What Did You Do To Your 3rd Gen Today?

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If your compression is that low something fairly major is wrong. I agree a leak down test is a good next step. Hopefully it's fixable with a reasonable amount of effort
 
Cleaned my throttle body yesterday without taking it off the intake plenum. Drove around for a bit with a really high idle (1500-1900) So I broke down and took it off and cleaned it really thoroughly as well as removing the IAC and really cleaning that too. IAC was absolutely filthy. Idle was still pretty high (like 1100) and after fiddling around I found that the butterfly valve wasn't returning all the way because of that little damper on the throttle cable side. I could manually push it down and it would idle normal and stay that way until I hit the gas again. Decided to try and jimmy with that little adjustment screw that hits that damper but I can't seem to find a way to grip the screw and adjust the nut (the head of the screw is blank so even if I took to back off I'm not sure there's anything I can do). Should I even be messing with that? I assume the higher idle is due to more air now getting past the butterfly valve. Is it possible that it needs more lubrication to allow it to come all the way back to fully closed? I'm guessing it never quite fully closed because of that damper but with the deposits it was pretty well sealed when I was off the gas. Oh also to top it off when I went to reattach the intake tube it split a bit where the notch for the throttle body is. Doesn't seem to be causing a leak but I'm going to have to replace that ><
 
A leak down test is absolutely the way to properly diagnose this problem, I agree. I don't have access to a leak down test set. Also, I just drove it 2400 miles in 4 days, oil level never changed and it ran cool the whole way. It has no other signs of a bad head gasket or rings plus I have no history on this old girl so I have to assume at the least it needs its valve lash checked anyway. Worst case a burnt valve or two. That's what I'm going with. I'm pulling the head in the next week and I have a very reputable machine shop near me ready to do the necessary work. I'll check in when I get it pulled. Thanks for the input!
 
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Replaced my starter with a reman Denso and it's starting great now. Now I think a new steering rack will be in my future. While jacked up I can shake my wheels from side to side and it'll move a little bit and shaking one side moves the other side. Seems like something is worn out inside the steering rack. I don't think the rack is OEM as the previous owner replaced it before I bought it a few years ago. I know at least the inner tie rod on my driver side is going bad already as it's really loose. With how expensive OEM inner tie rods are I might as well just get a new rack so that I know it's OEM.
 
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A leak down test is absolutely the way to properly diagnose this problem, I agree. I don't have access to a leak down test set. Also, I just drove it 2400 miles in 4 days, oil level never changed and it ran cool the whole way. It has no other signs of a bad head gasket or rings plus I have no history on this old girl so I have to assume at the least it needs its valve lash checked anyway. Worst case a burnt valve or two. That's what I'm going with. I'm pulling the head in the next week and I have a very reputable machine shop near me ready to do the necessary work. I'll check in when I get it pulled. Thanks for the input!

You can usually rent a leak down tester from any auto parts store with a loaner tool program. I would highly recommend doing a leak down test before removing the head.
 
Cleaned my throttle body yesterday without taking it off the intake plenum. Drove around for a bit with a really high idle (1500-1900) So I broke down and took it off and cleaned it really thoroughly as well as removing the IAC and really cleaning that too. IAC was absolutely filthy. Idle was still pretty high (like 1100) and after fiddling around I found that the butterfly valve wasn't returning all the way because of that little damper on the throttle cable side. I could manually push it down and it would idle normal and stay that way until I hit the gas again. Decided to try and jimmy with that little adjustment screw that hits that damper but I can't seem to find a way to grip the screw and adjust the nut (the head of the screw is blank so even if I took to back off I'm not sure there's anything I can do). Should I even be messing with that? I assume the higher idle is due to more air now getting past the butterfly valve. Is it possible that it needs more lubrication to allow it to come all the way back to fully closed? I'm guessing it never quite fully closed because of that damper but with the deposits it was pretty well sealed when I was off the gas. Oh also to top it off when I went to reattach the intake tube it split a bit where the notch for the throttle body is. Doesn't seem to be causing a leak but I'm going to have to replace that ><

I suspect the culprit is the IAC that you messed with, see my tale of woe - SOLVED: High idle, increases with coolant temp - IAC?
 
Stereo face plate swap

Changed the front control panel on the stock SR5 stereo unit.
 

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Have some runs and trash that requiring cutting and buffing but ok for a garage paint job and very little painting exp (will probably get pin stripped first day out), can't tell from the outside that it use to have a sunroof.
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You can usually rent a leak down tester from any auto parts store with a loaner tool program. I would highly recommend doing a leak down test before removing the head.

Why's that? Head's gotta come off no matter what's causing the loss of compression right? What am I missing? It'll be apparent what the issue is pretty quick when the head's off.
 
Why's that? Head's gotta come off no matter what's causing the loss of compression right? What am I missing? It'll be apparent what the issue is pretty quick when the head's off.

loss of compression can also be a result of valves out of adjustment.
 
Why's that? Head's gotta come off no matter what's causing the loss of compression right? What am I missing? It'll be apparent what the issue is pretty quick when the head's off.

There are many different causes of low compression. Worn piston rings, cracked head/block, burnt valves, valvetrain out of adjustment, etc. A leak down test will narrow it down. It's normally not visually obvious what the problem is with low compression.
 
So yes, the plan obviously is to check valve lash on all valves before the head is pulled. If that checks out off comes the head. As I explained in a previous post this engine is not losing coolant or oil and it does not smoke at all. I'm confident it's not rings or head gasket, I've been down that road before. Like I said I drove it from Colorado to RI with zero issues and it had good power.
I'll update when I get a chance to do the work. Hopefully this weekend or next week. My new Mustang has to live outside while the 4Runner is in my garage so I'm waiting till I have the time to get it all done at once. Thanks for the input.
 
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Checked valve clearances today and all on the exhaust side were way tight, either .004 or .001 or less. The intakes were all on the tight side of in spec except one that was .004. I'm gonna try getting all the valves adjusted and go from there. I still suspect a burnt valve or two but I'm gonna avoid pulling the head until I definitely have to.
 
The 3rd gen came in clutch for fridge moving duties! Rear seat bottoms removed and the rear window rolled down and the hatch was able to close.

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Have some runs and trash that requiring cutting and buffing but ok for a garage paint job and very little painting exp
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Yea yea I can see that the sheetrock hanger did correct spacing of screws for the ceiling. :)

Correcting paint I can live with no problem, paint's lipstick on a pig when you think about it.
Quarter pic metalwork telling no tales is a feat in itself.
 
Replaced alternator, replaced spark plugs, did an engine detailing.
 

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I bought a bunch of things recently for my 4runner. First got some 33s, 1500 poorer. Then yesterday realized that HF was doing the 25% of any item thing, so got the badlands apex, 450 poorer. So naturally I have to decide on a bumper finally. Waffled around for a bit on buying some kinda jank tube stuff on FB and the finally decided to grab the 4xI bumper, 800 poorer. So here in 3-4 weeks I should have that and I get to start hacking at it to fit my winch in there (and my 4x4 club has been telling me that hidden winch bumpers are kinda bad anyway as you can't monitor the spool). Hate to slash at 800 of steel and welds but we really don't get much choice in the third gen world. If only trail gear didn't skip a generation with their tube bumpers. Now I just need to refrain from buying anything for about the next half year and sell a bunch of stuff I don't use....
 
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