Okay, I am just a girl who knows some, but little of vehicle mechanics... I do however have a passion for toyotas and offroad adventure. I have had my 4Runner for 3.5 years now and cannot imagine driving anything else, ever. Sadly it recently started runner very badly, chocking and sputtering... it started with an occasional hiccupp and has graduated to a near death choking experience. My check engine light is flashing and I am affraid to drive it. I am currently stuck at my friends house 250 miles from home, so any thing anyone can tell me would be much appreciated.

Thanks tons!
Hot Shot

 

anyway to get a OBDII reader to see what the code its throwing?


flashing CEL usually means real bad things going on. i would not drive it at this point if you can avoid it.

 

Usually when it flashes, it means you have a misfire in progress. From what you are describing it sounds like you are misfiring badly. What is your tune up status. On a sidenote...I also live in norcal and do sidework. I am a toyota tech

 

My old man is pretty handy, if you could tell us what things we could possibly do, besides a tune up... tried that... I would totaly appreciate your help.

Thank you for the side work offer, but I am affraid I am much farther north than Sac, I live near Redding. lol, Know anyone in my neck of the woods?

Anyhow, I thank you tons for your help, any information I can get is totaly useful. My regular Toyo Techs are both a couple hundred miles away for awhile...

 

could be a plug, injector, coil pack, wires, ect. You just never know till you pull the codes and do some diag work

 

Thankyou guys so much, you are all awesome!!!

We are gonna see what we can do and I will let you know how it works out for us.

Honestly, we are considering getting a pre computer engine to put in there... any thoughts or tips?

Thanks tons,
Hot Shot

 

pre computer? As in a carb motor? For smog, you cant put in an older motor that wont smog like the one you have now. If you have a 3.4 right now, it would be a mistake to put in something older with less power

 

Ahh... but I don't have to smog my truck ever again. I have all my stuff registered in Plumas County where you only smog it the first time you register it in your name. Gotta love rural living! And I only have a 2.7 liter engine... 4 cylindar dual over head cam 5 speed manual blah blah blah... but I have no power right now in it's current state, so knowing all of this, do you still believe it would be a mistake?

I have a friend who has been moding supra engines for older model pick ups or vice versa, moding trucks for supra engines, he has come up with some sick stuff. I thought about letting him do some of his magic.

Do you by any chance have a OBD Tester? I have to roll through Sacramento later today to get my kids... I have no choice in it. We are trying to get anything we can done now before I have to drive it.

appreciate your help

 

I still think it would be a mistake yes. Check your valve clearances. Those things have problems with exhaust valves getting tight. I do have a scantool, unfortunately its at work. I could have it this week or next weekend if need be

 

I am curretnly facing this same issue as well. Went to autozone to rent their scanner for 150 which is fully refundable before 30 days which is a great deal. There is no catch.... Well, it ended up to be a code P0301 which is "a misfire on cylinder 1". Performed a tune up and problem still persists. Swapped coils from 1 to 3, problem still remain the same with the same code. Checked the resistance on my fuel injectors and found injector at cyl 1 at 74 ohms which is way out of specs. Checked the other fueld injectors and found it at 14-18 ohms which is normal. Thus it was a bad fuel injector which is one of the probable causes of misfires. The OBD2 scanner works great!!!

 

I have the same problem on my 97 4Runner with 3.4L engine. I am about to clean the IAC and change the fuel filter. I need to check the injectors too. How is everybody getting to the injectors to check the resistance. It looks like the left bank is impossible to get to.
Also, what is the process for adjusting the valves? I've never done that on this engine. It has almost 220,000 miles.

 

I have the same problem on my 97 4Runner with 3.4L engine. I am about to clean the IAC and change the fuel filter. I need to check the injectors too. How is everybody getting to the injectors to check the resistance. It looks like the left bank is impossible to get to.
Also, what is the process for adjusting the valves? I've never done that on this engine. It has almost 220,000 miles.

 

toytech76 (David) did some work for my Runner and one hell of a guy. I learned alot from talking to him and he has all the toold since he works for a shop that mainly works on Toyotas. Whenever I get my OME coils and springs, he will be installing them for me. I am glad I found a great Yota Tech that lives near my area since I cannot do the work myself because I live in an apartment complex.

 

Thanks dude! I appreciate the compliment!

 

No problem man, my engine runs so much smoother after I put the right plugs in. Stupid single-ground AUTOLITE crap...ha ha ha You will be hearing from me shortly after I get my shock mounts but I am having a tough time trying to explain to RanchoToyotaTruck what the shock mounts are. Also, if the runner they have at the yard had a front end collision of any kind, would that affect the quality of the shock mounts? I wouldn't think so but just making sure. Thanks.

 

no.that wouldnt affect the upper shock mounts unless it was a reallly bad accident

 

97 Toyota 4 runner 2.7 3rz 5 speed 2wd @ 220165 miles
Process of eliminations
Changed:
fuel pump
fuel filter
throttle position sensor
throttle body gasket
spark plugs
spark plug wires
ignition coils (2)
hoses

cleaned:
intake manifold
throttle body
IAC valve

The only thing that hasn't been changed is the O2 sensor.
Don't know why she misfires when we changed the ignition system.
It seems like she's starving for fuel?
The only time the sputtering or bogging starts is when we accelerate for speed at 2 to 3 rpm in 2nd and 3rd gear.
We are thinking that there a is faulty in something, but where.
We had the computer scanned.
Wondering if the catalytic converter gets clogged? Does it need to get cleaned?

Need your assistance to get these question answered? What are we missing? Is it a simple fix?
I don't want to get rid of her.
Thank you - Malia

 

How was the.check light? Flashing too or were you able to pull a code?

Maybe injectors...but that's a common guess.

 

In my experience I have found that when the engine bogs out in only certain rpms, it is the MAF sensor or TPS(which you said you have replaced) starting to take a crap. Try cleaning your maf sensor and see if that helps

 

I know this is an old thread but my 97 4Runner with almost 200,000 miles is having the same problem. It came on all of the sudden while I was driving on the freeway. I live in Sacramento ... can anyone recommend a mechanic in the area that is trustworthy and reasonable. I'd try to troubleshoot on my own but all my tools are in SoCal. Toytech76 are you still in the area?

Thanks!