RSR

Your TPS needs to be working properly to time this engine, so that's probably part of your problem. FWIW.

Not sure about the tranny. Again, until you get all the sensor connections up to par, it's difficult to troubleshoot.

These trannies are very sensitive w/ fluid levels. The fluid needs measured at specific temps per FSM. A laser temp gauge is great to have. Not sure on the solenoids and whatnot on this tranny, but I think reverse might have it's own. Worth looking into on the FSM...

Oh, and gas stations are THE WORST place to buy any fluids. The oil companies that sell the gas usually have no control over the what the convenience stores selling their gas sell inside. One of the oil review forums did a review on the off-brand oils that these places stock and the extensive mislabeling of products oil weights, composition, etc. Also, the name brands they have were often expired by years, which means issues with their wax/parafin thickeners and significantly reduced lifetime of the oil that's added... Potentially and probably a similar issue w/ the ATF you bought, but 1 quart in the 12 or so quarts our trannies run shouldn't cause any irreparable issues, provided it isn't just red water...

Gevo

Well, I just got my new TPS connector. I will be changing that in the next couple of days and report back.

As far as the convenience store oils.. I'll make sure to stay away from them if at all possible. I figured it's better to have any fluid than 1 quart less of the proper fluid, more or less along the lines of your argument with the 12 quarts etc, and that any excess would bleed out somewhere.... I was catastrophically wrong

My wife starts her new job in 3 weeks, I have 3 weeks to get this car running it's best

Time for some

RSR

Here's the engine oil stuff I referenced if interested: http://www.pqiamerica.com/index.html

If scrolling down the page, they do some testing of ATF fluids too -- basically, their whole mission is to make sure consumers with the most restricted budgets and usually the least amount of knowledge aren't putting crap fluids from gas stations, dollar stores, etc, into their vehicles and ruining their engines more quickly than would otherwise occur...

When did the no reverse at all start? I'm leaning more towards, electrical/solenoid/wiring/connection than fluid related despite your leak. But that's an educated guess at best. Good luck!

Gevo

RSR, I will read through the link about the oil

Really from what little I understand about automatic transmissions (these older ones) it feels like a slipping clutch.. just as you said like the solenoid isn't engaging the clutch. The leak may have been a weird coincidence. When I test drove the 4Runner at the previous owners home it went into reverse just fine. I checked for proper engagement of the 4x4 system etc.. I drove it around a few blocks and the tranny was shifting very smoothly and only the weak engine was an issue. I checked for leaks all over, but I didn't notice the leak I have now. Another member (jDrum) had a leak from the same place and the tranny shop told him it's the speed sensor o-ring, however after changing the o-ring they overfilled the tranny and it still continued to leak.

Funny thing is, he didn't notice a leak right away. Can overfilling the tranny cause a blowout of some seal??? I wonder... Isn't there a pressure release system ???? perhaps I should ask the shop to make sure that is working?

RSR

There's a breather at the top of the tranny (or two) and tcase too for that matter. Possible that's clogged and not working causing increased pressure. Think it's hard to get to on the tranny. Similar function to the diff breathers.

Getting to these and installing extended breathers are on my to do... Haven't gotten any but rear diff done at this point.

With engine oil, overfilled leads to the crankshaft sloshing oil, mixing air in etc, which can cause issues. I really don't know about the tranny, but shouldn't be similar since just a pump that picks up the fluid and circulates. In theory there shouldn't be anything in there that wasn't made to be in contact with fluid -- and further shouldn't be affected by a slight increased contact with fluid due to a slight overfill...

Gevo

Thanks for the info on the breathers. I'm going to the tranny shop. I don't have any more time to pretend play mechanic for now

Some Good news!

No more CEL! No more stuttering on throttle release! And I haven't even gotten it properly timed (after work, dropping it off at mechanic)

I put the new TPS and ECT connectors on, reset ECU and checked, no codes. Started right up as before... but it would not hesitate on throttle snap and throttle release!! (Remember, before one of the TPS wires was broken)

I worked it up for a while, waited for the thermostat to snap open and saw the engine temp decrease a little... look to be perfect operation.

I did get a scare... in fact i was very scared.. After I started it for the first time yesterday i noticed coolant sprayed (not dripped) on the ground beneath the front area. I figured some coolant made it's way to the fan and thus the spray. For the life of me I could NOT find where this came from and it didn't happen again the rest of the day... I am cautiously assuming some coolant had made its way during the pour to the fan blade?
Better nor be engine block related!

It's finally getting there!!!

Sturmcrow

Haha, I can't believe you are comfortable swapping out an engine, but balk at using a timing light. Just get one from Harbor Freight, its super cheap and super easy to use.

IIRC, the distributor rotor should point right at 11:00 when the engine is at TDC. If it is not, then pull it out, turn it one way or the other and push it back in. Rinse an repeat until the rotor points the right way. I could be mistaken about the 11:00 bit, but it is easy enough to look at the distributor cap and see where the #1 contact is.

Gevo

lol.. Sturmcrow, I understand your point... part of me probably wants an experiences mechanic to see the engine, hear it and make sure I haven't missed some crucial item. I'm sure if I just get the light and try the timing once I'll be able to do it... but I just don't mind letting the mechanic take this one... there is a quiet and slight, soft ticking.. likes a 'ts ts ts ts' sound. I know my header is cracked and decided i'll worry about later with a possible dual exhaust system later on... and it does go away when it warmed up.. typical, but again.. having the mechanic hear it one time can't hurt.

