I pulled the "air chamber" off and got the injectors out. The air chamber is this big aluminum thingy with a jillion hoses going to it that's between the throttle-body and the intake manifold. You have to remove it to get the injectors out.
I got it out and the only casualty (so far) was I broke the line going to the PCV valve. It was old and had gotten brittle. Easy enough to replace with a 6" piece of 5/16 hose. I had to cut the one end of the busted line off the PCV valve and when I did this my jackknife slipped and I put a deep slash in my thumb. If I was a liberal I'd demand a purple-heart, take a month of sick days, and sue Toyota & the knife maker for a jillion dollars. It really is a deep cut though, was still bleeding tonight about9 hours later.
I found a guy in Pflugerville that cleans injectors. I debated doing it myself. I've got some REAL carb cleaner but I'm afraid it might eat the plastic parts of the injectors and ruin them. They're expensive, $50-75 each, so I don't want to muck them up. He only charges $15 each. We'll see how it goes...
So what's up with Bammie invading Libya? Not really vital to our national interests. Perhaps he knows he's going to be ousted in 1212 and doesn't want to be known as a prez who didn't invade another country. Now he's arming the al queda rebels. Weren't those the bad guys? I miss GWB.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
4runner
I found a 89 4runner off a chick on Craigslist 3 weeks ago. 200K+ miles and she said she quit driving it because she could pull it out of first gear without putting in the clutch (So???) They said it hadn't been started in 2-3 years so the battery was dead and I would not be able to start it much less test-drive it. Every body panel on it has some dings with the worse being the driver's front fender; the neighbor backed into it, knocking it into the door so it wouldn't open more than 1/3. They hadn't pried it open with a tire-iron like most morons do; all that does is create more bodywork. Interior was better than average for the age. It's the SR5 model, 4wd, V6, and 5-speed. It had obviously never been off-roaded as it was clean and straight underneath. Tires were very good. Looked completely stock except for green shag carpet and a cheap equalizer. I got it for $800.
I trailered it home and pulled it off the trailer with the tractor. It almost yanked the rear bumper loose, the damn thing was about to fall off and it had a 2" ball!
I parked it in the shed and the first thing was to drop the fuel. These things actually have a drain-plug in the fuel tank - sweet! The tank had about 8 gallons of green-funk in it. Next I pulled the tank, which wasn't much work either. The in-tank fuel pump and fuel-level sending unit were caked in rust. The pump was locked up from the grunt so I ordered a new one online for about $25. I cleaned the sending unit and got it working again. The tank looked pretty bad inside. I hit it with the pressure washer and it cleaned it up surprisingly well. The only crap still in it is on the top of the tank where I couldn't hit it with the washer.
She had some service records in the glove box that I went through. She got raped on a master cylinder, $288! (I can get them for $50.) The last time it was worked on was 2002 so I assume
it was parked in 2002. There were no tags or registration to tell me otherwise.
I put a battery in to check the lights. The highbeams weren't working. I took the switch apart and it buzzed out okay but when I put it back together still no workie. Hmmm... Apart again for a better look; it had enough continuity to turn on the buzzer in my meter but there was about 25 ohms across the contacts. I pulled the switch apart and they looked a little burned. After a little time with a points file and a cleanup with contact cleaner and they were reading close to 0 ohms closed. Put it back together and the lights work correctly, except for the back license-plate light. I cranked the key and the motor turned over! That's a good sign; I know it isn't locked and the starter works.
I checked out the rear bumper and it's mounted to 2 sheet-metal points either side on the body. 3 bolts total (1 was missing) and all the mounts were ripped on the body. They also had some 20ga angle-iron going to the frame, which did no good. It was about to fall off on it's own and they actually towed something with it. Criminal!
I got the new pump in a few days, reassembled everything, and put a battery in. Then I jumpered the fuel pump and let it run for a few minutes to cycle some new gas through the system before trying to crank it. It took a minute or so of cranking but it slowly started firing. Sound like it's hitting on 3-4 cylinders, not bad!
I did a compression test which showed a couple cylinders a little weak. Next I ran a leakdown test which is much better. Cylinders 2, 3, and 6 were leaking pretty bad through the intake. #3 was the worst at 50% leakdown. Sounds like it needs a valve job.
I started tearing it apart in prep to remove the motor. Looks like a big job. Then I got to researching and there's a product called "SeaFoam" that's supposed to clean sticking intake valves. I figured I'd give it a try; $10 crap-shot against doing a valve job. You put 1/3 of the can in the tank and let it warm up and then pour it into the intake through a vacuum line. After the can is empty you let it sit 15-30min and then start it up. It'll smoke like hell for a while as it knocks the crap loose. It didn't seem to stop the missing but it was running a little better. I took the plugs back out, did a leakdown again and the valves had sealed! 2 cyl's were a little low, 91% and 86% but leaking through the rings this time. (I could hear air coming out the crankcase vent.) I stuck my stethascope on the lifters to listen for them clicking. $6 sounded real good, #2 and #4 were weak, and #1 wasn't doing anything. I couldn't get to #3 and #5 because they're under the intake thingy. I got another can of SeaFoam and treated it again, hoping it would help the injectors. Also put in a new set of platinum plugs because it had some cheap ones that were shot.
