the edge of the stud. Can't enlarge the hole.

So... I was done messing around.

Less than ideal, but cut from the side of the manifold with an angle grinder and through the stud.

1/2 of the stud STILL refused to come out, took quite a bit with a center punch and a 5lb ball peen. It was literally cut in half, being hit sideways out of the thread refusing.

Tapped and put the stud in. If it backs out then I'll throw another in or just a bolt, not much else I can do at this time.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

Well, forward progress has had almost no forward movement.....

Got it all back together.... while the exhaust donuts were going out, that wasn't the problem. My original instinct was the messed up o2 sensor someone left in there clamped with worm drive clamps (will get a photo of that, it's pretty awesome) - and that seems to be the exhaust leak.

Pulled the front wheels, lubed the drag link ends - went to adjust the end 'screws' - driver side is stuck (I got the "big screw" out, the internal part that's supposed to be greased won't move). Passenger side was good and I got a little adjustment out of it.

I went to adjust the steering box..... the set screw is stuck/rusted to the locking nut...... and haven't been able to actually break it free and adjust yet....

So question - can those 2 come out as a 'unit', mark them (with a pen), then break them free out of the vehicle?

 

[toyotaspeed90]

NOT my handy work....

I think I've measured the OD at 1 5/8".... will see what I can find, will need new piping, a new O2, and a screw type bung.

 

[BMValentine]

NOT my handy work....

I think I've measured the OD at 1 5/8".... will see what I can find, will need new piping, a new O2, and a screw type bung.

View attachment 1837817

View attachment 1837818

That’s bad! I could see doing something like that on the trail to get yourself home, but fixing it immediately upon getting home.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

No photos at this time..... not much available out there for stock size /aftermarket exhaust.

I knew, from a previous life as a parts store employee, that Bosch sold the Toyota o2 sensors with a flange that screws onto a traditional screw on O2. So I bought that and a chunk of tail pipe for about $60.

I removed the flange (turned into an ordeal - as it turned out that one must have been cross threaded... so I had to retap/die the threads of both the O2 and the flange)... flattened a section of the pipe, drilled a hole - then welded the flange to the pipe.

In essence I didn't have to buy an o2 bung and a Toyota sensor that screws in.

Any ways - I then cut and welded the pipe to the previously shown section of exhaust leaks and terrible decisions.


I also got a mild amount of adjustment from the steering box. 3 days of PB blaster basically did nothing, but a bit of vodka helped! After a couple drinks I had the genius plan- box end on the locking nut (loosened) up against the body. Then take a long breaker bar and use the end in the slot of the adjustment screw. This gave me a long enough tool to put my weight into a downward force to hold the blade of the pry bar in the slot of the screw. Tye pry bar is also square on the main length - so I used an open ended wrench to rotate the pry bar. It worked. (As a side note you have to unbolt and move out of the way the VSVs for the air pump). I got about a 1/2 turn on the screw. Steering is far better and doesn't bind returning to center.

Will follow up, probably tomorrow, with the not so good.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

Took the truck to town yesterday - 15 minutes on the freeway and as I got off the freeway the temp needle shot up. No other signs, no change in how it was running, no smoke/steam/boiling sounds. Got to where we were going (a minute down the road or so) and the needle was past "H". Cold outside, popped the hood - very mild amount of coolant at the top of the radiator but nothing major showing signs of leaks.

Let it sit, walked to a store to get coolant (and some rags). Got back, popped the radiator cap off using rags to control the "pressure" and there wasn't much. Temp gauge was low.

Decided to head home the "back" way. Temp gauge was keeping quite low (as it had originally) and 2/3rd through the trip, in about 10 seconds, it went from 'kind of low' to 'overheating'.

Coolant doesn't do that. Air pockets do, bad wiring does, and possibly a bad temp sensor will. We stopped at a gas station, I used an air/water station to pour cold water over the radiator and had essentially no change on the sensor over 15 min give/take.

I drove home with the temp gauge in the red, with some random movements down and back up. Speed was around 40mph, mild throttle, front/rear heaters blowing on hot, and temps in the low 40's outside.

Got home - used an IR temp sensor and checked each side of the T-stat.... temps were between 183 and 178. The temp sensor itself, the gauges were registering off the chart, but the IR was reading 177. So in short, it wasn't actually overheating, there is a problem with the gauge, wiring, or the sensor. The sensor has quite a bit of corrosion at the connector.


Just for fun, for those that don't know how a temp sensor works..... generally you have 1 wire (self grounded) or 2 wire temperature sensors. A temperature sensor is a pretty simple thing - internally it has a "thermistor" - which is a resistor that changes value based on temperature.

