Hey guys, I have a 1990 pickup 22re 4wd Automatic. It has had an issue for years where the idle has a miss in it every so often and occasionally when the truck is warmed up, shut down, and restarted a few minutes later it idles very low and sometimes dies when in gear.

Today, the problem got worse. I drove my truck home from work yesterday and a metal bar holding the battery down shorted out the positive battery post to the body underneath the battery. When this happened, my truck died. I pulled over and fixed it, started my truck right back up, drove home fine and parked it. I should mention that i was low on gas when I got home.

I start it up today and while in park it was having a hard time idling, sometimes I heard relays clicking on and off near the glove compartment, and the idle was very rough. During all this, I noticed the check engine light come on. I checked it, it gave code 51, refer to this page for code explanation.

So I didnt think much of the code and continued troubleshooting myself. I looked at the positive battery lead where it shorted yesterday, I took the terminals apart, cleaned them and the battery post. I also noticed my amp ground was a little lose and fixed that(figure it is unrelated).

So after I did those things I fired it back up and then it still did the rough idle and sputter only while I was in drive, first, or second. I could put it in reverse and the truck would continue idling as it should. but when i drove backwards in reverse it was hesitant and acted like it wasnt getting any fuel.

So after messing with it for about a half hour, the problem changed to where it wouldnt go into drive or reverse without dying, wouldnt stay idling in park or gear. also, if you tried to move the stearing wheel it would die. For a few minutes it wouldnt start back up at all, but then after I waited a few mintues, it started right back up, idled fine in park, and it would try to drive, but still died under a load. I checked the codes again and it gave 13, 43, and 51. According to the link to check these codes, nothing is screams "I'm broken!" so I don't chalk those codes up to much.


So far I have checked for vacuum leaks, ran some seafoam in the gas tank, gave it more gas (1/4 tank), and cleaned my battery terminals. I checked my air filter, it is clean.

Any suggestions, similar issues or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

I just started up my truck after not running it for hours and the situation is this.

It will start up and idle just fine in park/neutral.

If you put it in reverse while holding the brake it will hold idle just fine. If you give it gas, it will spin the rear wheels on gravel(my back brakes suck).

If you put it in drive while holding the brake, it will idle OK but if you try to give it gas (while holding the brake) the engine temp gauge moved up from cool warm, the voltage gauge moved down the same amount the temp gauge did, and the rpm guage jumps up sometimes too even the the RPMs are decreasing. All the gauges return to normal when I let off the gas.

It will die no matter what gear you are in if you turn the wheel. Engine codes still read the same after messing with it for a bit.

The engine also stutters a little when trying to rev in neutral/park.

 

I can drive the truck around in reverse just fine, so long as I am easy on the steering. The truck hesitates, sputters, and hardly moves in drive, even if the pedal is wide open.

 

I had this same situation with my '88 4Runner, 22re/auto. It would start and run but die when I put it in gear. Wouldn't idle over @2000 rpms.

Turned out to be a weak fuel pump. Enough fuel pressure to start but not enough to give power.

When troubleshooting I could hear the pump running but it sounded like it was making margaritas.

New pump. Runs great now.

DCMatt

 

ill try to check the fuel pump pressure today and see what it does. Ive had an issue before where it was hesitant until it held it wide open and then it took off like a bat out of hell. That one turned out to be the fuel pump also. Thanks for the input.

 

fuel pump is at 70 lbs. ruled that one out.

 

Bump for other suggestions.