icdawg
New member
how do you do this?
40 MPH Up Hill On the Highway
- Thread starter Nodd
- Start date
how do you do this?
WoodsRunner88
New member
Check you ignition timing it sounds like it is too advanced. My 3.0 was a dog for a long time, I put on new timing stuff, and found out the previous owner set the belt wrong by one tooth on each cam. I set mine to what it said was 10 degrees advanced but I didn't have any low end power, and could barely start on hills. I think you should ditch your timing light and the next time you go driving bring a 12mm wrench with you to loosen the distributor adjustment bolt and re**** the ignition just the smallest of amounts, then drive some more and see if it is better. Keep doing that till it runs at it's best, your mileage should go up and you will have more power. Also you should check your cooling fan clutch it might not be working, or switch to an electric fan. Hope this helps.
there is hope! my 95 3.0 had very similar problems, i changed the timingbelt, oil, sparkplugs, cleaned the throttle body, fuel inj. cleaner, distributer cap.. and it all helped but not enough. then one day i noticed a "tick-tick-tick" from under the hood, i had 2 plugwires that had burnt on the egr and were shorting (come to find out it's common) and with a new set of wires i can now climb the steep grades up the mountain at 65 with 3 passengers and +200 pounds of camp gear. it's something i would deff check into. also someone commented on the timing being one tooth off.. this does explain the overheating and lack of power as well. to check remove your top timing cover (usually around 4-6 10mm bolts) and bring the engine to tdc on cly 1 (the little notch on the main pulley lined up with the 0 line jus to the drivers side of the pulley.) and now look at the cam pulleys. both of them should have a tiny indent facing straight up and lined up with the indent on the cyl head. if one or both ate not then there's ur gremlin.
also i recently put on a cold air intake and performance exhaust.. noticeable power increase from low 3000's to redline. and only about 150 into it!
also i recently put on a cold air intake and performance exhaust.. noticeable power increase from low 3000's to redline. and only about 150 into it!
Jamierunner
New member
97 4runner sr5 needs tlc 263k
This sounds similar to my noise. Its a knocking sound when accelarating and it seems to be exaggurrated on the hillclimbs. I can be going 65 and it will drop all the way to 40 with not much reserve power. A mechanic did 2 plugs, wires, coils. Have had oil, transfer, both diffs reoiled. Still a knocking. Seems like the engine is running smoother but the knocks are still there. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
This sounds similar to my noise. Its a knocking sound when accelarating and it seems to be exaggurrated on the hillclimbs. I can be going 65 and it will drop all the way to 40 with not much reserve power. A mechanic did 2 plugs, wires, coils. Have had oil, transfer, both diffs reoiled. Still a knocking. Seems like the engine is running smoother but the knocks are still there. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
Footofgod
New member
I'm with Toy4. The 3.0 in good working order should not have that many problems. Something is definitely wrong. While I may have to down shift, I have no issues maintaining highway speeds. Even on hills. I certainly don't expect it to win races, but I would expect any vehicle to be able to maintain highway speeds.
I concur. While the 3.0 will never be in my fav list, I never had the problems you are experiencing. Acceleration was a huge issue, but that engine was usually more than capable of holding speed. That yours drops to 40 and overheats is a pretty big indicator all is NOT well in your engine.
OCMike
New member
Suck it up! When I was a kid, I used to do 40mph uphill, both ways in the dead of winter with scratchy wool under garments, and I liked it!
Said in my best, cranky old man voice.
But, yeah. Something is seriously wrong with your engine. I never dipped below 60 when I hit the mountains. It'll drop into 4th a lot and complain, but it holds it's speed pretty well.
Said in my best, cranky old man voice.
But, yeah. Something is seriously wrong with your engine. I never dipped below 60 when I hit the mountains. It'll drop into 4th a lot and complain, but it holds it's speed pretty well.
Nodd
New member
Original poster here. Wow I thought this thread was dead, I first posted this over two years ago.
