So I'm looking into some things here and there- ways to clean up the engine bay- and it just popped into my head.

Yesterday when I was poking around in the bay with the car off, I heard this really strange buzzing/ticking noise- almost like a bee buzzing behind a metal plate (I literally thought it was a bug at first, ew). It was intermittent and pretty quiet but very steady and constant like a noisy power transformer on a power line. Maybe 30 seconds to a minute off then 10 seconds of steady buzz/tick. I couldn't find my stethoscope to pinpoint it, but it sounded like it was coming straight from the charcoal canister.

WHAT IF the charcoal can or purge solenoid is effed/shorted/clogged, and is throwing turds into the intake when it shouldn't be? WHAT IF that is what is causing everything? Is that even possible? Seems to me it could be another suspect. Oooh mama!

EDIT: forgot to mention a tidbit. This truck used to have an auxiliary gas tank installed. PO uninstalled it before selling because it had developed a bit of rust. I've been reading about issues with the charcoal can and aux tanks. I think this weird noise is connected. Not sure of it yet, but I would love for it to be true. Tomorrow (today) I will be separately disabling the EGR and charcoal canister. Hopefully I find something bad (good). Would love to know others' thoughts. Oh, mama.

 

It's been a busy day here. First I pulled the charcoal canister purge output, at no avail to the low idle symptom.

I then started removing vacuum lines of things I don't want or care about. Removed AC VSV (it was busted anyway), removed FPU VSV and rerouted the FPR vac line to one of the vac outs on the triple vac adapter near the back side of the intake manifold- bypassing the VSV.

Tested the car, still same issue- but I wasn't really expecting those two things to cause any issues.. Just wanted to declutter. Still I didn't want to make a bunch of changes and not test between each one.

Then I started in on EGR removal, leaving the CC and VSVs disconnected.

Removed the metal vac line thing that routes EGR crud. Engine starting to look a lot more simplified. Fabricated two cover plates for the EGR, installed with no gaskets. Started up.

Whoosh! No low idle. Waited 20mins. Whoosh!! Still good! Decided I would commit to the EGR removal and put silicone gaskets on the EGR block plates.

Now I'm waiting a few more mins for the silicone to dry so I can tighten all the way down. Cannot wait to see if that fixes the problem.

Alright gonna go install the new denso o2. Be back in a bit with a report

Edit: forgot to post the pictures

Current state of things


Stuff that came out, probably goodbye forever (not worried about smog because this car was already given a friendly "pass")

 

I hope this is not just placebo. I'm getting a whole new feel out of this car. Starting up 100% perfectly.

I think it was probably the EGR, but the Bosch O2 wasn't helping. Either way, it's running absolutely like a top. Wow

Hope it sticks around. It might be too early to tell. I just have a feeling...

 

Well I've posted about a million times in a row by now. Hope you are not getting sick of my updates, sorry if you are!

The problem persists. Just tried to start it up, and the usual

It does seem to be running better with the Denso O2, however

 

The updates are good.

Have you taken a recent peek at the spark plugs? Oil and coolant look ok? With your determination, you'll get to the bottom of it soon.

 

I'll post a photo of the plugs tomorrow for ya... haven't looked at them in a long while. Should probably check timing and compression, too, while I am at it.

Oil seems fine- not milky or anything. I must have a coolant leak though, I'm adding to the overflow reservoir about every week or two. Both of my radiator hoses are super old, as well as the water hoses connecting to the IACV. I replaced one of them with a crappy autozone molded one that kinda fits, and the hose clamps on that one are too big. Bet you it's that one Either way I'm going to get to the bottom of that when it's time to swap for the later model intake plenum/TB and do the injector cleaning. Lots of fun restoration stuff to come trying to nail this issue. The work will not be in vain, either- now my intake will stay nice and clean.. no more EGR barf.

I'm still on the hunt for other possible causes. Found this thread over at the toyotanation forums which closely matches my symptoms.

I wanna run a test tomorrow and see if the hard starts and low idle happen more frequently after I shut the car off with my foot on the brakes as I do when I pull into a parking spot kinda fast and stop-off.

