Builds The Escape Wagon Restoration

[EscapeWagon62]

Well today I decided to trace the wires from the temp sensor to the ECU and the ground from the ECU.
I may have found the culprit with a buggered wire with a break in the insulation and it was able to contact metal. Might explain the intermittent nature and the cel code.
4 test drives in under varying conditions, leafing it idling for 30 min, letting it sit off for an hour then drive etc.

So far it looks incredibly promising as I had zero issues today.

 

[ToyotaMatt]

The FSM step by steps RULE !

 

[cps432]

The FSM step by steps RULE !

That’s how I broke my power steering pump…

 

[Skniper]

Well today I decided to trace the wires from the temp sensor to the ECU and the ground from the ECU.
I may have found the culprit with a buggered wire with a break in the insulation and it was able to contact metal. Might explain the intermittent nature and the cel code.
4 test drives in under varying conditions, leafing it idling for 30 min, letting it sit off for an hour then drive etc.

So far it looks incredibly promising as I had zero issues today.

Where did you find the bad wire?

 

[ToyotaMatt]

Well today I decided to trace the wires from the temp sensor to the ECU and the ground from the ECU.
I may have found the culprit with a buggered wire with a break in the insulation and it was able to contact metal. Might explain the intermittent nature and the cel code.
4 test drives in under varying conditions, leafing it idling for 30 min, letting it sit off for an hour then drive etc.

So far it looks incredibly promising as I had zero issues today.

Where did you find the bad wire?

must have photos and more tech here

we must know .......

 

[EscapeWagon62]

Where did you find the bad wire?

Well there are two places and maybe 3. And I’ll try to get some pictures in a day or two.
One was a mashes wire from the sensor just where it goes under the intake manifold. Likely mashed when I did the exhaust manifold. Second was abrasion in the wiring harness leaving the ECM heading toward the firewall right where the metal amr that moves the air system between internal/external air. This could impact both the ground from ECM and the sensor wires.
The third area had nothing to do with the temp sensor but may have played a part. There is a harness just above and to the right of the ECM when looking through the glove compartment (obviously with the glove insert removed. The team helping me with my H55 swap had jumped a fuse to check some power delivery and melted some wires.
Just to make sure I’ve gotten all of the gremlins out I’ve pulled the wiring harnesses completely and going through them one by one.
The reason I cant give photos is that Ive got it at the shop vs doing this in my garage.

Photos soon.

 

[EscapeWagon62]

must have photos and more tech here

we must know .......

Coming soon Matt

 

[EscapeWagon62]

OK - Here are some photos.
We now believe the primary cause is ground which was messed up during the H55 conversion wherein a fuse was jumped to trace something and it caused unseen damage to a wiring harness (photo 1)
I did have a knackered wire coming off the positive wire at the temp sensor (photo 2)
We did have abrasion on the wiring harness that goes from the ECU, through the firewall at the point where interior air/exterior air lever for the hvac (photo 3:s where the contact was being made but the harness is already out and being redone.

Higher than likely that the main culprit was the melted wires in the ground which will get rebuilt over the next couple of days.
This make sense as it rests just at the top right corner of the gove compartment insert. The car ran great when I was testing with the cover removed, when I put it back in the condition returned,

Getting close

 

[EscapeWagon62]

Matt - watched your video. Definitely a fan of black letters on the ignition switch. On the keys, I’m not OCD enough to be a player for the arctic spec keys.
Cheers

 

[ToyotaMatt]

Matt - watched your video. Definitely a fan of black letters on the ignition switch. On the keys, I’m not OCD enough to be a player for the arctic spec keys.
Cheers

thanks for the feedback , i have had the most on the black hand stenciled lettering for sure !


anything below , maybe this intrigues you


im looking for a TEST PILOT of sorts for the UPDATED LX and GX models

​

 

[rickyrockrat]

Well today I decided to trace the wires from the temp sensor to the ECU and the ground from the ECU.
I may have found the culprit with a buggered wire with a break in the insulation and it was able to contact metal. Might explain the intermittent nature and the cel code.
4 test drives in under varying conditions, leafing it idling for 30 min, letting it sit off for an hour then drive etc.

So far it looks incredibly promising as I had zero issues today.

Son of a gun....I did remove my ECU not long ago to replace all the A/C o-rings. I wonder if I have a mucked up wire:
FJ62 ills

 

[EscapeWagon62]

Son of a gun....I did remove my ECU not long ago to replace all the A/C o-rings. I wonder if I have a mucked up wire:
FJ62 ills

Hope you find your source of trouble.
Mine had a couple. We melted a common ground when wiring the h55, had a buggered wire to the sensors in the water jacket plus I’m pretty sure I had mis-wired one of the sensors in the water jacket.
I keep reminding myself that they are simple vehicles and its rare to find an unfixable situation.
Good luck!
I ended up taking the rig off the road for the winter and have a great tech rebuilding me the entire wiring harness from the ECM to the water housing/themostat area.
Should be done next week just in time for Spring.

 

[EscapeWagon62]

Ok - after a hiatus from being on the forum…..I have my rig back on the road.
I needed to take my own advice and look for simple stuff as my rig was having some issues.
I needed to replace my sensors in the water housing (CEL codes displayed) and have some wiring harnesses rebuilt due to some self inflicted damage during my H55 swap (That took forever since te guy doing it for me is a full time tech and did this in his limited spare time).
I kept getting a bogging, stalling feeling after the truck was warmed up (Particularly if I drove it, let it sit for a while, then drove it again…..this should have been my clue). No CEL code. Spent time testing/swapping/replacing stuff like TPS, Mass Airflow, O2 sensors and fuel pump. Many of these were on my long term list anyway because it’ll be my daily driver in retirement someday.
At the end of the day my valves were too tight on a couple of cylinders. No damage done but it ad me stumped there for a while.
So I’ll repeat what has been said many times before….they are simple rigs, start with simple stuff first.

