Aloha,
I have been having an issue with my pickup and will do my best to describe it here and hopefully you all can shed some light on what the issue is. I have noticed in the last few months that after a heavy rain (my pickup gets parked outside on the street) my truck will turn over just fine but won't start in the morning. After I let it sit for a while it will start and the speedometer will stay pegged at zero and then work intermittently. Another symptom is that the engine, at idle, will slowly go down in rpms until it is just puttering along. My truck is manual and recently, on a super hot day, it died while in neutral between gears during a turn. I have recently replaced the battery and researching this issue leads me to believe that it may be the distributor cap but before I dig into that project I figured it would be best to reach out and ask you all. Earlier today I had the engine running and the hood open and brushed my hand across the middle terminal of the dist cap and got a nice shock. Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. I will post pictures in the morning if it isn't raining. Mahalos!

Update 1: going to pull the codes in the morning using the following how-to

http://4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/...shtml#Late22RE

Will update as soon as i get done.

Update 2: pulled the codes (see pic below for setup) and the sequence is - I I I I I I I (~1s) I (~3s) I I I I I I I (~1s) I (~3s)...repeating = ODB1 code of 71 which is -
EGR VALVE MALFUNCTION
--EXHAUST GAS TEMPERATURE BELOW SPEC. FOR EGR CONTROL

--EGR SYSTEM

--EGR GAS TEMPERATURE SENSOR/CIRCUIT

Update 3: Added pics to this thread of the diagnostic setup and distributor cap, plugs/wires and ignition switch.

Update 4: Added pic with red arrow to mark where the shock originated from .

 

not sure why you'd get shocked there, but with the hood up at night, you could look for arcing around the distributor cap/plug wires... if you've never pulled the cap, you'll want to do a visual inspection.

unplug the vacuum hose on top of the egr, block the hose, hook another hose up to the egr port and suck on the end of the hose while the motor is idling... it should stumble badly, maybe even die.

 

I took a pic to confirm the right hose on the EGR. The red arrow is pointing to the correct EGR hose/port yes? I have access to 1/4" and 1/2" rubber tubing I hope this works. I also found a hose that has a bolt plug and it has a yellow arrow. Any idea what this is? Odd!

 

not sure where that loose hose goes, but that's the right egr hose.

 

I disconnected the EGR hose you specified and connected a ~2ft. section of vacuum hose. Plugged the original hose and sucked through the 2ft section as you suggested which caused the engine to nearly die. What does this tell me?

 

Your coil wire is not pushed all the way into the cap!!

In fact that is a different coil wire .

By now it must have been arcing enough that the wire and the cap have some damage

That is the reason you got your little tickle !!

When was the last tune up ??

 

Yikes! I attached a picture. So I assume the cable lead needs to be seated in line with the other cable leads on the dist cap? That looks waayyy off. What did you mean that it looks like a different coil wire? It is not the OEM wire kit that the truck had installed? I called the Yota dealership parts dept. today and asked for a quote, the Yota cables are ~$105. I can get them in by the weekend as they have to be shipped from Honolulu. If you think there may be damage to the cap/rotor how can I check this? Can I check without screwing up the timing? I also had my yota parts guy quote out the distributor cap, rotor and plugs just in case so I can get all the parts no worries. I've owned this pickup for a little over a year and I do all the work myself (except the tires which I don't have the equipment for) and have not had a tune up yet. If possible I'll do it myself. Nice catch and good eye. Thank you!!!!! Love this forum...

 

i think that the stalling is caused by the presence of exhaust gas in the intake? it's important because it tells you that the egr valve itself is probably working o.k., in other words not totally clogged up.

if you follow the hose back to its source at the front of the engine(?) i think that it starts out hooked up to a metal tube that in turn hooks up to a valve that operates on temperature? to put it another way, there are things that control when the egr is supposed to pass gas.

i think that if you disconnect both ends of that valve, you should be able to blow thru it when the engine is hot, but not when it's cold??? there is also a vacuum modulator, see the location pics for both here: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...w-pics-159248/

it'll be similar to this: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/toyot...placement.html

need to dig up more troubleshooting steps on this, but what you've done so far is good news.

check out rockauto.com for the tuneup parts for your truck... might as well get plugs while you are at it.

 

Just pull the wire out of the cap look if the end of the wire and cap are arced (burnt)

Not knowing just what wire that coil wire is it should be pushed in as far as the other wires on the cap.

Good possibility the arcing was what caused your getting zapped .

Might be the cause of your stalling as well

The timing is only effected if you loosen the bolt holding the base of the distributor and turn the whole distributor .

 

Was reading another forum for a quick fix and someone suggested using a hair dryer on the dist. cap if it would not start. The cold start issue only occurs early in the morning when there is moisture/humidity/rain and when I use the hair dryer on the dist. cap/wire connections it works like a charm. After running the hair dryer on it for 10s I barely turn the key in the ignition and it starts right up. My question now is based on the information we have here in this thread what items should I replace? I found a Toyota dealership in Dallas that will ship here super cheap and they have all the parts I need. I am thinking I should order:

1. Distributor Cap
2. Rotor
3. Spark Plug Cable Set
4. Spark Plugs

Is there anything else? I would like to steer clear of re-doing the timing if necessary so if that means replace cap and not the rotor I am ok with it, if that mitigates the starting issue and address the rotor later. Thank you all for your help with this issue. Stoked to have made some progress.

 

you have an engine hood on the truck, right? there shouldn't be direct moisture contact on the engine, even when it's foggy.

i would pull the cap in the morning, before starting it up, and see if there is any moisture inside the cap.... moisture inside the cap will cause arcing and cross-fire.