cjd191

Hello my friends. I'm the proud owner of a 94 4runner with a 3vze from an older donor. I suspect the engine/trans combo came from a 90 or 91 given the distributor and igniter differences. I purchased this beauty with a blown head gasket and got it back and running. I replaced many parts on it and when it starts, it runs like a champ. Parts replaced with new aftermarket parts include: rotor, cap, ignition coil, igniter, head gaskets, head bolts, wires, spark plugs, multiple gaskets, coolant temp switch. I hot wired the cold start injector to the starter trigger wire given the price of the cold start switch. Like I said, the car runs great when it starts but it only starts 5 times out of ten and has a lumpy idle. Like yesterday I drove it to the gym, started right up in the morning. Worked out for an hour, tried to start it and nothing. Wife picked me up went home for an hour came back to the car and it started although it took a a few long cranks. Drove to work parked it, turned it off multiple times and it started. At lunch time, I drove to a pizzeria 4 miles away from my job, went inside, got a few slices, went back to the car and again NO START. Had it towed to my job and guess what, the damn thing started and I drove it home (35 minute drive). This morning, went outside to warm it up and NOTHING! Any help is greatly appreciated. Distributor resistance checks out, new coil, new igniter, new rotor/cap, new plugs/wires. I can smell fuel when trying to start so the cold start injector is dumping fuel in the intake manifold but there seems to be no spark. I should also mention that it seems to be ignition related since it doesn't even start with starter fluid. I have a new fuel pump, strainer, and filter for it but if it was fuel related, it would start with starter fluid.

RAD4Runner

Welcome to the forum, but using bold-red letters unless necessary is poor netiquette.

Coolant temp senders, connectors and their mounting threads need to be cleaned down to bare, shiny metal at least every 25 years
Which coolant switch is new?
So CSI timer switch is still old?
Did you check for spark when it is acting up?
Monitor fuel pressure? https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f199...l#post52312190