'89 4cyl won't start?

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brianotter

New member
I'm having a problem with my '89 4 cylinder. It stalled one day as I was pulling away from the gas pump and giving my dog a treat. Since then it will crank but not start. I've replaced the plugs, coil/igniter assembly, checked the timing belt, replaced the ECU and nothing has made a change. The coil delivers spark, fuel flows just no ignition. Thoughts and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
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brianotter said:
I'm having a problem with my '89 4 cylinder. It stalled one day as I was pulling away from the gas pump and giving my dog a treat. Since then it will crank but not start. I've replaced the plugs, coil/igniter assembly, checked the timing belt, replaced the ECU and nothing has made a change. The coil delivers spark, fuel flows just no ignition. Thoughts and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

How'd you check the timing belt? whatever you did, that's a pretty good trick on a 22re.

3 things to run - fuel, spark, compression. you claim 2. what about compression?
 
wallytoo said:
How'd you check the timing belt? whatever you did, that's a pretty good trick on a 22re.

3 things to run - fuel, spark, compression. you claim 2. what about compression?
Click to expand...

Sorry Wallytoo, timing chain.
And that is what the mechanic called about yesterday, absolutely no compression on any of the cylinders and he has no idea what happened.
His suggestion is either a total rebuild or buy a "long block" that has already been rebuilt.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what could have happened and what the best course of action could be?
 
It was running fine and just up and died, and now has no compression on any cylinder?

If it really has no compression at all, it's shot. It might be rebuildable, which would be my choice if it's possible, but I'd be doing the work myself. Your mechanic has a different set of priorities than you and will want to throw a brand new long block or crate motor in there, because it's the least amount of work with the most profit for him. It might be the most economic way for you too, but ask him WHY it's got no compression first, ask him about a repair or rebuild, ask him if he'll freshen up a junkyard block and install that instead, etc.

OR yank that motor and rebuild it yourself. With a copy of the factory service manual and some basic tools it isn't hard at all, and you'll save a bundle and learn a bunch. If you don't need the 4Runner back on the road right now, I highly recommend tearing into it yourself.
 
i agree with kidv. find out what happened to your engine before you decide on replacing it or rebuilding it. losing compression in all 4 cylinders is pretty uncommon for a "sudden" thing.

where, generally, in vermont are you? near burlington/essex junction?

wally
 
Are 22r's interference motors? Possible timing jumped and pistons and the valves had a meet-n-greet? Had that happen on a S-10 once but the timing chain actually broke. Not sure if just jumping a tooth or 2 could cause that. Luckily for me it was as simple as replacing 4 valves and got another 60k out of the truck before I sold it.
 
They are interference motors. If the timing chain was broken the starter should spin much faster when he's cranking, which he would have noticed, and if the valves and pistons had suddenly decided to be very good friends that should have been audibly apparent too.
 
It was that sudden. I had driven 10 miles, painted some windows I had installed then went to the gas station to get gas for mowing and it was running fine.
The only time pressure is that while this is my fun/utility vehicle I do plow with it and it is winter here now.
wallytoo - south of Burlington, just north of Rutland.
The mechanic where I work doesn't want to give up and is taking it on as a challenge. He wants to take the engine out and find out what went wrong with it before we go forward.
One other tidbit of info - he said all cylinders move freely as he's rotating it by hand, but at one point in the cycle there is a stiffness which he is able to move past.
 
Update - the mechanic pulled the motor and found that the timing chain guide had broken. He's going to fix that, but my question is would this cause the engine to not start or should we be looking further?
 
KidVermicious said:
They are interference motors. If the timing chain was broken the starter should spin much faster when he's cranking, which he would have noticed, and if the valves and pistons had suddenly decided to be very good friends that should have been audibly apparent too.
Click to expand...
not as much noise as one would think.

mine was at an idle, there was a bit of a rumble, and very light "thunk" and it just died.
upon tear down, I discovered the chain jumped.



brianotter said:
Update - the mechanic pulled the motor and found that the timing chain guide had broken. He's going to fix that, but my question is would this cause the engine to not start or should we be looking further?
Click to expand...
it really sounds like the chain jumped teeth.

at minimum it will need a new chain/guides/valves, and an oil pump.
 
The mechanic replaced the timing chain guides, etc. and found that didn't fix it. He pulled the head and found that the exhaust valves had all bent which prevented them from fully sealing resulting in 0 compression.
His next step is to send the head out to have the valves replaced.
I guess my questions now are,
a. will that finally fix it?
b. what did I do to cause them to bend?
 
The 22RE is an interference engine. Timing is critical if you want to keep the valves from trying to be in the same place at the same time as the pistons. Apparently your chain skipped (nice call [MENTION=84120]nevada[/MENTION]), the cam and the crankshaft lost that timing, and the pistons knocked the crap out of your valves.

Ask your mechanic to closely inspect the tops of the pistons, if he hasn't already.
 
Here's an update.
The valves and timing chain fix worked and I got 8 months of wear out of it, and then one day it just started running like crap with no power.
My neighbors diagnosis is that the chain skipped again and thinks I might have a bad piston.
Any guesses as to what happened in such a short time and less than 1,000 miles?
 
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