The Never-ending Problems with my 87 FJ60

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sue

sue

Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Threads
5
Messages
17
Location
Denver, CO
Alright, the following has officially driven me crazy. First, a little background.

I got this Fj60, Sue, from a friend for cheap. Entirely stock 2f engine. It had not passed emissions for years, and I have still not been able to register it in my name because it does not have an emissions pass. That is part of the problem.

The day after buying it I took it on a camping trip, and after making about a half an hour into the mountains smoke started billowing out of the engine and I found myself with a seized air pump. Luckily I broke down in Idaho Springs and luckily Idaho springs had an auto parts store that just so luckily carried the belt I needed to bypass the air pump. I eventually switched out the seized air pump for a rebuilt OEM pump. Talk about opening a can of worms.

In the last 10 months I have done the following, mostly in an effort to pass emissions:
- replaced air pump
- switched to saginaw ps pump to prevent leaking and another seized air pump
- new vacuum lines and made sure they were routed correctly
- New EGR vacuum modulator

At this point I am noticing that the truck smells terrible. Sort of like exhaust, but not quite. It gets to the point were I can't drive anywhere without my clothes getting covered with the smell. So I start trying to fix that problem:
- new exhaust/intake manifold gasket
- welded crack at exhaust to manifold flange
- installed rebuilt carb from cruiserparts, tuned with lean drop method.

at this point I went to get emissions checked again and had about 4x HC and nearly 10x CO limits...:bang:

So then:

- went through emissions components bit by bit as per FSM
- found that nearly every single part of the AI system was faulty
- replaced every faulty AI component (VSV(1), VSV(2), check valves at air rail and exhaust, ACV, new "gas filter" which gives vacuum to the AI system)
- checked cat with infrared thermometer, works fine

So after that bit of work I run into another problem.
Anytime I try to go above 55-60 mph, the beast just starts sputtering, misfiring pretty badly. Even worse on an incline. I'm not sure when exactly this started, because I hadn't driven on the highway since before I replaced the manifold gasket. Around town it is running amazing. Idles beautiful, vacuum is a solid 16hg. Occasional misfire on decel but not always, and not a very strong backfire. Still stinks like crazy.

I think either the rebuilt carb is not right, or I still have an exhaust leak. I just don't want to spend an entire day going through those two without getting some more opinions.

I need to get emissions tested again soon, but the test requires the car to get up to around 60mph and I'm worried that it won't make it. If anyone has any idea whats up, I'd be very very happy to hear.
 
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I guess my main question here is: why I'm I getting a bad misfire at around 55 mph all of a sudden? It went from being able to cruise at 75 easy to not being able to stay steady at 55.
 
If the problem with the sputtering appeared after new (rebuilt) carb install, than I'd say that's your problem. I had a similar issue once with a rebuilt carb, sputtering on inclines. It was the float in the bowl. The distance setting for closing and opening that needle there was wrong. Not sure if that is your problem but I guess it's worth looking at after checking all the simpler things that were suggested.
 
Misfires can be due to timing. Have you checked it?
Stinky gas odor can be either too rich or lean.
While tweaking carb settings are you able to unclip the ICS and have the truck stall?
When you replaced the carb how was the insulator plate? Did you add a gasket to the top and bottom of it? I ask because I decided to be stubborn and think that from the intake to the carb insulator plate both surfaces were fine and I didn't need a gasket. Well after all my fighting to get things right after basically everything you've done I pulled the carb off yesterday to find a clear footprint of gasoline was seeping its way out between the two surfaces.
Just saying don't skimp like I had.
Felicity
 
Thanks guys. My plan with the carb was to swap it out with part of my old one (I had to get new one because my fuel inlet cracked). I figure if it runs fine then I'll go through the "rebuilt" carb and fix it up.

NeverGiveUpYota said:
Misfires can be due to timing. Have you checked it?
Stinky gas odor can be either too rich or lean.
While tweaking carb settings are you able to unclip the ICS and have the truck stall?
When you replaced the carb how was the insulator plate? Did you add a gasket to the top and bottom of it? I ask because I decided to be stubborn and think that from the intake to the carb insulator plate both surfaces were fine and I didn't need a gasket. Well after all my fighting to get things right after basically everything you've done I pulled the carb off yesterday to find a clear footprint of gasoline was seeping its way out between the two surfaces.
Just saying don't skimp like I had.
Felicity
Click to expand...

