Sputtering, Shaking

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MStars

MStars

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Threads
29
Messages
150
Location
Dallas, TX
Lately my 87 2wd pickup has been starting up quite roughly. It will shake the entire engine bay and truck. At first I would let it run for a few and then as I drove it down the road it would eventually "catch" and drive normal. As time went on it starts more roughly, sputtering sounds from the exhaust or a spitting noise. Truck shakes really bad in forward and reverse, even worse in reverse. Now it is to the point where it does it every day and driving for a length of time doesn't warm it up and make it go away like it did when this first started. I read a bit and decided it was the Oxygen sensor. Just replaced that last night and that didn't change anything.

Now I'm looking for other suggestions or common problems. Hoping I can get this thing running better as I rely on it for my daily driver.

Thanks for the time and any suggestions guys.

Matt

:beer:
 
You could also have a clogged fuel filter and/or injector(s). I had a plugged filter and injector a couple of years ago almost immediately after filling up the first time with 10% ethanol gasoline on our 85 4Runner.
 
Thanks for the responses. About a year and a half ago I did the plugs, wires, cap and rotor.

I explained the symptoms to a buddy of mine who isn't that familiar with Toyota's but over the phone he thought it sounded fuel related. He mentioned a pressure regulator? Fuel pump?

Could it be a head gasket? I get just a bit of white smoke out the exhaust when it's cold but after a minute or so it's cleared right up. The exhaust doesn't smell sweet like there is coolant in there but I don't know why else there is a little smoke out the exhaust. Oil levels look fine not getting higher.

Intake manifold leak? These are just options that people have suggested along the way but aren't necessarily familiar with Toyotas.

Let me know any other solutions or things to try.
 
Vacuum leak may be a culprit, but the gradual descent speaks of something else.
I'm with the spark plug and timing crowd. Fuel delivery could be an issue, but it would be more obvious when you accelerate than when you idle.

If your HG failed, you would be seeing the dreaded strawberry milkshake on your dipstick because coolant is emulsifying into your oil.

It sounds to me like you definitely have an issue with your plugs or timing.

Edit: what shape is your coil in?
 
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To test for a plugged injector, start the engine and pull one spark plug wire at a time. Replace the pulled plug wire before you move to the next one. If the shaking gets worse when you pull a plug wire then that injector is good, if everything stays the same when you pull a plug wire then that injector is bad/plugged, etc.
 
Eagle, did as you suggested and sure enough when I pulled the 3 closest to the front of the truck, huge change but the one closest to the cab of the truck produced no change. Pulled the plug and it was black as ever on the end. Changed the plug and boom, couldn't be driving smoother.

Now my question is with the plugs being only 1.5 yrs old, is it normal to have one go bad like that? Is there a deeper cause I should be worried about? I changed the oxygen sensor a couple days ago to try and remedy this problem but noticed no change. Could it have been that it failed and caused the plug to burn but after changing the sensor noticed no change because the plug was already damaged? Now it seems like it's running even better than before the issues.

Anyway thanks to those that took the time to suggest things. Learning on the go.

:banana::beer:
 
Not sure why a plug would go bad. It sounds like all your injectors are working OK. At least the technique led you to the problem. Extreme shaking/vibration on a 4 cylinder almost always means one of the cylinders isn't working and that always comes back to fuel or fire.
 
MStars said:
Eagle, did as you suggested and sure enough when I pulled the 3 closest to the front of the truck, huge change but the one closest to the cab of the truck produced no change. Pulled the plug and it was black as ever on the end.
Click to expand...
Sounds like carbon or oil fouling. Both can short the plug.

Found these write-ups to help you diagnose it:
Frequently Asked Questions

A little more on what causes some types of fouling.
Spark Plugs

I normally use the sparkplug section from old Chilton's manual for sparkplug diagnosis. That's the only reason I keep that manual around.
 
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