3rd Gen 4Runner JDM swap WOES

[manbearpig]

Good afternoon everyone.

Boy has this been a long project. I'm in the final stages, but ive hit a snag. I seriously hope this issue is nothing mechanical...


A little background: 2001 T4R SR5. 5VZ-FE. mechanical failure in cylinder #4 at 208K forced me to seek a replacement engine. After some research, i figured if i could score on a JDM replacement, that would be the way to go vs a local junkyard 100K+ (verifiable via odo) motor. Thats all that ends up in the junkyards down by the border in San Diego. ANYWAY... spoke to JDM Engine Pro of La Habra. Read some reviews. seemed like a legit place, so i drove up ona saturday and chose the best looking motor out of the 4 they had in stock. brought it home, ordered a timing belt kit, stopped by my local dealer about 10 times now for a bunch of little things like exhaust studs, plenum gaskets, oil pan FIPM stuff, etc.

got the motor in, everything connected, all fluids added. fired up and this is what i get:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ5M_s3l9zo&feature=youtu.be

blows a TON of smoke with any throttle input. runs terribly.

checked PCV valve, even swapped it with the one from my US motor, did compression test..

starting pass rear to front
180
180
180
driver front to rear

180
210
180

ya, no BS... 210. i tested it 3 times. that particular cylinder had something spitting out of it. im assuming fuel or coolant.

what to do the geniuses at 4runner.org think??

be happy to provide any and all info. ive been inside and out of this project and can say with certainty things were done right the first time on my end

thanks

 

[Jhelms]

Generally JDM motors have oil sprayed into each cylinder via the spark plug holes so prevent corrosion on the overseas journey. Often they will smoke for a bit until it burns off. The cylinder with high compression may just have excess oil in it.

Nothing good for your cats I would let it run for a while with cats unhooked and see how things go.

Could be a metric ton of other factors too. Timing, plugs / wires / injectors on the JDM motor... loads of things.

 

[T4R2014]

Did you swap the injectors? The ones that came with my 2001 JDM Hiace engine were different from the 1996 4Runner engine.

 

[nissanh]

I don't see your location.
The tail pipe is dripping water which is GOOD! the engine should be new. The smoke is water vapor. Where are you in? At what time did you take the video?

While the engine is running pull the motor oil dip stick and observe any oil drops or oily vapor is shooting out. No oil vapor or drops coming out means it is a good engine.

Just get the codes fixed. I think you have a very good engine.

 

[manbearpig]

Did you swap the injectors? The ones that came with my 2001 JDM Hiace engine were different from the 1996 4Runner engine.

Location is San Diego, Ca

yes. injectors were swapped along with fuel rails. injectors are US spec from my 2001.


read the codes. it had a code stored for the MAF and an intake air temp sensor. cleaned the MAF and cleared the codes. now it just registers a random misfire in cylinder #4 and #6. billows white smoke with any throttle input.

if i swipe my finger around the exhaust pipe and smell it it smells like raw fuel.

motor has been run long enough to burn off any excess oil that may be in the cylinders

 

[zgensler31]

Just a quick thought it sounds like your timing may be off, or a leaking injector. When you swapped the injectors did you use all new seals and o rings on them?

 

[manbearpig]

Just a quick thought it sounds like your timing may be off, or a leaking injector. When you swapped the injectors did you use all new seals and o rings on them?

Timing is spot on. used a new toyota timing belt with the marks on the belt for the crank and cams. everything was lined up, cams and crank index mark lined up with marks on motor then lined up with marks on belt. i performed this work with the motor on the stand, so i was able to see all marks from every angle to make sure all was lined up properly.

Stuck injector may be suspect. when performing the compression test one cylinder had a higher comp than the others (210 vs 180). i left the plugs out as i progressed around the motor checking compression. the cylinder with high comp was spitting liquid which makes me think it might be a stuck injector

i did not replace the o rings when i swapped the injectors. as far as i can tell, there are no leaks around the injectors from failing o rings

would a stuck injector cause the excessive white smoke? i could see it triggering a CEL code indicating a rich condition on one bank and fouling the plug, but where is the smoke coming from?

 

[111db]

Did you try swapping the injector on the problem cylinder with one of the good ones? See if the problem follows or stays with the cylinder.

Also could be a coil/wire/plug issue. Do #4 and #6 use the same coil? I don't recall. If so, try swapping that coil with one of the known good coils and see if the problem follows to the new location. You can do the same with the wires / plugs until you find out the culprit.

Good luck.

 

[Brilliant]

Fuel in exhaust means injector is likely the issue. Just went through this on my rig.

Check my build thread for how to pressurizethe fuel rail and check for stuck open injector.

Gas on the plug is the indicator injector is bad.

 

[manbearpig]

Fuel in exhaust means injector is likely the issue. Just went through this on my rig.

Check my build thread for how to pressurizethe fuel rail and check for stuck open injector.

Gas on the plug is the indicator injector is bad.

injectors will be addressed today....just so time consuming taking the intake, throttle body and plenums off to access the injectors. ***** and moan... i know:moping: and without replacement injectors... it'll be putting it all back together to just locate, not solve the issue for today. trip to el yardo de junko down in ChulaJuana is in order for some injectors. last time i was there i found $80 rolled up in an extended cab ranger's rear seat cover. doubt i'll be that lucky this time...:girl::girl:

also wanted to ask if theres a way to search within a thread. your thread is amazingly informative Brilliant, but its 11 pages of information and my brain is already fried from this motor swap. thank you so much

 

[manbearpig]

Did you try swapping the injector on the problem cylinder with one of the good ones? See if the problem follows or stays with the cylinder.

