Supercharged 97’ Land Cruiser Shutter

[cheFZJesse]

My 1997 80 series has what I can best discribe as a bit of a stutter. It seems to only happen or be noticeable when at freeway speed going up a good sized incline.

My truck has 102,000 miles. The supercharger was added about 3 years back at about 88,000 miles. I believe the stutter has been there most of that time. I have a long trip planned that will have some mountains to climbs so I want to try to figure this out prior.

I took it to a local Toyota shop and they did/checked the following. 3 degrees of timing, it has the cooler MR2 spark plugs, they listened to the fuel injectors with a stethoscope and they all sound the same, they ran it up and down a large freeway hill where the stutter takes place with a diagnostic computer hooked up and no diagnostic codes popped up. The check engine light is not on, they changed the engine compartment fuel filter... The problem is still there. These guys are recommending finding either a Landcruiser supercharger expert or a supercharger tuning shop.

I don’t know where to turn. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[scottryana]

Fuel pump filter or possibly fuel pump. I haven't seen a fuel pump go bad but it certainly sounds fuel supply related.

 

[Tools R Us]

Fuel pump filter or possibly fuel pump. I haven't seen a fuel pump go bad but it certainly sounds fuel supply related.

If so that could be confirmed with a pressure gauge. Hook up the gauge and drive the hill, the pressure should stay steady, if there is a pressure drop that corresponds with the shutter, found the problem.

 

[SammyT96LX450]

My 1997 80 series has what I can best discribe as a bit of a stutter. It seems to only happen or be noticeable when at freeway speed going up a good sized incline.

My truck has 102,000 miles. The supercharger was added about 3 years back at about 88,000 miles. I believe the stutter has been there most of that time. I have a long trip planned that will have some mountains to climbs so I want to try to figure this out prior.

I took it to a local Toyota shop and they did/checked the following. 3 degrees of timing, it has the cooler MR2 spark plugs, they listened to the fuel injectors with a stethoscope and they all sound the same, they ran it up and down a large freeway hill where the stutter takes place with a diagnostic computer hooked up and no diagnostic codes popped up. The check engine light is not on, they changed the engine compartment fuel filter... The problem is still there. These guys are recommending finding either a Landcruiser supercharger expert or a supercharger tuning shop.

I don’t know where to turn. Any advice would be appreciated.

My problem was the spark plug wire(s).

 

[bigredmachine]

so does the issue happen at a certain speed/rpm range or will it happen in all the time.

hows the trans fluid level in the truck

 

[DARKNESS]

Mine used to make some weird noises going uphill sporadically. It got worse with the supercharger. Went away when I put a shift kit in the trans. I think the tranny was slipping a little and the higher pressure from the kit bought me more time. Anyway, maybe consider the trans. Would explain the lack of codes.

 

[inkpot]

Can you feel the transmission shift down for the hill? It may be waffling between 3rd and 4th gear?

 

[cheFZJesse]

If so that could be confirmed with a pressure gauge. Hook up the gauge and drive the hill, the pressure should stay steady, if there is a pressure drop that corresponds with the shutter, found the problem.

I like this idea. Will give it a try.

 

[cheFZJesse]

Can you feel the transmission shift down for the hill? It may be waffling between 3rd and 4th gear?

It doesn’t usually down shift any more since I regeared it to 4.88’s.

 

[cheFZJesse]

so does the issue happen at a certain speed/rpm range or will it happen in all the time.

hows the trans fluid level in the truck

It really only happens when going up pretty major incline and almost only at Freeway speeds

 

[cheFZJesse]

My problem was the spark plug wire(s).

What was yours doing? Can you describe it?

 

[bigredmachine]

so about 65ish under heavy load, im kinda wondering if it may be trans related due to lace of codes or an issue with the torque converter. if the truck was misfiring you should have the check enging light on or flashing if the misfire rate it very high. how fresh are the spark plugs ad how do they look?

 

[bigredmachine]

does it feel like your driving over the rumble strips on the side of the road when it happens and will it stop shuddering if you manually down shift the trans

 

[Jgrauman]

Kinda just had this happen last week. Detailed the engine and the next day I was experiencing a Miss. It was sporadic though. Wot I would not have it. Check engine light would come and go. Pulled number 6 wire and no change to the engine, thinking I had a bad plug or wire. Ordered some new plugs and wires and while I was waiting on them I swapped the valve cover gasket that was needing to be done. Then saw my broken number 6 injector connector that I broke long ago and had forgotten about. So I installed a new connector put everything back together and still had the miss. Went to check everything with a long screwdriver in my ear and found number 6 was not firing, as I was pushing with the screwdriver the injector started firing, removed the screwdriver and it stopped. Pushed really hard with the screwdriver and finally got a consistent firing. May have an injector connector problem

 

[cheFZJesse]

I haven’t tried the shifting thing. I will try messing with it to see. My spark plugs less than 2 years old with about 8,000 miles on them.

 

[SammyT96LX450]

What was yours doing? Can you describe it?

Now I’m on 35’s and stock gears. Around 70mph under load rpm around 2200 it would build boost but it felt like it was missing once in a while. I did the colder plugs and wires and that solve the problem. Before that I changed the o2 sensors and cleaned the MAF but it did not change anything. Also I checked the tps and that was in spec per fsm. Plug wires was the last thing I changed.

 

[cheFZJesse]

does it feel like your driving over the rumble strips on the side of the road when it happens and will it stop shuddering if you manually down shift the trans

It basically feels like it is not getting enough gas like a little stutter. It is fairly faint not a huge jump

 

[cheFZJesse]

Now I’m on 35’s and stock gears. Around 70mph under load rpm around 2200 it would build boost but it felt like it was missing once in a while. I did the colder plugs and wires and that solve the problem. Before that I changed the o2 sensors and cleaned the MAF but it did not change anything. Also I checked the tps and that was in spec per fsm. Plug wires was the last thing I changed.

When doing this so after the plug wires yours cleared up?

 

[SammyT96LX450]

When doing this so after the plug wires yours cleared up?

Yep

 

[DARKNESS]

Go to a really dark place and run the engine with the hood up. If it’s plug wires sometimes you can see arc’ing. This worked for me with the old Saturn I had in high school.