I mean, if I continuously tap the brakes really fast it causes the car to drop idle and run super rough- spits condensation out of the tailpipe and everything.. Kinda in the same way after a hard start but worse. That shouldn't happen at all, right? The brake booster vac line should keep things steady? It stays steady for me on the first depress, but if I get crazy with it my engine bogs megabigtime Maybe that is playing into it. I have no idea how that brake booster vac line works, and I am super curious if anyone knows a quick rundown.

Glad you like the updates and thank you for the input. It is much appreciated. Kinda felt echoey for a second

 

May need to consider, at some point, a internal HG failure that is leaking a little coolant into a cylinder (my 3.4 did this, no smoke out the exhaust, lopey RPMs after starting).

When you have the plugs out, take a look into each cylinder and see if they look the same clean/dirty wise.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to pull the plugs today.

What do you make of the oil pool I am getting here?



Still getting a pool after tightening all those bolts. I still haven't really learned that part of the engine yet

 

Any chance the oil is coming off the valve cover gasket?

Your oil pool seems higher up than this, but take a look at this thread. There is one bolt on the timing cover/oil pump that needs to be sealed with FIPG/RTV, etc. and is known to cause a oil drip. Who knows where the fan then slings the oil off to. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...-bolts-219076/

Or, this one:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...-bolts-222987/

Here's a link that may have some value:
http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...sm/engine.html

 

I thought this exactly after OP mentioned needing to continually add coolant and no mention of a visible leak on the ground. It would definitely account for the way the engine is running at startup after sitting.

 

Compression check came back way better than I expected

1: 170
2: 171
3: 177
4: 170

Spark plugs. A few specs on #1 (farthest to the right) but they seem great to me.



I think the oil leak has to be coming from the valve cover, which I pulled earlier on and didn't use RTV to reseal.

Thank you for the ideas and input everyone. I feel like I'm getting closer

 

Did these plugs come with the rig? If it was me, I'd pop a new set of plugs in since they are relatively cheap.

Compression looks good.

 

I replaced them during round 1 tuneup shortly after buying it, they have about 2k miles on them and suffered the first round of tuneup carnage (tps maladjustment and various other things causing rich conditions).

I took my valve cover off again, and installed my new gasket and gasket plugs. I also cleaned the heck out of it.

And this time, I used RTV to ensure a good seal. Hopefully that fixes the oil pool up front. I have a feeling it was the gasket plugs... Both of them had oil on both sides of their flange areas, suggesting it was kinda leaking out somewhere. New ones sealed with RTV should fix it, hopefully.

 

Ah, makes sense why they had a bit of crud on them. Hit 'em with the wire brush and get some more miles out of them.
Hope that solves the oil issue.

 

Wow really a wirebrush is okay? Well if you say so

Truck has been starting up great today, perhaps because the engine hasn't been warm at all. Starts right up, hits 1000rpm and slowly falls to 850 where I have it set!

The real test will be tomorrow after I drive it some. At least it is starting up perfectly when cold now

 

I've never had an issue using one gently. Maybe not shop approved, but it works for me.

Ok....gotta ask what is Cali cold right now? We are at 22 deg up here right now and have not been above 30 for three days.

 

When I say cold, I mean... not hot

I'm wearing my usual work clothes. A black sleeveless mini dress (hides stains well), jeans, and my trusty jelly sandals.

It was 75 today but now it's 63 and dark. Burr! Winter jacket time!

22??? My god, how the heck do you put up with that? I would be asking for my money back or inventing some kind of portable jacket heater/blower.

So yeah, not a cold start in the truest sense. A room temperature start, I guess you could say. Still a lot colder than the 200 degrees that the engine prefers.

 

The low was only 10 last night. Hehe, I spent my 1st 14 years out in Ontario so know the definition of Cali cold well.
We moved up here one October and then had sub-zero temps a lot that winter...yup, about died I did. The blood has thickened since then. 50-60 deg is sweatshirt weather at most.

Oops, sorry for the off-topic diversion.

 

Hey I don't mind, you are the moderator here, haha!

I'll take that as a suggestion to get back on topic, though

Tomorrow I'm hoping to hit a few junk yards.. I wanna find the upper intake and TB from the 89+ 22re. Seems like a worthwhile conversion even if it doesn't solve my problem. Also going to be ordering flamethrower injectors later tonight!

 

LOL...it was a suggestion for ME to get back on topic.
Happy junk yard hunting!