1993 pickup 22re turns over but won't start

The car has been sitting for 6 months and now it won't start. It used to run fine, at least that's what the previous owner told me.

I've put new plugs in. The old plugs were quite black and 2 seemed to have what looked like black dirt on them. Made me worried that the engine is partially seized. However the engine turns over quite easily with a wrench on the drive shaft.

But, on the other hand, it sounds to me like it is struggling to turnover when I crank it. It goes in spurts of 4 turns, pause, 4 turns. Admittedly the battery is flat and I was jumping it, but still, I thought it should turn faster. So I took all the plugs out, checked the spark (good), and cranked the engine.

It turned over much quicker than when the spark plugs were in (obvious, yes?) To me, a novice at fixing cars, this means that the engine is not partially seized. Is this a correct assumption? How does one know if the engine is partially seized?

I've checked the EFI relay. It clicks when the ignition is switched to ON. The Haynes manual says that to test the relay you measure the resistance between terminal 1 and 3 and 2 and 4. The relay in the car's terminals are numbered 1, 2, 3 and 5? ???? It is clicking & has the correct resistance according to the diagram on the relay. So I don't think it's the problem, but I could be wrong.

Next I put a jumper from the B+ to Fp on the Diagnostics control unit, turned the ignition on, and listened for fuel pump activity. (this is what is recommended in the Toyota factory service manual I found at autozone.com for testing the fuel pump.)

There were no noises from the fuel pump. Also, I haven't seen any traces of gas (even when the plugs were out and I cranked the engine, there was no smell of gas coming out the plug holes or the tailpipe.) The manual says "If the fuel pump did not function or if there was no pressure in the line, check the fuses, links, EFI main relay, ECM and wiring connections." So what is a ECM?? And how do i check it?

I may be way off on all this, so any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm not too sure what to do next except check the fuel filter isn't clogged and then remove the fuel tank and fuel filter and have them over for dinner.

HELP!!

thanks,

Paul

**UPDATE**

I have now undone the banjo bolt on the fuel line, and fuel just trickled out (it is supposed to be underpressure right?). I have checked the lines for obvious holes - none showing.

I checked the circuit opening relay under the passenger side kick panel and it shows voltage to the Fp link. It has slightly high resistances across the terminals - 26.4 ohms instead of 18-25, and 142 ohms instead of 88-125. Is that a problem? Anyone....?

I also checked the voltage at the fuel pump with the Fp and B+ nodes of the DTC1 connected and the ignition on. The voltage seemed to be cycling from 0 to 7.5 up and down which I thought was strange. Do you know if it's supposed to do that? If not, what does it indicate is screwed??

**YET ANOTHER UPDATE **

So I took the fuel pump out - it is covered in rust, and so is the tank. It doesn't respond to 12V across the terminals, and has almost zero resistance. I think it's a safe bet that it's blown. The tank is totally rusted out too, so I might replace that.

I guess it would be a good idea to replace the inline fuel filter, but it seems such a you-know-what to get to....


thanks.
paul@pauldrayton.com

good work getting to this point. Yeah the filter can be a bear. I think I replaced mine the same Time I had the starter off? there is a little acess plate in the fender that unbolts and makes it easier. be sure to check your gound when you replace the pump. Intermitant ground electrical problems can be some of the most frustrating to deal with.

best of luck and let us know how it turns out, thanks for the update they will help others out in the future.

Nate

Thanks for the reply Nate.

I've replaced the fuel tank and fuel pump and the fuel filter. The thing started after that. But it was knocking something terrible. Had a look at the rod bearings - one of them was totally shot - like a pancake. So replaced it and the knocking went away largely. Turns out the problem is the crankshaft journal is scarred, so it's not going to last long.

So it's time for a replacement engine. An ACE certified guy told me it's not worth pulling out the crank and having it turned - too much hassle and too easy to get it screwed up and waste your time and money. I can get a good used engine for about $500 so I'm going to do that.

Paul

good choice, I have gone the replacement crank route and you are right, I spent about 350 and a lot of busted knuckles and a couple of late nights at the shop, and I didn't *really* trust that little care after that.

Nate

Good to hear a confirmation on that one, thanks NAte. But then I haven't even ever replaced an engine before either - replacing the rod bearing is the most advanced thing I've done on a car. Before this everything under the hood looked like spaghetti to me.

How long do you think it will take to take the engine out and put a new one in if I have the right tools (lift, etc)? I have the haynes manual, so that should help some; they have a 'how to take out your engine' section.

if you can work on it all day plan on like three days for your first engine, it can be done in a lot less, but you are going to be learning a lot. My best piece of advice for you is to have a lot of baggies or something that you can write on and put parts inside of, that will keep things organized and will help a WHOLE LOT during the reinstall of the new engine. I can not stress that enough, no other thing will help the job go faster or smoother than if you mark and organize your bolts in baggies and if you use a piece of tape to wrap around the vaccum hoses to identify where the hose goes and a piece of tape around the port the hose came off of with the same mark. The actuall act of pulling the engine out of these little trucks aint to hard, plan on havine some help available for a few tasks such as aligning the engine/trans and getting the motor mounts bolted up, other than that if you have a lift a engine hoist and motivation, you should be able to do this.

Oh yeah, if I had a digital camera I would take lots of pictures of stuff comimg apart, its nice to be able to look at a pic and figure out which way that bracket goes back on, instaed of just trying every possible comibination.

Look forward to hearing how this goes,

Nate

Nate, that info helps a lot. Thanks very much for taking the time to write that informative reply. I think the hardest thing when doing something for the first time is the fact that it is the first time and you're unsure of what's going on. So thanks for helping dispel that demon! :)

At the moment the car is running decently on the new bearings - not sure how long it will last, but it sounds good enough for now.

I'll let you know how it goes.

LAter,
Paul

My baby is STILL running fine on the new rod bearings and scarred crank journal after 1500 miles. Not a hint of a knock.

However, the valves did start ticking, so I adjusted the clearance and they started ticking again after a few hundred miles. So I adjusted them again, and just when they started ticking again an ACE mechanic friend told me what the numbers for the timing on the crankshaft really mean, and I realized I had my timing way off. I had it at about 15 degree BTDC instead of 3 degrees. So I reset the timing and it is running a lot smoother and the ticking has stopped. I am interested to see if my gas mileage improves. So far I am getting about 26 mpg on mixed hiway and town driving.

So no new engine at the moment. I'm going to wait to see if it starts knocking and if it does I'll replace the rod bearings and see what the crank journal looks like.