Purchased 95, time for mechanical stuff help is appreciated

[andyk5]

Ok this is the second thread for the same car from the same guy, cut me some slack, i will slow down on the new posts soon

Ok Vehicle is 1995 4R, green 2WD automatic SR5. It is hit in the back and has cosmetic damage, pics are on the other thread.
Mechanically it looked ok to me, price was very very cheap and i bought it. It has 133000 miles on the motor an carfax shows that the mileage is as stated.

I just put it a new battery, changed the oil and changed the distributor cap and rotor. I have bosch plug wires and some platinum ( original is brass i think) plugs on order from autozone. Radiator fluid is full to the brim and there are so far no visual leaks from anywhere. I also threw in a bottle of chevron injector cleaner to the tank. Don't know if they work or not but whatever.

There is a minor squeking noise from the accesory belt, right at the power steering pump. Visually it looks like there is a very small wobble at the power steering pulley, except that the belts look like they are ok. The timing belt service was done at 64000 miles ( dealer plate on the cover) it has 133 so it may be time for that. Transmission and its mounts seem in good condition. Tranny fluid is clean,red and full, it shifts nicely, with no knocks or jerks, does not hunt gears. It switches from neutral to park to drive to reverse nicely without banging or rocking the car. If i get on the gas pedal it down shifts right away, keeps the rpms nice and high and as soon as I get off the gas it up shifts and lowers the rpms. Cruise control and over drive work fine.

Here are the things that bother me, and i am not mechanically inclined so i need some help here.
Every time I start the car there is lots of water vapor coming off the exhaust. This vapor goes away as the car warms up. During this time, water also drops from the exhaust pipe. I thought it maybe due to condensation inside the cat or something. Does this signal that there is something else wrong with it?

Second is the exhaust smell. It passed smog with flying colors, however the exhaust smell is pretty nauseating. I know even the new car exhaust smell is bad and this car has 130k on it but this feels a little more than the usual. On top of that, when the hood is up and i manually increase the rpm's using the throttle cable, i can see that the motor shudders a little bit on lower rpm's, which goes away as the rpm increase. I can also feel a minor hesitation when accelerating slowly off a red light. I have tested the shudder by removing one of the plug wires and it got worse, so I was suspecting if one of my cylinders is not firing. If it is, is there a better way of testing this?

Last one is, and this maybe connected to the same issue above, when i accelerate I hear this clicking noise coming off the driving column. This noise is hard to describe. I was not sure if it was pinging, so i put in 91 octane gas and tried it out and it is still there. Imagine the click noise of a watch, that repeats itself lets say 2-3 times per second and its click per second increases as the rpm's increase. Is this normal? Is it pinging? Can this be a symptom of a non firing cylinder?

Tnx for reading, its a long post but i wanted to put in all my impressions in one post so you guys can make some recommendations to me.

 

[96Blacklimited]

So i not too mechanical myself, however just wanted to respond anyways. About ur exhaust smell: i have a 95 and a 96. My 96 was sitting for 5years without any maintenance, i noticed that she drips water from tail pipe when running (mostly in the winter times) but she also runs a little rish i think. I have put over 12k mils since i bought it and other than bad thermostat; which i replace along with a new radiator she runs great

 

[Savage]

Yeh, one of the more experienced techs needs to reply. But I'm gonna chime in cause I have an interest here too. I have similar symptoms but I know mine is running rich. I get a check engine light randomly. I'm thinking oxygen sensors myself and maybe something in the cold temp sensor. I have the added symptom of a very strong smell of gas. I think the catalytic converter is involved in this too. Still researching to see. Haven't made it by Autozone to get em to check the error when the check engine light is on...lets see what the engine guys here have to say...

 

[andyk5]

Well no experienced mechanics replied so its time for a bump.
I have purchased platinum spark plugs, wires. Already replaced the cap and rotor. Have a small leak on the right valve cover from the gasket, and still have that low rpm hesitation issue. I am hoping to get rid of that with the wires and plugs but i am not sure.

 

[fourwd1]

Ok, first off the basics, what engine?

Every time I start the car there is lots of water vapor coming off the exhaust. This vapor goes away as the car warms up. During this time, water also drops from the exhaust pipe. I thought it maybe due to condensation inside the cat or something. Does this signal that there is something else wrong with it?

Some water and vapor out the exhaust is normal, and it's more obvious in the winter.

But

Second is the exhaust smell. It passed smog with flying colors, however the exhaust smell is pretty nauseating

that might be a problem, especially if it's a sweet smell.
Put the two together and it points to a bad head gasket or worse.
What does your oil and coolant look like?

Dump the Bosch plugs, you can't beat the Denso Toyota calls for. ANd don't waste your $ on platinum, etc if it's not specified. Next choice would be NGK.

If the clicking noise is really from the steering column, it could be the u-joint, some thing in the tilt assy, or even the contact for the horn.

 

[andyk5]

Ok, first off the basics, what engine?



Some water and vapor out the exhaust is normal, and it's more obvious in the winter.

But

that might be a problem, especially if it's a sweet smell.
Put the two together and it points to a bad head gasket or worse.
What does your oil and coolant look like?

Dump the Bosch plugs, you can't beat the Denso Toyota calls for. ANd don't waste your $ on platinum, etc if it's not specified. Next choice would be NGK.

If the clicking noise is really from the steering column, it could be the u-joint, some thing in the tilt assy, or even the contact for the horn.

Thank you for the reply. Motor is the 3.0 v6 auto. I have put in the ngk plugs and duralast wires ( local auto part store brand). Duralast wires was a mistake since one of the wires was not long enough to get to the distrubutor so I left the original with the new spark plug. After the tune up, truck seems to run a little better. No miracle but a little improvement.