Also could be a coil/wire/plug issue. Do #4 and #6 use the same coil? I don't recall. If so, try swapping that coil with one of the known good coils and see if the problem follows to the new location. You can do the same with the wires / plugs until you find out the culprit.

Good luck.

i'll be swapping the injectors around today to try to isolate the issue. need to handle some work related stuff first

QUESTION: are there methods of fixing stuck injectors? carb cleaner? or an i stuck having to replace?

when i installed the motor, i changed all plugs out to new denso plugs but kept the JDM coil packs and wires as they have the same part numbers on the coil packs. I've since swapped out all coil packs and wires to the US ones from the motor i pulled out. no change in the motor's behavior.

#4 and #6 are not directly opposite of each other. #4 is drivers side middle and #6 is drivers side rear.

i swapped the plug on #4 out to the used Denso that came in the JDM motor, with no change in the motors behavior.



Thank you all for your advice. it is much appreciated. Im not a mechanic and this is by far the largest automotive repair endeavor i have jumped into and im hoping it will be as rewarding as i imagined it

 

[manbearpig]

Pulled injectors and put them up to an volt/ohm meter. all injectors gave same reading

compared the jap spec injectors to US spec and they appear to be the same with same part numbers and number of holes.

all jap spec injectors had same reading on meter as us spec injectors

going to clean the injectors and reinstall.

found a coolant temp sensor hiding at the rear of the motor that i had forgotten to hook up. other than that, nothing will have changed other than clean injectors

 

[kolelt]

I swear my jdm injectors had different amount of holes vs my USA injectors.

Please give us a rough list of what you swapped over from your old motor to jdm motor.

 

[manbearpig]

I swear my jdm injectors had different amount of holes vs my USA injectors.

Please give us a rough list of what you swapped over from your old motor to jdm motor.

Old motor to new:

oil cooler
relocated oil filter
oil pan
oil pickup
PS pump bracket and ps pump
AC bracket & ac pump
Alt bracket & alternator
fuel injectors
fuel rail
upper and lower intake plenum halves
throttle body
heater core hoses
coil packs and wires
exhaust headers
fan clutch
fan
torque converter


NEW* (All oem toyota)
timing belt
associated rollers and tensioners
US style water pump (oil cooler style, same as old motor just new)
water pump gasket
thermostat and O-ring
Denso plugs
upper and lower intake plenum gaskets
exhaust manifold gaskets

 

[111db]

I'm interested to learn what the problem is. If I understood your reply correctly, you've swapped all the wires & coils from the JDM set to your old set with no change. Is that right? Plugs gapped correctly?

Curious what the result of cleaning and reinstalling the injectors gets you. Assuming you're going to put #4 in another position?

 

[alanflies]

I know it's a silly question, but are you absolutely sure you got the #4 and #6 coil wires, sparkplug wires, and injector clips installed on the correct cylinders? If you are, go check them again just for good measure.
That vid sounds alot like wire placement or timing...
I also second the previous post about letting the engine burn out any contaminants...may take a while to get all the gunk outta there...

 

[manbearpig]

Happy to report that all issues are resolved, smoke is gone, and its running like a swiss watch. No leaks, no funny noises, no codes. just a nice smooth quiet motor.

pulled injectors earlier today and began cleaning them based on process i saw in a youtube video. series of smaller hoses stuffed into larger hoses, the injector at one end, carb cleaner on the other and hooked up to a 12v battery. tapping the positive lead on the battery and pressurizing the system with the carb cleaner forcing the cleaner through the injector when its opened. ANYWAY got to the second to last injector and it wouldnt open. wouldnt click when the positive lead was touched to the battery. As i didnt have a spare US spec injector, i grabbed one of the JDM injectors to compare...just for the hell of it. US injector on top, JDM injector on bottom.








Same part numbers stamped into both, the only difference being the 3 numbers under the part number. I was told those are date codes. As you'll see, both injectors have 2 holes, not 3.

i used 5 US spec injectors and one JDM injector

in reassembling the injectors after cleaning, i found one injector with cracking O rings, so those were replaced with good O rings from another JDM injector.

Reassembled, hit the key and it ran smooth, but smoked as it did before. about 15min of run time and the smoke had lessened. Also found that i had forgotten to connect the coolant temp sensor at the rear of the intake manifold, so my gauge wasnt registering. Got that taken care of. came up to temp and stayed there.

Overall id say that cleaning the injectors, and locating that dead injector were the biggest issues.

Thank you all so very much for your input and advice. Much appreciated. Hope this thread helps someone else out like the many other threads i read through on here helped me:hippie:.

I will update within the next few days as i get some miles on it.

 

[manbearpig]

I also second the previous post about letting the engine burn out any contaminants...may take a while to get all the gunk outta there...

i was very surprised how long it took the white smoke to stop. really had a bunch of nasties in there. it took a 2 mile trip to the gas station and about 30 minutes of idling in place to completely lose all the smoke.

 

[BrianSD_42]

Great to hear it all worked out!

The next time we meet up in SD you should come.

 

[manbearpig]

Great to hear it all worked out!

The next time we meet up in SD you should come.

I feel very fortunate that all worked out as smoothly as it did. there was a day or two i was afraid it may be the head gasket.

what is this meet up? what activities go on? could be fun! i can bring this 01 ive been working and my lady can bring her 98 "urban derby" car. Shes run that car into at least 4 other cars and it keeps on ticking... with 293K. at least it keeps her safe...