So I went to a mud bog competition with my 03 V8 limited 4wd 4runner. couldnt stand sittin in the crowd so I cowboy'd up and got in line for the competition against many other trucks mostly running 40" tires or bigger. Long story short my OME lifted 33" tire running V8 won the competition 1st places coolest thing.

Drove home over heated a little due to mud packed in the radiator. no problems there just hosed out the radiator. Throughout the weekend I flushed an filled the coolant system, changed the oil, rotated the tires, and pressure washed the entire vehicle engine bay and all.

Monday morning got up to go to work and noticed a rough start/idle. started driving to work and my check engine light began to flash then eventually became permenant. The codes read p0300,p0301,p0303,p0305,p0307. p0351 p0357. The hole right bank of my motor wasn't firing properly.

After doing research and hunting down the problem I found alot of people are having an issue with a rough idle or missfire. even after changing coil packs, plugs, injectors, going into the gas tank to service fuel filters, the works.

What I found out through all my digging is that there is a rubber grommet that allows the cam positioning sensor wire to pass through the timing belt cover. This rubber gromets hole is about 2" in diameter plently big for mud rocks dirt water anything to get into your timing belt housing. In my troubles mud and rocks and dirt had made there way into the housing over the past three years of off roading, finally one of those pieces of trash fell in the right spot causing my timing belt to jump allowing my cam timing pully to move about 15 degrees off.

When dealships, in my case Toyota of Concords service shop change timing belts It seems its "less Trouble" for the techs to put this rubber gromet back in. To them it Seems to be a waste of time. But After researching and not really finding anything relating this problem to timing i wanted to share what I've found.

Now what i know is the 4.7 v8 engine of toyota's is from what i understand the only interference engine toyota makes SO WHY WOULD A TOYOTA TECH NOT PUT A SIMPLE GROMET IN PLACE TO PREVENT TOTAL ENGINE FAILURE IF THAT BELT WAS BE TO CUT OR TORN BY A PIECE OF TRASH!!!

So if your having firing issues or you have a V8 and have had your timing belt replaced check to make sure the rubber gromet to the cam position sensor wire is in place its located on the top right cam timing pully cover just under the top radiator hose. you'll see a grey wire connector follow that wire if there is a gapping hole where it goes into the housing its in your best intrest to seal that hole!!

Other solutions to the rough idle and misfiring can be as simple as a bad coil pack or clogged fuel injector. You can sometimes even get water down under your coil packs which will cause the spark plug to short out when attempting to fire. to test a coil pack pull it out, pull that cylinders spark plug out, plug the coil pack into the wiring harness that controls it, plug the spark plug into the coil pack, allow the ignition tip of the spark plug to touch a ground on the truck (away from the gas filled cylinder you pulled the spark plug out of!) if you see a little flame in the spark plug when engine cranks you know your coil pack is good. vacumm leaks can cause this issue aswell but are somewhat rare but to check just inspeck all vacumm hoses. If you have multiple misfires its probably a timing, or fuel dilivery issue. My part store sells these coil packs for like 81 bucks so don't just go replacing them if your unsure. I've found them at amazon for 35 for one 195 for a pack of 8.

I hope this helps some people out that may run into this issue. I'm trying to find out if The timing belt housing was designed to vent or if indeed its ment to be sealed. I would like to seal mine for future off roading atleast if it has to vented i can run a breather hose up and way from it. If anyone has info regaurding this please advise.

p.s. The same dealship that didnt put the gromet back in for me, wants to charge me $1800 to replace the tensioner pully/ bearings, timing belt, crank shaft seal, cam shaft seals, water pump, thermostate, coolant Everything that was destroyed thanks to there stupidity. I believe amazon has a kit for this for about $250 and i get to spend a day away from the wife and in the shop workin on my truck take that stealership basta@#%$@!!!

Good tips...... And that sucks about the truck but I'm glad you got it figure out.

Now to the mud bog deal!! Where the hell are the pics?!?!

haha all the pics/ videos are on facebook ill get my buddy to send me the the video file later and post it up. He're pics from the day after. or you can seach for my facebook page names austin hargett from north carolina

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I'd also like to add to my findings on all this mess lol. Theres a bolt about 4 1/4" x 8mm x 1.25 threads per inch. well theres three of them that hold your idler pully tensioner arm bracket. When toyotas service techs have like 5 timing belt jobs lined up to do. One of these bolts has to go in before mounting the altinator and power steering pump. If the tech forgets to put it back in your dreaming if you think he's gonna pull the altinator and power steering pump back off to re install it youll be ridding like i was without it. Which is why my drive belt just sliped off the front of the motor durring my mud race. ok ok i know i was in a mud race and deserve some problems with my rig but im seriously disgusted by the lack of work done by the dealership before i purchased my car.

We're sort of neighbors you and I. Did you go to that mud place in Salisbury? I've been wanting to go check it out for some time now. Not sure if I want to put my baby in the muck any more after looking at your pics though man, and yours is far more capable than mine right now.

Saw that you're a design engineer on your profile as well. Just funny the "small world" coincidences you'll see when you pay attention.

Anyway, back on topic, thanks for all the good info. Hope you get it all sorted out man!

Yikes! Looks like your airbox certainly found a bit more than "air" inside of it !!!

Sorry to hear about the shady work done on your truck.

Enough of that tho, where's this "video" you speak of . Please tell me you got footage of the look on peoples faces when a slightly modded 4runner beat those 40" tire mud boggers.

I tried to search Austin Hargett in North Carolina on facebook and the only one I came up with was some douche that had a pic of his chest as his profile pic. So no luck there.

These trucks are def sealed up pretty tight theres really no harm in a little mud slinging just try to keep the top of the fender above the muck I'm pretty sure you can run these things through water up to there hood line with no issues but i will def. be adding a snorkel lol. I've been through countless muddy water holes with no problems this was the first "sticky ass mud" situation I've really delt with.

Yeah thats not me my privacy settings must not let people search for my profile or something.

Here's the Video link:
03 4runner wins mud bog.mp4 - YouTube

it doesn't do it much justice my buddy filmin didnt record the distance call out and its raining like hell. but I will say the only time i heard the crowd cheer an holler was when I pulled up. as it was raining people jumped outa there cars like oh **** this guys about to try something it def. made the 10 dollar entry fee to the show worth wild! I've got a few other Video's I'll post up of some mud hole videos that didnt give me any problems at all.

Muddin At Uhwarrie National park.MOV - YouTube

Muddin At Uhwarrie National park2.MOV - YouTube

Muddin At Uhwarrie National park3.MOV - YouTube

hope you enjoy an for anyone that notices i was running 5 different kinds of tires when these videos were takin im running mickey thompson mtz's now 305/70R16 with Black Rock D-window 4.25 BS 16x8 rims 1/4" wheel spacer in the front to clear caliper.