Who likes puzzles? She's a doozie!

Stumped · 2015-03-16T14:19:07+00:00

Ok, where to begin.... 1998 4Runner 3.4L. It's my girlfriends old truck, it was parked several years ago after it wouldn't start. Got very little information on the symptoms that led to its parking. Did not die while in use, just didn't start one day. It will turn over easily, and I do mean easily. It's wierd that it almost whines while cranking. Like most of the noise you hear is the starter motor, and that the engine doesn't seem to be resisting much. I've checked relays and most electrical that is feasible. Has fuel and spark. Didn't check fuel pressure at the rails as there seems to be no easy way to do so, but the pump is on and fuel is coming out the return. Timing marked on the cams lined up. Won't fire with ether. There's 100 other things I've pulled apart and checked but there doesn't seem to be a smoking gun. My suspicions now are -clogged cat not letting it breathe -timing belt jump (hence ease of turning over due to lack of compression) -a sensor malfunction (Crank, cam, throttle position, air flow, maybe even the ecm, ect) Any ideas? I'd rather not start throwing parts at her until I know she can run.

Thread starter Stumped
Start date Mar 16, 2015

Stumped

New member

Jun 2, 2015

Definitely testing the compression next, probably will yield a lot of answers and prevent a lot of guessing.

She was decent with maintenance and I know the timing belt was changed probably six months to a year before it was parked for the last three years.

Oil looks clean on the stick, no milk or haze and still had good color