I do have a HARD time trusting anybody though.. that said, my brothers friend's uncle has a mechanic shop and I've met him before with some questions on my street bike. I checked him out on yelp, the guy as straight up 5 star rating over 38 reviews. I'll trust him and see what happens

I'm sure all the work done so far has been more complex than the timing. Perhaps for the heck of it I'll get the light to use it for 'fun' until I really need it?


PS: When I write here i feel fine, when i go back to my work I get sleepy....
Thanks

Gamefreakgc

This has been a long road for you huh? So much for just adjusting valves!

The radiator cap will release fluid if it builds up immense pressure. Rather than bursting a hose or gasket the cap will leak fluid into the overflow reservoir. If that clamp on the overflow hose was not tight enough, that might instead go into the engine bay. Either that or your upper radiator hose clamps are not tight enough. Ditch those old tension clamps (they are not very tight) and get the screw-tight kind. Those are the only two coolant hoses above the fan.

Gevo

Yes. Long road. I wish I could have worked on it more frequently. Oh well. You know, it may be that the coolant burst out from pressure. Engine wasnt hot at the time though. I havent done anything to burp the system or anything like that quite yet.

At this point im excited to see it complete with a new interior

RSR

Yep, same problem here, haha.

Gevo

I'm on one of those wake up breaks now!

For the first time since the rebuild, I got a legitimate drive in on the 4Runner. It hesitates a bit for a few minutes until it warms up, then it is surprisingly smooth.

I drove it for about 5 miles to the tranny shop, I'll get the news on why I am leaking oil out of the peephole and why there is no reverse tomorrow.

I asked the shop to give me price for changing out all the seals involved in the tranny, extension housing and transfer case system. After Tranny, off to the mechanic for timing. Yes, I'm still not going to do it myself

Gevo

So, today I picked the 4Runner up formt eh tranny shop, everything there seems great..

I drove it to the mechanic (my brothers friend "Burbank Auto Tech", seems to be a very knowledgable mechanic) where I was supposed to get it timed and that was supposed to be the end of engine rebuild... right... not so.

He looked at it, gassed it up a bit then said, i don't think you have mainly a timing problem, I think it's somethign else.. the engine is moving to much.. I said, well in my puney brain that was due to timing.. he said, no... not this.. he looked around for a few seconds then stared pulling plug wires one by one at the distributor. THe first one, Cylinder one, he pulled it and the engine did not respond at all.. literally no difference.. he said "you #1 cylinder isn't working"... blood came down my ears.. He checked the rest of the plugs and all checked out (engine responded to less cylinder) He said it wasn't my timing as soon as i told him that the engine runs better when it warms up. TOld me I need to check the spark plug, pressure test, injector (and wire harness of course) .. said worst case cylinder is not put together correctly, less worse case your valves are jacked.. less worse case my injectors...

Seems like the minimum is tha ti have to remove my plenum..

this made me sad.. I was really hoping to do the heater core exchange this weekend, reupholstery on monday-tuesday and be able to drive it as an everyday driver. Now, this weekend will be spent fixing what should be working!!!

I suspect it is most likely the wire harness.. since it seems to have been my no spark problem..

Ok, here is where your wisdom helps me to less work and do i correctly. Please, chime in peeps.

Gamefreakgc

Sorry to hear that! But, at least you are getting closer.


1. Check cylinder 1 to see if it's getting spark. There's several methods, just google it. Some involve pulling the plug out, using a screwdriver, etc. That's easy enough and you won't have to pull anything apart yet.


If no spark, you found your issue. Either bad wire, bad cap, or bad distributor.


2. If there's spark, do a compression test on that cylinder. Good compression, skip to 4. If poor compression, go to 3...


3. If compression is bad do a leak down test. This sends pressurized air into the chamber and out the leak if there is one. If it holds pressure, no issues. If not, you'll either have the air come out the oil (bad cylinder rings, worse case scenario), the coolant (head gasket), the intake (mis-adjusted intake valve), or the exhaust (mis-adjusted exhaust valve). That will save you having to take anything off and tell you exactly what's going on. From there you'll have to figure out what you need to do based of where the air leaks.


4. If good compression, it's a fuel or wiring issue. I thought at one point you had a new harness done... so not sure why you should have issues. Unless the injector is shot, which could be possible.

Gevo

Gamfreak thanks for the response. I have never done a leak test but it doesnt seem all that difficult. I will check it al.

Another question came to mind. If my timing is 180 dehrees off... how will the engine sound? Could that also not manifest itself with the symptome as above where there is no change in engine operation when one plug is isconnected? I think im gonna buy a timing light now. I think it was RSR who made a joke about building the engine back up but being scared of timing. Lol

Gevo

Also yes. I did have my friend redo my harness.. but you never know. I mean my TPS connector was a problem .. I have a new distributor and rebuilt orange flamethrower injectors. I hope its a harness problem. Should be easy enough to test.....

Gevo

BUMP

I can't really find a clear answer to this elsewhere on the net.. and it seems to be very different from one car to another. I'll give an e-high five to the first good answer...??

scope103

If your ignition timing is off 180° it will sound very quiet. The plugs will fire at the bottom of the intake stroke; no compressed fuel so no ignition at all.

Gevo

Scope, ok, good.. I was pretty sure but not sure enough.

Thanks.

I hate being at work when I am SO close to getting this thing done!!!

I have spent 2 or 3 hours on the forum, trying to figure out how and with what to time the ignition

Gamefreakgc

Scope was saying that if you had it 180* off then ALL cylinders would be doing this. If it's a timing issue then you wouldn't have just #1 messed up, they all would.