Clicking noise is identified as lifters by two friends of mine. They work on their own older domestic cars but they are no mechanic or something. They said its ok no problem and old cars do that noise.

Exhaust smell is not sweet or sulfur ish, it is basically exhaust like any other car, just i felt like a little more than usual. Everyone else around me is again saying its ok, but again i don't know. The plugs and wires seemed like they have never been replaced. There was no oil, residue or build up on the plugs but the anodes were defiantly worn out.

I think there is an after market muffler or a hole on the stock muffler since it does not sound stock, so i will check that tomorrow and if it is after market, i will be putting a stock one in there too.

When I was putting in the plugs I realized that there is a crack on one side of the hose that goes from the MAF sensor to the intake manifold, right at the intake manifold entry point. I am sure it is sucking in air from that crack/hole. Do u guys think that will cause low rpm hesitation or idle changes every 2-3 minutes. What I meat by that is, i start the car, and it starts with high idle since its cold. Then when it warms up, rpm of the motor goes down and settles nicely at 900, then 2 minutes later they jump back to 1100, then they come down. It is not every second but every 2-3 minutes the idle seem the adjust itself up or down about 200 rpm.

 

[88T4RE]

Do u guys think that will cause low rpm hesitation or idle changes every 2-3 minutes. What I meat by that is, i start the car, and it starts with high idle since its cold. Then when it warms up, rpm of the motor goes down and settles nicely at 900, then 2 minutes later they jump back to 1100, then they come down. It is not every second but every 2-3 minutes the idle seem the adjust itself up or down about 200 rpm.

sounds like a faulty or sticking tps or throttle position sensor pretty common problem.

Every time I start the car there is lots of water vapor coming off the exhaust. This vapor goes away as the car warms up. During this time, water also drops from the exhaust pipe. I thought it maybe due to condensation inside the cat or something. Does this signal that there is something else wrong with it?

if yur gettin a white smoke/vapor initially on start up you may have some worn valve guides

Second is the exhaust smell. It passed smog with flying colors, however the exhaust smell is pretty nauseating. I know even the new car exhaust smell is bad and this car has 130k on it but this feels a little more than the usual.

sounds like its running rich? not too sure my truck also has a bit of an intense fuel smell but I have no cat. so I doubt it is that...

good luck and happy wheelin! :driving:

 

[andyk5]

sounds like a faulty or sticking tps or throttle position sensor pretty common problem.


:

Hmm is this an easy, cheap thing to replace? Is there a DIY for it?
Also the valve guides....what are we exactly talking about here?

 

[fourwd1]

check your coolant level.

 

[andyk5]

check your coolant level.

My radiator is full, but the reservoir is all the way on the bottom. There is a small scrape looking thing on the top part of the radiator which looks like some very small amount of water came out in the past and ,rust/dried antifreeze sealed where it came from. It may need to be replaced soon if that scrape looking thing starts to leak. Why did u make me check my coolant level?

 

[fourwd1]

Short version.
If you're low on coolant, it can affect the coolant temp switch which signals the ECM. It can then get into this loop where it thinks engine is cold then hot, and keeps compensating. Result can be constant idle fluctuation.

 

[andyk5]

Short version.
If you're low on coolant, it can affect the coolant temp switch which signals the ECM. It can then get into this loop where it thinks engine is cold then hot, and keeps compensating. Result can be constant idle fluctuation.

Wow, very nice insight. Can I add distilled water, or should i top it off with Anti freeze?

 

[88T4RE]

thanks for chiming in fourwd1 i overlooked this...funny because I have also been having some problems with air in the system that youve been helping me with... use a 50/50 mix u can get it premixed at your local auto parts joint, this would be the first place to start you might wanna check my earlier thread on this...http://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/58653-t-stat-heater-core.html I found this very helpful mind you im still having some problems at this point im thinking the heater core is the culprit...

 

[andyk5]

thanks for chiming in fourwd1 i overlooked this...funny because I have also been having some problems with air in the system that youve been helping me with... use a 50/50 mix u can get it premixed at your local auto parts joint, this would be the first place to start you might wanna check my earlier thread on this...http://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/58653-t-stat-heater-core.html I found this very helpful mind you im still having some problems at this point im thinking the heater core is the culprit...

I have read your thread too, I am going to try to get the air out of my system too. I have the right symptoms.

 

[fourwd1]

Wow, very nice insight. Can I add distilled water, or should i top it off with Anti freeze?

I usually just wing it based on the color, if it's real green I add water, if not I add AF. You can get a tester for under $10.

I just don't bother digging it out.

 

[andyk5]

I usually just wing it based on the color, if it's real green I add water, if not I add AF. You can get a tester for under $10.

I just don't bother digging it out.

Never seen one of those, and don't have room in the toolbox, so distilled water it is.

 

[ocrunner]

Yeh, one of the more experienced techs needs to reply. But I'm gonna chime in cause I have an interest here too. I have similar symptoms but I know mine is running rich. I get a check engine light randomly. I'm thinking oxygen sensors myself and maybe something in the cold temp sensor. I have the added symptom of a very strong smell of gas. I think the catalytic converter is involved in this too. Still researching to see. Haven't made it by Autozone to get em to check the error when the check engine light is on...lets see what the engine guys here have to say...

i had the same check engine light issue i pulled the MAF sensor it was dirty so i cleaned it with MAF sensor cleaner and it still happened so i began to check my whole intake system out and i found the stock tubing became cracked after the manifold the first peice of rubber tubing. it was very hidden. i missed it on many times having the hood open. try looking for small cracks but be carefull when inspecting beacuse the old tubing becomes very brittle with age. the solution to my problem was a cheep after market intake made from trusty aluminum