1988 Toyota Pickup 22re with 222,000 on the clock all original except for replacement parts I installed over the years.

I would like some professional help troubleshooting some issues that showed up on my drive home that day. Please bare with me, this is confusing and hard to explain in words, but I hope you get the picture in your mind of what is going on??

This is my bosses truck, he has owned it since new. I always work on it for him over the years.

Recently, 2 weeks ago I drove it home from work (25 miles one way) to do some much needed maintenance. The truck cranked and fired right up cold (been sitting in parking lot all day) and ran good, except I felt like she lacked some HP. I know this truck and she was in lack of engine power.

I was driving the 25 mile home trip and came upon a slower vehicle. I decided to pass it (I was in 5th gear and a flat road) I hammered down on the go pedal and the engine didn't have enough power to pass that vehicle, so I downshifted to 4th and tried again, pushed the go pedal to the floor, but then the engine went silent (ignition still in the ''ON'' position, still have electrical power, but no engine power) so, I downshifted to 3rd hoping to get the engine power back, but didn't happen! I had to pull over on the shoulder of the road.

I then tried to figure out in my mind what could have caused this weird issue. The thing that blows my mind is when the engine went silent, and loss of power, but didn't cut off until I pulled over.

I don't like using starting fluid, but there was a used can in the bed of the truck. I removed the lid on the air filter box and sprayed some sf inside and turned over the engine and she fired up for just long enough to to burn that up.

I know I'm getting spark, but not fuel at this point. I was stuck on the side of the road and just waited until the engine cooled down from the normal operating temperature, back down to somewhat cold. I hoped by doing this maybe something electrical (if that is causing this) would cool off and she will crank and fire back up. Well, I waited about 1.5 hours on the side of the road, than I thought...go for it! I turned the ignition key to crank and she fired right up!....

Now given that the engine cranked and started, she still sounded like she didn't have full power, just sounded like it. I had to get moving. It was getting late and I needed to get home, so off I went...

The truck got me about 5 miles down the road and she did the same thing again, loss power, engine still running, key still in ''ON'' and no indication on the gauge cluster that the engine lost power...

Well, I got towed home and after the unload, I decided to see if she would crank and fire up again, by this time the engine cooled down again, she started with no problem.

Today I started the truck up cold and hooked a vacuum gauge to it, had 21 at idle, so I decided to let the engine idle for a while and see what happens, well after about 30 minutes of idling I could hear the engine rpms start to slow down and then she cutoff....I tried to start her back up, she fired up, but quit again...


The owner (my boss) had a fuel pump installed a couple of months ago and the truck didn't have this issue, until I drove it home to do some work on it...I told him maybe I drive normal and have to keep up with traffic ect.

so I'm not sure what is going on, but I think I have ruled out a exhaust back pressure issue and are leaning more towards and electrical fuel system issue possibly??

I have a professional fuel pressure tester, but can't find a schrader valve, so I haven't been able to check that yet. I know I need to check and see if I can bypass the system somehow and see if I can get the fuel pump to work once the engine quits, so I can rule that out.


I would appreciate any info and procedures that will help me locate and repair this issue.

I thought the cat was clogged, causing the issue since it is original and the exhaust smell weird, not loke rotten eggs , more like gunpowder or something.

hell I don't know which way to go at this point

 

No escaping the basics; You cannot troubleshoot properly if you you do not know if you have fuel pressure.
A few days and you could receive parts and piggy-back fuel pressure gage on CSI like this.

 

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