My '88 4runner

I'm not 100% certain there's no engine swap, but I'm extremely hesitant after watching what happened to yours. The reason I'm looking into it is that I need to have some exhaust work done anyways and think this may be a good time to put a new header if it's not terribly expensive. And, they're more expensive than I thought they would be.

Don't be hesitant. Mine is taking so long because I went outside the playbook. If you found a 3RZ or 5VZE donor truck and sprung for the wiring harness conversion from ORS, I bet we could have a swap done in a weekend.

Headers are expensive, though, for sure. If you find a used one at a good price, jump on it, but at new prices I don't think they're worth it on a 22RE.

I know it's week late for our Swell trip, but the rig is finally titled in Utah and has temporary registration!!!

Awesome!

Starting designing a spare tire swing-out today.  Quickly modeled the rear bumper and mocked up some square tubing into geometry that I think will work.  Still very much a work in progress, but I like what I've got so far.  



The tubing is 2x2x1/4 which should be good for the 35" spare.  

The spindle and other small hardware will come from THIS KIT.

One of my goals for this project is to do as much of the cutting and welding as I can. I know I'll end up needing help at some point though.

I have a set of frame brackets waiting on my shelf, you're welcome to borrow them for a pattern if you don't want to model your own.

No need for the frame mounts. The bumper is already on the rig. Planning on fabricating and welding the tire carrier to the bumper.

Oh sweet. That'll make it easy!

Het Beest is officially street-legal!! Passed safety and emissions today!

How much did you pay the tech?

TRD270 wrote:How much did you pay the tech?

Thousands.

Should have come to see me I would have done it for only one thousand

TRD270 wrote:Should have come to see me I would have done it for only one thousand

Should have. Might have saved me money on getting the cat and new muffler welded up.

Andrew, do you remember if the brake calipers on this thing are the standard 1st gen IFS ones or not?

dutchman wrote:Andrew,  do you remember if the brake calipers on this thing are the standard 1st gen IFS ones or not?

I don't know for sure...never had to replace the brakes. My guess is that they are the original calipers that came with the 88. When I sas'd my 91 pickup, that's what I did.

Ok. I was curious, getting a replacement part list together.

Calling all you 22re experts!!! My rig died on my tonight on my way back home from the store. I was cruising about 45 mph then stopped at a red light, when the light turned green I started accelerating as normal and then the power just cut out. I tried giving it gas and it only seemed to make the problem worse. Once on the side of the road I tried starting it again a couple of times. It would start, struggle to run, and die after a few seconds. Aubs came and got me, ran to the gas station and put a couple of gallons in the 4runner. Still didn't start, so towed it home.

As of right now it will crank, idle for a couple seconds, then cough and die. Starting it and pressing the gas pedal seems to make it worse. Quick research points to the fuel pump, or something with the AFM.

Any ideas? Kevin, hoping you have some advice.

Sound like when my fuel filter plugged.

Hey, I've played this game before.  That sure sounds like fuel or an AFM.

So first, crank the truck for a couple seconds to build fuel pressure.  Then find the fuel filter under the intake plenum, above the starter.  Crack the fuel line on the motor side of the fuel filter.  Watch for a hefty spray to come out (safety goggles are your friend here).  If you get just a tiny spurt, it's definitely a fuel pressure issue.  Button it back up tight, crank the truck again for a couple seconds, then crack the fuel line on the gas tank side of the filter.  If you get a good spray this time, it's a clogged filter.  If you still get no pressure, the pump isn't working and we need to figure out why.

The truck has what's called a Circuit Open Relay in the passenger kick panel.  Its job is to know when the engine is running and give power to the fuel pump.  If the ECU isn't telling it the engine is running, it won't power the pump (and your research may have already told you this, but yeah, it gets that "engine running" signal from the AFM).  There's a way to test the COR while it's in the truck to determine whether it's bad or not - on your '88, there should be a diagnostic port on the passenger fender, and jumping fp to b+ (I think?  Google that to be sure) will bypass the COR and give the pump power any time the key is on.  Jump those connections, and try and start the truck.  If that doesn't do it, the signal from the COR (and by extension, the AFM) is probably good and we're almost certainly looking at a bad fuel pump.

One more test to be sure, though.  Leave the COR bypass in place and the key On (or have yor woman handy at the ignition switch).  Pop the back seat and find a hatch on the passenger side.  Stare lovingly at that hatch for a second, because under that hatch is your fuel pump - you won't have to drop the tank to access it.  Pop the hatch, find the harness connector.  This next part might get tight, at least it does for my manly meathooks, but you're going to want to pop the harness connector and probe the body side of the connector for 12 volts while the key is On and the COR is bypassed, or while the key is turned to Start.  I forget which side is which, but it's just two wires so check them both.  At this point you should get 12 volts there and we can confidently say the fuel pump is out - if you don't, then it's back to square one with the COR.

Testing the relay - it's a basic relay, you can bench test it.  Voltage and ground across the trigger pins, look for continuity across the other two.  They aren't cheap - if you think it's bad get one from a junkyard (or come borrow mine) to make sure before you buy a new one.

There's two suspect connections on the AFM.  The first one is the connection on the airbox itself.  Make sure it's tight, no bent pins, no shiners on the harness, etc.  The other connection runs across the motor from the harness under the intake plenum to a round plug on the drivers side fender near the ignition coil - I never did find out what exactly that harness connection does, but if it's unplugged the motor does that exact start-then-stumble-and-die trick that it does when the AFM is bad or unplugged so I assume it's related somehow.  So check both of those.  If testing indicates a bad signal from the COR and the relay tests ok and both those connections check out, then we'll probably have to bench test the AFM and who knows what else.  We'll have to research that together, because that's the limit of my experience.

If the fuel pump ends up being bad, I recommend an Aisin pump.  I've had bad luck with the off brands.  If you do change the pump, have a good hard look down inside the tank for debris or sludge that might have clogged the pickup and overheated the pump - pray you don't see any crud down there, because then you WILL be dropping the tank, and cleaning it out, and that's no fun at all.  If you change the filter for any reason, for gods sake relocate it to the passenger fender because the stock location is a PITA.  The hoses will reach.

I figured you've had some experience with a problem similar. I did some reading last night and the interwebs say what you say. I'll get working on that soon.

I should be able to hear the fuel pump prime when the key is turned correct?

As far as slug in the tank, I don't think that's a problem. I ran the tank down pretty low before the last fill-up, but anything is possible I guess.

Yeah, you'll hear it when it's on. It'll make a whirring noise.

Kevin wrote:Yeah, you'll hear it when it's on.  It'll make a whirring noise.

Yeah, didn't hear it last night. Turned the key and stuck my head by the hatch under the back seat. No noise.

Update: Pulled the cover underneath the back seat. Turned the key to the on position and listened for the fuel pump. No whirring noise, so I'm assuming the pump is bad.

Kevin, any idea what the COR looks like? Not sure what I'm looking for.

It's a black box .  It's high in the passenger kick panel, pull the trim down there, stick your head in and look up.  You'll see.



Did you try jumping the test port first?  No sense digging out the COR if bypassing it doesn't fix the trouble. Alternatively, as long as you've got the hatch open, probe the connector for 12v. If you've got 12v at the pump and it's not working, then you know it's bad for sure and you can skip testing the COR altogether.