At 2am, the T4R broke down on the I-805. Lost all power. Not even any lights. CHP was kind enough to have me towed off hwy. Next morning, I carried the battery to Auto zone to recharge the brand new battery. Replaced the battery and I drove it to Auto Zone and they tested the alternator at the battery terminals. It was reading 12.1 volt with the T4R running. They said no question that the alternator was bad. I managed to drive it back across the border into Mexico where I live. Maybe 20 miles. That was when I 1st noticed the oil light had come on. Thinking it was low on oil , I added 1/2 qt of oil. Curious because I had just changed the oil and oil filter with 10W-40. Oil light stayed on when at idle. When I was driving at city speed the oil light went out. The T4R was struggling to run at idle. And it stalled 3 or 4 times at every red light. Finally, just 2 blocks from home, it would not re-start again. Again, not even any lights. I ran the new battery down again.

Prior to the initial breakdown on the I-805, the T4R ran like a scalded cat. Great power, no problems what-so-ever. Then disaster.

6 nights later, I fell into a hole in a Tijuana sidewalk and ripped the tendons in my right wrist, had to have surgery. Won't be able to do any repairs on the T4R until they heal. Ha Ha a bad couple of days.

Prior to the initial problem the idle speed was aprox 750 when cold and 500 when it warmed up. At that point no oil light was coming on.

AFTER the breakdown, and as I was on my way home, I noticed the oil light came on at any red light when at idle. I didn't think to look at the idle RPM's . I was busy just trying to keep from getting hit by the crazy drivers in Tijuana. I did however notice the engine temp was a bit high BUT NOT PEGGED.
The guy at the Mexican Auto Zone picked the oil filter.
The 1st person to pick the filter was a Mexican girl and she handed me the smallest oil filter I ever saw. I complained to a guy and he chose another one.

Fix your charging problem and see what happens with the idle.

On the 3.4 it should idle at 750rpm in park or neutral.

If you have an automatic it should idle at 600rpm in gear.

Where you live I’d run a 10w30 or 5w40.


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Too much oil can damage any car. Fill it up high enough and your crank will whip it up and create cavitation
Highly recommend you have some oil on stand by too, when you're real overfilled it tends to come out in a hurry - drained the oil on a Forester XT last week that was filled up with nearly twice the oil it should've had, and it came out so fast it knocked the plug right out my fingers!
A decent shop would do it for free, too

Just general information.
Because California is a real bit*h to get passed their smog test, I read up on many, many youtube videos that I should : run CRC emission system cleaner though a tank full of gas and drive it until nearly empty, then refill gas tank, change oil to 10W 40 with a new oil filter, check all vacuum hoses for leaks, replace PVC, clean MAF with CRC MAF cleaner, change spark plugs, new air filter, just before going to take smog test, drive at hwy speeds for 1/2 hour, take test on a cool morning,. I did all of the above and was ready to take the test when the T4R broke down.

How tough is California ? They will fail you for a gas cap that does not pass a pressure test. Even the CAT is a special one just for California, and costs 2-3 times as much as the other 49 states.

Many different guys on youtube said that with a high mileage vehicle (mine is 195K) the heavier oil would be less likely to get into the combustion chamber. Mine had NO visible emissions and was running great prior to the breakdown.

Emissions testing is a scam and a boondoggle, flat out.

I agree. Especially in California. On another 4 runner I had to replace the CAT and Midas charged me $1,100. That's an insane price. If I run into the same problem again, I'll sell it in Mexico.

Sorry, I disagree. It's really not that hard to pass smog tests if your vehicle runs good and is maintained by someone who uses good parts, has half a brain, and doesnt try to cut corners.
My '99 v6 passed smog in May with 410k on it.

If you dont want to deal with smog tests, buy something old or something new every few years.

Agree! I've never had a problem with any of my cars, old or newer requiring smog tests.

I do think California is a bit too picky on aftermarket cats though IMHO! My son's '97 Nissan 240SX is on it's 3rd cat because each time it gets smogged the station will say the aftermarket cat doesn't have the correct number stamped on it. It passes the emission test just fine, but not the visual. Twice now he has replaced the cat with supposedly a CA approved one and then passed. Then two years later it fails the visual test again. OEM cats are no longer available for his car. This last time, he had to take it to a state smog referee to get it passed. They told him he would have to continue to go this route every two years when smogging until a real CA approved cat becomes available. What a PITA!

When removing the oil pressure sensor , to perform a pressure test, what size socket will I need on hand ? 1996 T4R SR-5 auto automatic trans.
Darn Haynes repair manual does not say.

Should be 27mm.

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Kanoe, thank you very much !

The oil pump pumps oil based on engine RPM. The lower the engine speed, the lower the oil volume pumped. Oil pressure issues always show up at idle first.

Cross your fingers you don't have oil pump or bearing issues.

Get a Toyota OEM oil filter on there to make sure that's not the problem. 10w40 shouldn't be an issue, but isn't ideal - if anything that would raise oil pressure.

-Charlie

Ah Ha. Now I understand. That makes sense. Thank you, Phattyduck.

To quote myself, the above info is wrong. I just used a 24mm deep set on my echo and checked it on the 3rz 4Runner which has an OEM sender as well.

I think the 27mm was an aftermarket sender on a corolla which was the last one I worked on.