A 1 wire temp sensor is self grounded - one side of the 'resistor' is grounded to the engine. The other side of the sensor is the 'output' to the engine - which is a changing resistor value to ground. That's what Toyota uses for their gauges (or at least used to on older EFI like this).

You can check wiring by unplugging the sensor - the gauge should drop (no ground) to no reading. You can then ground out the wire, and it should shoot to the top (or past it, maxing out) - that's because it has an un-resisted ground. That is a good indication if the problem is the sensor, wiring or gauge.


I don't do "baselining" per say, but this vehicle needs some routine maintenance done. Placed an order through Rockauto.... since you pay for shipping, you kind of have to stack the parts up to make it worth while....

3 radiator hoses
Thermostat and gaskets/seals
Temp sensor (for the gauge)
Cap
Rotor
Plugs
Tail pipe (mine is MIA)
4 front wipers (if I'm paying shipping, might as well take advantage of their $2.50/ea price)
Oil pressure sending unit (there's an issue with the sending unit, wiring, or gauge, figured I would just do it)



There's also another laundry list of other things it will need to have done in the near(ish) future....
Bleed the brakes
Install exhaust hangers (already on the way)
Install USB charge ports (have those already)
Install LED headlights (1 set, maybe upgrade relay/wiring, already on the way and already have wiring/relays on hand)
Install a new stereo and speakers (not a big rush, just the current radio is quite old and the LCD screen doesn't work)
Exterior rear door handles are sticking/stiff
Master power window switch
Possibly new regulators (or disassemble, grease, reassemble)
Rear lift supports
Drain/fill the diffs and transfercase
Bigger tires, 33s or 35s probably (my wife said the 30's or 31's on there now look way too small)

Paint!

 

[bentonrover]

NOT my handy work....

I think I've measured the OD at 1 5/8".... will see what I can find, will need new piping, a new O2, and a screw type bung.

View attachment 1837817

View attachment 1837818

Lol I also did this and put chicken wire in the middle

 

[toyotaspeed90]

Replace the thermostat as preventative maintenance I said.... it's a quick and easy job while you're in there I said.....

Snapped lower housing off the engine, 2 halves will NOT separate.

 

[SteveH]

I see that you're getting the 'full treatment' of FJ62 ownership.

Be aware that 60 series gauges are known to spike randomly and show overheating and more fuel than you had. These spikes tend to pass quickly, but can make your heart skip a beat when you see that your truck is overheating. There is no 100% fix for this problem, but it involves the voltage regulator for the gauge cluster.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

I see that you're getting the 'full treatment' of FJ62 ownership.

Be aware that 60 series gauges are known to spike randomly and show overheating and more fuel than you had. These spikes tend to pass quickly, but can make your heart skip a beat when you see that your truck is overheating. There is no 100% fix for this problem, but it involves the voltage regulator for the gauge cluster.

Now this has me thinking.

There has to be a fix.... it's just electronic signals.....

 

[Willard]

Be aware that 60 series gauges are known to spike randomly and show overheating and more fuel than you had. These spikes tend to pass quickly, but can make your heart skip a beat when you see that your truck is overheating. There is no 100% fix for this problem, but it involves the voltage regulator for the gauge cluster.

Sure the 100% fix is to put in a mechanical gauge. That solves the problem right quick.

The bigger problem with the gauge is the massive amount of inaccuracy they have. I think of it more as an Idiot light than a real gauge.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

Sure the 100% fix is to put in a mechanical gauge. That solves the problem right quick.

The bigger problem with the gauge is the massive amount of inaccuracy they have. I think of it more as an Idiot light than a real gauge.

I'm not the biggest fan of mechanical gauges, but I do have some new electrical gauges on my mind.

As far as the stock gauges go, does anyone have any further info on the "voltage regulator" problem? Do the water and oil pressure use a 5v reference signal?

 

[Prairie Swamp]

Snapped lower housing off the engine, 2 halves will NOT separate.

Penalty box for you. I can't remember if the lower is available from Toyota any more but if it is it won't be for long.

There was an electronics guy in here working on a separate voltage regulator as a permanent gage fix but he ran into life issues and it's on hold. Maybe he'll pick it up some day.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

Penalty box for you. I can't remember if the lower is available from Toyota any more but if it is it won't be for long.

There was an electronics guy in here working on a separate voltage regulator as a permanent gage fix but he ran into life issues and it's on hold. Maybe he'll pick it up some day.

I have a used part on the way.

