95 4 runner stranded me-Ignition/Distributor?

[mikedks]

Sorry about delayed response guys, that stupid work thing is getting in the way of life!

I took off this afternoon and worked on the 4Runner today, nothing too indepth. Pulled the EFI relay and ran resistance checks, was fine, switched out the burned fuse and noticed the EFI fuse and the one for the dome lights were 25 amp fuses, just like the other post mentioned. Odd consider there is an extra 10 and 15 amp fuse under the fuse box cover. Wondering whether it is intentional on the part of the previous owner or laziness. Ran it in the driveway for quite awhile today, no sign of any issues, but what I really want to see is how it reacts when its hot. 15 amp EFI fuse was relatively cool to the touch but the EFI relay was fairly hot, I know it gets warm but I need to check the voltage in and out, will have to wait a couple of days.

Oh yeah, the 95 has an access hatch under the rear seat for...a fuel line
fitting. No access to the pump, I have actually contemplated carefully
cutting my own access hole if I need to get at the pump. I am definitely
not paying someone to drop the tank, nor do I really want to do myself
in the gravel driveway. ugh

 

[mikedks]

Alright, so I know I never updated this post I started, and lord knows how much I hate it when other people do it, so here is my belated follow-up.

I got so frustrated trying to track down the mystery problem that I eventually gave up, put the Runner in the backyard, sucked it up, and bought a new car.
(Honda Ridgeline) After all these months I decided to try again.

I recalled that the only relay that I did not check was the circuit opening relay, so I went to pull it. Wasn't sure where it was, looks like it is behind the ECM under the dash. So I pulled the computer, happened to be running while I was working on it, moved the wiring harness, and it stalled!! It restarted, I checked all connections on and around ECM, all good. Every time I move the wiring harness under the dash, even a little, the Runner starts to cutoff and sometimes dies!!! Very exciting from my perspective, at least I have it narrowed down to a specific area. I have begun the tedious task of unwrapping the wiring harness on both sides of the firewall. I discovered that I can make the vehicle stall by lightly squeezing the wiring harness by the firewall inside the engine compartment.

That's where I'm at, pretty interesting, crappy as well, but at least i'm in
the right spot.

 

[SavedbyHim]

This thread came along at the perfect (sort of) time for me. I am sorry you are having the issue but my 95 did something similar to what you initially described happening. It has been in the shop about 2 weeks and the mechanic even after elimination what he said was everything else, still can't get the thing to start. The last I spoke to him he had (he hoped) narrowed down to a computer and that made some difference but still not starting. I will mention some of the issues you have found and post if I learn anything next week.

Crap, missed first day of rifle season because of it!!! :uzi:

 

[mikedks]

I believe I have isolated part of the problem, it appears that the wire for the ignitor as it goes into the connector for the ECM has play, I can replicate the engine dying by moving this wire while the vehicle is running. Ok, that shouldn't be too hard to fix, but what about the melty fuse on the EFI circuit?
The Ignitor and EFI circuits are completely separate, maybe dealing with 2 issues that manifest at once?

 

[mikedks]

Here's the post-script to this post, I located a wiring harness at the local salvage yard and spliced in a new connector to the ECM. I replaced the 26 pin connector only, this is the one that contained the bad igniter wire. I attempted to remove the bad wire from the connector but did not have any luck. Either way it only took about 2 hours to complete. Truck now runs better than ever!!, I think my MPG is now actually better than the standard 15 I had been getting!
Not so sure about why the fuse melted, I don't see a correlation between the EFI circuit and the Igniter circuit, was definitely the wrong fuse, maybe just two things going wrong at once.

Now i'm finally ready for NC winter!, don't laugh, those 3 weeks out of the year
will make you cry.