 

[77CruiserDog]

Ok - after a hiatus from being on the forum…..I have my rig back on the road.
I needed to take my own advice and look for simple stuff as my rig was having some issues.
I needed to replace my sensors in the water housing (CEL codes displayed) and have some wiring harnesses rebuilt due to some self inflicted damage during my H55 swap (That took forever since te guy doing it for me is a full time tech and did this in his limited spare time).
I kept getting a bogging, stalling feeling after the truck was warmed up (Particularly if I drove it, let it sit for a while, then drove it again…..this should have been my clue). No CEL code. Spent time testing/swapping/replacing stuff like TPS, Mass Airflow, O2 sensors and fuel pump. Many of these were on my long term list anyway because it’ll be my daily driver in retirement someday.
At the end of the day my valves were too tight on a couple of cylinders. No damage done but it ad me stumped there for a while.
So I’ll repeat what has been said many times before….they are simple rigs, start with simple stuff first.

Welcome back! The H55 in a 62 is quite the project.

I'm in a similar boat with regards to the simple first motto. I replaced my fuel filter which wasn't very old, only to find out that it cured 90% of the oddities I experienced which I attributed to "this is just some of the character that a carburator vehicle has".

Nice work on this rig! I enjoy your updates!

 

[EscapeWagon62]

Hallelujah…..I’ve finally found the last culprit in my drivability issues (bogging/stalling).
WhenI got the rig back from getting the wiring harnesses rebuilt, the idle was at 900-1100.
Turned the magic brass screw to lower it to spec…..bogging/stalling condition returned immediately with the CELlight illuminating. On occasion the light would intermittently comes on under throttle but not bog down.
Realized the brass screw was able to move around quite a bit (almost able to rattle)
Put in a new O ring and BINGO!
We had done pressurized vacuum tests on it when the engine was cold and my condition only appeared when war.m.
Looks like the magic screw which is brass expands less than the housing which is aluminum. The poorly performing O ring which I had put in some time back was the wrong size. It couldn't keep vacuum under throttle on an intermittent basis.
Cheap fix but it’s been on 12 test drives without issue.

 

[tmxmotorsports]

It's always a simple little thing that completely drives us insane.

 

[EscapeWagon62]

It's always a simple little thing that completely drives us insane.

It drove me crazy. Hated not having confidence in the rig. I knew all along it would be something simple but wasn’t opposed to throwing parts at it. Most of the parts I threw at it would qualify as good long term investments (he says to himself to justify the cost) like O2 sensors, an MAF, fuel pump. The water hosing sensors and wiring harness were a separate issue but doubt those will have an issue in my lifetime.

I am SO happy to be back out on the road and wouldn’t hesitate to take it cross country at this point.

 

[tmxmotorsports]

It drove me crazy. Hated not having confidence in the rig. I knew all along it would be something simple but wasn’t opposed to throwing parts at it. Most of the parts I threw at it would qualify as good long term investments (he says to himself to justify the cost) like O2 sensors, an MAF, fuel pump. The water hosing sensors and wiring harness were a separate issue but doubt those will have an issue in my lifetime.

I am SO happy to be back out on the road and wouldn’t hesitate to take it cross country at this point.

That's awesome!!

 

[77CruiserDog]

Could this have been detected by using carb cleaner with the little hose and spraying it in various places to find the leak?

I ask because I had a similar problem, turned out the base of my carb separated from the intake manifold, only when warm, upon a warm start up it ran ever so slightly differently and whistled at idle for the first few miles until the engine got to full temp.

I tried carb cleaner on the cold engine with no results... warmed it up and found the two inner carb mounting studs to be stripped from the intake manifold the moment I hit it with carb cleaner. Helicoiled the threaded holes and it was fixed, but had I not used carb cleaner on a warm engine, I'm not sure I ever would have found the issue.

Digging around in a hot engine bay isn't all that fun, but spraying some carb cleaner sure made it easier.

 

[EscapeWagon62]

Could this have been detected by using carb cleaner with the little hose and spraying it in various places to find the leak?

I ask because I had a similar problem, turned out the base of my carb separated from the intake manifold, only when warm, upon a warm start up it ran ever so slightly differently and whistled at idle for the first few miles until the engine got to full temp.

I tried carb cleaner on the cold engine with no results... warmed it up and found the two inner carb mounting studs to be stripped from the intake manifold the moment I hit it with carb cleaner. Helicoiled the threaded holes and it was fixed, but had I not used carb cleaner on a warm engine, I'm not sure I ever would have found the issue.

Digging around in a hot engine bay isn't all that fun, but spraying some carb cleaner sure made it easier.

It’s a great question. Since my condition appears only when hot and under load I think I would have needed a dyno.
I am going to do a complete hot vacuum test hopefully this weekend. Its running well but I swear I’m feeling some hesitation. Almost certain I have a small leak in addition to the idle adjust brass screw. It’s vastly improved but this whole hesitation thing spooked me and I’m doing a full run through.
one area I’m going to double check is the intake manifold gaskets (both the intake and intake/exhaust) which were done before the H55 swap. I know the way we put in the cross member changed the angle of the engine slightly and maybe the exhaust system put pressure on a slightly under tightened bolt?
it’s great to be out and driving again but I’ll feel more confident double checking everything.
Doubt I will use carb cleaner on a hot exhaust to avoid unintended thermal events