The 2 halves are still joined together, even if it wasn't broken into 3 its still stuck together with all 4 bolts snapped in it.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

Will post more on this later, it'll be a nice little placeholder...

The oil pressure gauge is shot. The mechanics "work" with a 9v battery but barely - and only after 30 seconds and some hot smells.

I'm revamping parts of the cooling system (and also installing a stereo, so the dash was already out).

Been reading a bit here:
Temp Sending Unit?

Interesting that they use a European car part specifically when it looks like one of the many voltage regulators used on MS (probably have a few lying around).

The gauges are more intertwined than mentioned. The fuel gauge also feeds power to the oil pressure gauge but through a different terminal.

If I go the route of keeping the mechanical portion but using a solid state regulator then I will install separate regulators for each gauge keeping them independent. I could do this by cutting the tracer. This would mean no influence from the fuel gauge would be on the other gauges.

I used some "Emery cloth" (sort of) to clean up contacts, including the instrument logs and connections on the PCB.

Thinking of running another, separate, ground to the gauges as well since grounds seems to be an overall problem.

Some fun photos...

 

[toyotaspeed90]

Example of an inexpensive voltage regulator...

LM1084IT-5.0/NOPB Texas Instruments | Integrated Circuits (ICs) | DigiKey

 

[Wayne Jacobs]

I see that you're getting the 'full treatment' of FJ62 ownership.

Be aware that 60 series gauges are known to spike randomly and show overheating and more fuel than you had. These spikes tend to pass quickly, but can make your heart skip a beat when you see that your truck is overheating. There is no 100% fix for this problem, but it involves the voltage regulator for the gauge cluster.

I had a 1977 Celica that did this same thing. The first time I saw it I was scared that I had messed things up really bad, but then noticed other gauges were spikiing as well. My FJ62 also does this, as well as a few other Toyotas I've ridden in, and I have come to believe that it is a standard feature of some Toyotas.

My oil pressure system has been inop for most of a few years. I would fix it, sender and wiring fixes at different times, and it would work for a while. Earlier this year, it started reading erratically, and I checked the pressure at a shop, and it was just fine. After a while, the gauge quit reading anything at all, and I've lived dangerously since then. When I get the engine rebuilt, I'll look at a set of new gauges.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

This might be more work than it's worth, but thinking about something along these lines....

I do have a friend with a laser cutter and a 3d printer, so if I go this route I'll be able to make a new cover/plate.

The concern about the oil pressure gauge I have is the common 3fe oil plug that pops out... I would like to know ASAP if that happens...

If I go this route I would swap the oil, water, and maybe voltmeter (eventually I'm putting in some USB chargers - one which displays voltage digitally, so not sure I'll go with the voltmeter) - and I could utilize the factory wiring, wiring the new gauges into the factory gauge PCB.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

Trying to put some notes in here while I have this apart.

Fuel Gauge...

Theres 2 parts to this and it's actually 2 things in 1. The fuel gauge itself is independent of the Voltage "converter". This isnt really a regulator.

From the back

Left is the fuel sender input (probably a ground).
Top is 5V reference for this gauge and the coolant temp sensor.
Right is what appears to be a voltage passthrough, but they did this strangely.
Bottom is 12V in.

The top, bottom, and right are an independent unit from the fuel gauge. By this I mean Toyota could have put the voltage system into the coolant gauge as well. The fuel gauge uses the 5v reference, just like the coolant does, but gets that signal directly as can be seen by the very small white wire.

While the bottom stud looks like it connects to the fuel gauge baseplate (which would apply voltage) it doesn't- there must be an insulator between.

The "pass through" (voltage stud on the right) has me intrigued. It isnt a direct connection but the 5v reference is insulated to the right side "movement plate" (dont know what to call it) the right stud connecting to the right side "baseplate".

The lower 12v in stud has its "baseplate" on the backside (visible on the picture above). Then connects to one side of the "movement plate". Maybe it stabilizes voltage for the oil pressure but it connects to the voltage side of:
Oil pressure gauge
Battery light
Brake light

It runs to one of the pins of the cluster connector

Also ties to the 12v + for the volt meter - which has a noise filter/capacitor that then ties (on the PCB) to the lower 12v stud on the fuel gauge (that leg also branches to another cluster pin and the 12v side of the high beam light).

 

[toyotaspeed90]

I was wrong on some of this after plugging the PCB into the car and turning the key. I'll come back and edit or retype it.

In short, one pin that I thought was 12v on the fuel gauge (voltage unit) is actually ground.... which is the bottom pin of the fuel gauge unit.