So it case it helps at all, I'm running new injectors and as far as I can tell they made absolutely no difference to starting speed at all.

I honestly just think that the starter isn't turning over the crank fast enough.

Anyway... Just adding info

To my ear the starter sounds slow like the battery isn't well charged. I know you replaced the battery already, but I'd be curious to see what happens if you jump the car to get it started.

I'd also recommend checking the power wire to the starter for voltage drop while cranking. You may have high resistance in that wire causing a slow crank. If you haven't cleaned your ground connections in the engine bay now would be a good time to do that as well.

The problem is solved. And I'm not real proud of myself for throwing so many parts at it. I'm good at taking things apart and putting them together. Not so good at diagnostics.

The problem turned out to be a vacuum leak from a worn out hose clamp that secures the air intake hose to the throttle body. I found it with a homemade smoke tester that I mostly copied from this guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9CDZ9lu6Rs

Pics attached. Here is a link to a video of my tester in action with the smoke escaping.
IMG_1928.MOV - Google Drive

The vehicle also had a slightly rough idle when warm. More of low grade rumble. That appears to be fixed as well.

If anybody has a long crank or rough start, for the love of all that's good, please start by changing the stupid hose clamps :-)

Attached Images

           

Yes the ECU does not like air bypassing the MAF.

Somewhere on here I posted the normal idle air flow reading of the MAF. Anything less is a vacuum leak.


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I don’t recall you posting it, but it’s in the manual and the value was within spec prior to finding the leak. Spec is 3.3-4.7 gm/sec at idle. Prior to repair it measured 3.64. Now it’s 4.07.

I am curious about this. I have a thread that I recently posted regarding longer than usual crank time. My 4runner always started up right away with no cranking. It has been taking about 3-4 seconds and sometimes have to try twice. A friend of mine on Irate4x4 said to turn key to ON for 30 seconds and see if anything changes. The truck now starts up instantly when i do this. If the pump in these vehicles don't prime then what is occurring on mine that is improving the crank time with key turned to "on"?

I too am curious about this solution and will try it with my daughter's '97.

This thread has me wondering about fuel pressure as the fuel pump is prolly from '97. This is my first step in dealing with any engine issues like starting, stalling, rough idling. Second step is to look for vac leaks.

I'd like to find a place to tap into the fuel system and install a fuel rated shrader valve for a test gauge. Has anyone done this? Apologies for this dumb question as I'm new to this platform.

No idea, but if you don't believe me crawl under the fuel tank and have someone turn the key to the on position. You won't hear anything or feel anything in the fuel tank.

I spent many hours researching posts related to this issue. If I had this to do all over again, this is what I would do, in this order.

Buy a $30 bluetooth scanner connector from Amazon and download a free scanner app. Before doing any work, get baseline values and compare to those in the manual. Save screenshots so you can compare later.

Then relevant tune up items
- Replace plugs and wires
- Replace fuel filter
- Replace air filter
- Replace PCV valve

Then, in this order, I would do these
- Replace hose clamps on air intake hose (this is first because I’m still mad at myself!)
- Check and clean all grounds in the engine compartment
- Test battery
- Test front (AF) and rear O2 sensors
- Clean MAF sensor
- Clean throttle body
- The 2002 doesn’t have an IAC, but if yours does, clean it
- Check for fuel odor in the fuel pressure regulator vacuum line
- Test fuel pump
- Replace fuses for the fuel injection and ECU. They’re inexpensive.
- I never tested fuel pressure because the shop did it when I took it to them. Seems like a pain on our engines to hook it up, but it should be done.
- When you’re done, disconnect battery for however long it takes to clear memory – 30 minutes?
- Reconnect the scanner and compare values to the baseline. You'll probably have to put some hours on the engine after disconnecting the battery for the computer to relearn. Each time I disconnected, I had funny issues pop up for one to two days then they were gone forever.

If none of this works, build the homemade smoke tester to check for vacuum leaks. It’s cheap, quick and easy. If you don’t find any then I would consider replacements for the big three based on symptoms and what your find during your tests.
- Replace fuel pressure regulator
- Rebuild fuel injectors
- Replace fuel pump and pump screen

Of these three, replacing the fuel pump was the most difficult because dropping the tank was hard for me. For the fuel injectors, I took some off an engine at a junkyard and sent them to Fuel Injector Specialists (fuelinjectorspecialists.com) in Denver. The guy was awesome and fast. Taking them from a junkyard kept my car on the road while they were being rebuilt. It was also good practice for how to do it on my engine. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator when I installed the injectors. Quick and super easy.

Not saying I don't believe you, I am wondering what could be correcting the long crank when I leave key at "on". It literally starts like a new truck when I do this.

thanks for posting such a complete and clear list of troubleshooting, and for also clarifying what the actual cause was in a previous post. i replaced my intake snorkel shortly after buying the vehicle because the old one was cracked and getting brittle. good thing, apparently...

I’m getting to that point myself real soon.


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How did you get the ATF temperature? Thanks.