First Post So Howdy & a little advice please

DesmoST4

DesmoST4

New member
As the title says this is my first post so just wanted to say hello and then ask for a little advice.

I've looked around some on here and plan on searching some more but my question(s) is this. I currently have a 1994 V6 Manual that is lacking in power. I'm talking about 3rd gear to drive up some mountain road inclines just to maintain 55-60mph. Even a slight grade causes me to have to downshift into 4th gear to stay at 65 or so. I'm pretty sure this is not normal so I'm looking at options to solve this. I'm thinking the motor is jsut getiting tired. Would I be better off getting a new motor or would a rebuild solve this. Motor has 152000 on her now. I had a 1990 previous to this one with 180000 on the odo and it seemed to have better power although it was also a little weak in the legs. I would like to be able to pull a little weight with it some day.

Also I'm getting about 10mpg all the time so I believe I have a fueling issue as well. I've changed the fuel pressure regulator but it did not seem to fix it. Still smelling a little fuel when starting it up. Any suggestions about any of this stuff would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance and glad to be part of the forum, will hope to contribute as well although I'm only a garage monkey but have had a few yota's over the years......
 
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check the codes in the computer. it may be a sensor issue. my old 95 pathfinder was getting lousy mileage. turned out to be a bad O2 sensor. so it defaulted to run rich. your could be the same issue.
 
I'm talking about 3rd gear to drive up some mountain road inclines just to maintain 55-60mph. Even a slight grade causes me to have to downshift into 4th gear to stay at 65 or so.
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That's classic symptoms of a clogged cat conv, you may want to check it out.
 
v6

I agree with both previous posts.

The bad mileage and bad performance would suggest a clogged cat. The cat may be clogged from being overworked which could be caused by a bad oxygen sensor. How's that for a shot in the dark?

I have a 3L v6 and it's slow. That seems to be the general concensus around here about the 3L v6. I do know of one guy that said his 4runner had lots of power but his first name is Stew and his nick name is Pid (I'm not making this up).

As for mileage I have a fairly heavy foot and I get about 14MPG city and 20MPG highway and that's actually better than the stats from fueleconomy.gov.
 
Try the basics first. You should put in brand new spark plugs, plug wires, distributor cap and rotor to help you get better mpg. Good luck!
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm going to look into the Cat first. I forgot to add that besides the Fuel Pressure Regulator I just changed the plugs and the O2 sensor about 800-1000 miles ago and there was not any noticeable improvement so I will move onto the looking at the converter. Thanks again and I will report back.
 
Its been a while but figured I would give the update. I've done much of what was suggested and it still was not running properly so I had a compression check done. Yep you guessed it, no compression in #4 & #6. I'm thinking its likely the head gasket? Any opinions........
 
Head Gasket Recall

Toyota changed my headgasket last February under their recall.

You will need to go to the Toyota dealership with your VIN number and go to the service desk and have them check you VIN to see if there are any outstanding recalls on your VIN#.

You can also find old posts about this. I had a thread going when my head gasket went.

If someone already had the headgasket done than you're out of luck because they only do the fix once.
 
I'm SOL it was done in March of 2000.

Now I need to make a decision of what to do. I can either dump it or put some cash into it I guess. Head gaskets are more of a job then I can handle on my own I know that. Also it has 153000 on it so I'm thinking that maybe a better route might be to just get a rebuilt motor and spend the extra cash vs. just fixing the head gasket issue which might actually be something else since it is only speculation at this point as I have not cracked the case yet.

Any suggestions...should I look at putting the bigger 6 in it?
 
153k isn't bad for mileage on this engine.Toyota did the heads on mine around a 100k and at 220k I did them.I sold it with 265k to a friend and it's still running strong.
 
03vrod said:
153k isn't bad for mileage on this engine.Toyota did the heads on mine around a 100k and at 220k I did them.I sold it with 265k to a friend and it's still running strong.
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I guess the first task maybe is to crack her open and see what it looks like and then make a decision. I found a guy who will do the head gasket and have the heads checked/spec'd for around $1300-$1500 depending on what misc. items might be needed for the job. The price isn't too bad but I hate to drop $1k into cracking it open to find that it needs valves etc. The cost will then sky rocket at that point making it cheaper to just swap motors I would think. I've also heard that after doing valves on these eventually they start to smoke. Can anyone confirm this?

I hate to just sell her cuz the thing is in excellent condition body wise and everything else. It is a really, really, really clean example of a 16 year old 4Runner.
 
Where are you located.That seems kind of high depending on where you're at.I'll check the hours on alldata tomorow
 
03vrod said:
Where are you located.That seems kind of high depending on where you're at.I'll check the hours on alldata tomorow
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I'm in the Phx, Az area. He told me labor would be $1080 + materials and having the heads checked. So the ballpark was $1300 assuming it just needs gaskets.
 
Oh man, this sounds exactly like my car, I posted a new thread titled "new here, please help diagnose sluggishness." Symptoms are similar except I've got an auto trans.

I'm really thinking cat. converter now.
 
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