The next morning I started it up cold and it was running pretty smooth; didn't seem to be missing. But after it warmed up it started missing again. I let it cool down, restarted it (ran fine) and it started missing as it warmed up. Hmmm... I change out the fuel filter and cursed those Toy engineers for putting it in such a crappy place. It's on top of the crossmember so it's hard to get to but there's an open spot on the frame 8" forward; wouldn't have cost any more to locate it there. I digress... Must have taken an hour to swap out the filter. Good thing I did; the old one was almost competely clogged. I fired it up again; same symptoms. #1 and #3 don't seem to be firing at all and #2 and #4 are weak. The injectors on #2 and #4 don't sound near as strong as #6 but #1 sounds really good even though that cylinder doesn't seem to be firing. I shot some carb cleaner into a vacuum line and the engine sped up some, so I think some cylinders are starving for fuel. Most of the problems I've found have been fuel-related. I was hoping that driving it would clean out the injectors but I'm staring to think I'm going to have to pull the injectors and clean them manually. There's a couple of places I found that will clean them for a little over $100 or I can do it myself for under $20, but I've never done it before. Either way I have to remove them which is quite a job on the V6 because there's a lot of crap in the way.
Other stuff: The rear pinion seal is leaking; common but it takes a 30mm or 1 3/16 socket to remove remove the yoke on the pinion. Will have to purchase one as I have a 1 1/8, which won't fit, and 1 1/4, which is too loose.
I trailered it home and pulled it off the trailer with the tractor. It almost yanked the rear bumper loose, the damn thing was about to fall off and it had a 2" ball!
I parked it in the shed and the first thing was to drop the fuel. These things actually have a drain-plug in the fuel tank - sweet! The tank had about 8 gallons of green-funk in it. Next I pulled the tank, which wasn't much work either. The in-tank fuel pump and fuel-level sending unit were caked in rust. The pump was locked up from the grunt so I ordered a new one online for about $25. I cleaned the sending unit and got it working again. The tank looked pretty bad inside. I hit it with the pressure washer and it cleaned it up surprisingly well. The only crap still in it is on the top of the tank where I couldn't hit it with the washer.
She had some service records in the glove box that I went through. She got raped on a master cylinder, $288! (I can get them for $50.) The last time it was worked on was 2002 so I assume
it was parked in 2002. There were no tags or registration to tell me otherwise.
I put a battery in to check the lights. The highbeams weren't working. I took the switch apart and it buzzed out okay but when I put it back together still no workie. Hmmm... Apart again for a better look; it had enough continuity to turn on the buzzer in my meter but there was about 25 ohms across the contacts. I pulled the switch apart and they looked a little burned. After a little time with a points file and a cleanup with contact cleaner and they were reading close to 0 ohms closed. Put it back together and the lights work correctly, except for the back license-plate light. I cranked the key and the motor turned over! That's a good sign; I know it isn't locked and the starter works.
I checked out the rear bumper and it's mounted to 2 sheet-metal points either side on the body. 3 bolts total (1 was missing) and all the mounts were ripped on the body. They also had some 20ga angle-iron going to the frame, which did no good. It was about to fall off on it's own and they actually towed something with it. Criminal!
I got the new pump in a few days, reassembled everything, and put a battery in. Then I jumpered the fuel pump and let it run for a few minutes to cycle some new gas through the system before trying to crank it. It took a minute or so of cranking but it slowly started firing. Sound like it's hitting on 3-4 cylinders, not bad!
I did a compression test which showed a couple cylinders a little weak. Next I ran a leakdown test which is much better. Cylinders 2, 3, and 6 were leaking pretty bad through the intake. #3 was the worst at 50% leakdown. Sounds like it needs a valve job.
I started tearing it apart in prep to remove the motor. Looks like a big job. Then I got to researching and there's a product called "SeaFoam" that's supposed to clean sticking intake valves. I figured I'd give it a try; $10 crap-shot against doing a valve job. You put 1/3 of the can in the tank and let it warm up and then pour it into the intake through a vacuum line. After the can is empty you let it sit 15-30min and then start it up. It'll smoke like hell for a while as it knocks the crap loose. It didn't seem to stop the missing but it was running a little better. I took the plugs back out, did a leakdown again and the valves had sealed! 2 cyl's were a little low, 91% and 86% but leaking through the rings this time. (I could hear air coming out the crankcase vent.) I stuck my stethascope on the lifters to listen for them clicking. $6 sounded real good, #2 and #4 were weak, and #1 wasn't doing anything. I couldn't get to #3 and #5 because they're under the intake thingy. I got another can of SeaFoam and treated it again, hoping it would help the injectors. Also put in a new set of platinum plugs because it had some cheap ones that were shot.
The next morning I started it up cold and it was running pretty smooth; didn't seem to be missing. But after it warmed up it started missing again. I let it cool down, restarted it (ran fine) and it started missing as it warmed up. Hmmm... I change out the fuel filter and cursed those Toy engineers for putting it in such a crappy place. It's on top of the crossmember so it's hard to get to but there's an open spot on the frame 8" forward; wouldn't have cost any more to locate it there. I digress... Must have taken an hour to swap out the filter. Good thing I did; the old one was almost competely clogged. I fired it up again; same symptoms. #1 and #3 don't seem to be firing at all and #2 and #4 are weak. The injectors on #2 and #4 don't sound near as strong as #6 but #1 sounds really good even though that cylinder doesn't seem to be firing. I shot some carb cleaner into a vacuum line and the engine sped up some, so I think some cylinders are starving for fuel. Most of the problems I've found have been fuel-related. I was hoping that driving it would clean out the injectors but I'm staring to think I'm going to have to pull the injectors and clean them manually. There's a couple of places I found that will clean them for a little over $100 or I can do it myself for under $20, but I've never done it before. Either way I have to remove them which is quite a job on the V6 because there's a lot of crap in the way.
Other stuff: The rear pinion seal is leaking; common but it takes a 30mm or 1 3/16 socket to remove remove the yoke on the pinion. Will have to purchase one as I have a 1 1/8, which won't fit, and 1 1/4, which is too loose.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
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