Sorry to hear you're having similar issues Jamierunner. Yeah mine never ran right from the day the ebay guy dropped her off. I should have returned it right then & there but I liked the truck so much I figured I'd see what needed to be fixed first. When I finally got around to putting it in the shop the mechanic immediately didn't like what he was hearing. "Big bucks", he said shaking his head. He went on to mention a "lower engine knock" & a bunch of other ominous sounding stuff including a possibly blown head gasket. Yeah not good. So not having the money or I should say, not wanting to spend the money, I took it back home. At that point I'd had the truck too long to return it so she became my around town, short trips mobile. I set my GPS to avoid highways & kept her away from long hills. Even with the engine acting up she was great truck for around a year, well that is until the tranny started to go too. Final straw, sold her as is for 2/3 of what I originally paid & moved on. Good luck getting that sorted.
Sorry to hear you're having similar issues Jamierunner. Yeah mine never ran right from the day the ebay guy dropped her off. I should have returned it right then & there but I liked the truck so much I figured I'd see what needed to be fixed first. When I finally got around to putting it in the shop the mechanic immediately didn't like what he was hearing. "Big bucks", he said shaking his head. He went on to mention a "lower engine knock" & a bunch of other ominous sounding stuff including a possibly blown head gasket. Yeah not good. So not having the money or I should say, not wanting to spend the money, I took it back home. At that point I'd had the truck too long to return it so she became my around town, short trips mobile. I set my GPS to avoid highways & kept her away from long hills. Even with the engine acting up she was great truck for around a year, well that is until the tranny started to go too. Final straw, sold her as is for 2/3 of what I originally paid & moved on. Good luck getting that sorted.
fourwd1
Moderator
When a vehicle runs pretty good normally and dogs out going up hill, first thing I think of is a clogged cat conv. And with any 20+ yr old truck with 150K+ miles, it's a good bet.
And the fact that someone dredges up an old thread looking for an answer to their problem is a good thing. It shows they are taking the time to Search for an answer
And the fact that someone dredges up an old thread looking for an answer to their problem is a good thing. It shows they are taking the time to Search for an answer
reed1285
New member
Something that happened to me recently may be your problem as well. My runner was lacking power big time just like yours. Turned out i had a dead cylinder (number 5 cylinder to be exact) caused from the plug wire pretty much
melting in half. New plugs and wires and it runs a wholleee lot better now. It could just be something as basic as that
melting in half. New plugs and wires and it runs a wholleee lot better now. It could just be something as basic as that
Similiar Issue Fixed, mostly
I have a 94 V6 with 264,446 mi (still running) quick back story of issue:
usually the engine would chug and down shift or shift improperly going up hills more than usual causing a low speed, however no issues on flat highway except the shifting into overdrive because of the temp sensor being located near coolant hoses and blah blah,
Recently it started to shudder violently during acceleration at anytime hill or flat land, looked into the issue turning out to be loose sparkplug wires and faulty distributor cap, soo replaced sparkplugs, wire and cap as well as rotor, which fixed the shuddering issue.
BUT as soon as that was fixed started to lose all power during acceleration and would chug even from a start, shifting was terrible, took it to a trans specialist who said it was not the trans but an engine performance problem, looking into it more and turns out it was a BAD CATALYTIC CONVERTER, that was clogged and not letting the exhaust out, runs like a charm the power is back still has a slight loss of high end acceleration at 65mph and above but power is back and shifting is back to normal. i might still have
I would check your exhaust system as well as your air intake a lack of flow either to the engine or from it can cause loss of responsiveness and poor acceleration especially up hills good luck, assuming you haven't already solved your issue b/c this is an old thread
I have a 94 V6 with 264,446 mi (still running) quick back story of issue:
usually the engine would chug and down shift or shift improperly going up hills more than usual causing a low speed, however no issues on flat highway except the shifting into overdrive because of the temp sensor being located near coolant hoses and blah blah,
Recently it started to shudder violently during acceleration at anytime hill or flat land, looked into the issue turning out to be loose sparkplug wires and faulty distributor cap, soo replaced sparkplugs, wire and cap as well as rotor, which fixed the shuddering issue.
BUT as soon as that was fixed started to lose all power during acceleration and would chug even from a start, shifting was terrible, took it to a trans specialist who said it was not the trans but an engine performance problem, looking into it more and turns out it was a BAD CATALYTIC CONVERTER, that was clogged and not letting the exhaust out, runs like a charm the power is back still has a slight loss of high end acceleration at 65mph and above but power is back and shifting is back to normal. i might still have
I would check your exhaust system as well as your air intake a lack of flow either to the engine or from it can cause loss of responsiveness and poor acceleration especially up hills good luck, assuming you haven't already solved your issue b/c this is an old thread