Timing is good, a little more advanced than stock because of the altitude here. I'm pretty confident in the carb tune I did, and don't think it's too rich or too lean, and the plugs confirm a good mixture. The fuel cut system all checks out good per FSM. Yeah I have a gasket on the top and bottom of the insulator plate, and i didn't notice any out of place gas when i pulled it gain yesterday. I'm starting to think that my EGR line from the manifold to the EGR cooler is leaking at the connections.
 
FJ60 also has automatic high altitude compensation which should advance timing and lean mixture. You shouldn't have to advance the timing further I wouldn't think. Check the timing per the FSM with both vacuum advance diaphragms disconnected and lines plugged. Timing should be 7deg BTDC (the "BB" timing mark).
 
Oh boy, the never ending s*** storm. So I took the rebuilt carb off of the 60 so I could see what the float situation looked like. Sure enough the float was off, and I ended up having to take the float needle off of my old carb (it was a fairly new needle though).

As I'm putting the carb back together I notice this:
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The discharge weight is stuck down.. and it looks like its stuck down because somebody that was in this carb before put a dent in it, sticking it shut. Not sure if you can tell from this picture.

I tried and tried to get that bugger out of there but to no avail. So decided to use the body of my old carb, which is in pretty good shape, with the new carbs air horn and flange....

Until I noticed that one of the throttle valves is really hard to open, as if the shaft was warped.... so instead of trying to unscrew those small brass screws holding the valve to the shaft, I just put the old flange on the franken-carb.

Going to put it on tomorrow, hopefully the problems I noticed in the "rebuilt" carb are the reason I'm not getting to highway speed. Serves me right for getting the cheapest rebuild I could find, but I expected a little more from CruiserParts.

IMG_0489.webp
 
From the inside where the gas spits out (you may need to remove that section or that Venturi to get to it) take a staple and straighten it out then push the plunger up and out from the tiny hole. Mine was missing the spring and that was how I got it out.
 
Also the ACC plunger. Is the material rubber or leather? OEM should be leather but in rebuild kits only a rubber one is sold. JimC recommends soaking the leather in oil for a few hours prior to install too. On my build around maybe page 4 there's a photo of it. The rubber is known to stick and cause issues. @FJ40Jim. I was able to pick up a plunger from my local dealer. The part number is on my build as well tho I'm sure Jim will say if he has time to put his two cents in here.
 
NeverGiveUpYota said:
Also the ACC plunger. Is the material rubber or leather? OEM should be leather but in rebuild kits only a rubber one is sold. JimC recommends soaking the leather in oil for a few hours prior to install too. On my build around maybe page 4 there's a photo of it. The rubber is known to stick and cause issues. @FJ40Jim. I was able to pick up a plunger from my local dealer. The part number is on my build as well tho I'm sure Jim will say if he has time to put his two cents in here.
Click to expand...

The AP plunger on the rebult carb is leather, which is what I have in this franken-carb now. The old carb had a rebuilt rubber ring and you really can tell the difference.
 
Welp then I'm out of ideas. Good luck. Let us know how it goes!
 
Alright, just got back from a test drive.

When the terrible traffic in Denver (at noon) let me get above 55 mph, everything went great! Absolutely better. I think the main problem on the rebuilt carb was the fact that the second throttle valve was sticky, or the float on the rebuilt carb was not right. Anyway, all better now! Even better than before, I'm pulling a solid vacuum of 17hg at idle, which is equivalent to roughly 21hg if I were at sea level.:clap:

Still have the worst exhaust smell happening. Carb is tuned great, spark plugs show a good fuel mix, reset timing, cat checks out still with the infrared thermo... I guess I'll just go get emissions and if I still fail I'll put a new cat in. Not sure why the cat would be heating up so well but not working properly. Any ideas on that?
 
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