is it my timing??

heres another problem i'm having and have been having with my 93 4runner v-6 sr5, been trying to figure this one out for months now :confused: (just too embarrassed to post). It sometimes doesnt have any "get go"! Sometimes it will drive fine and other times it wont go very fast and other times it actuallly slows down as im driving. SOmetimes I cant go over 20 mph. It has no rhyme OR reason for anything, it just does it speratically throughout my driving days. Ive recently replaced my air & fuel filters, plugs, wires, rotor and cap which actually made it run pretty good for like a day! I also dont know if this has anything to do with my other posted problems (theres so many who can keep track?!) Any ideas??? Thank you :)

Sounds about like what mine was doing. I replaced most of the electrical stuff, cap, rotor, plugs, wires, coil. I also just had the injectors cleaned and two vacuum leaks found for another problem I had. I don't know if having the injectors cleaned helped yet as I haven't driven the truck very far.

It would only do it after driving for an hour or so. When it did happen on the highway I just put it in neutral, turned it off for about 2 seconds and restarted it. That seemed to give me power again if only for a few minutes. Stopping and turning the car off also helped.

Does this seem to be what is happening with yours?

no, actually mine does this worse when I first start it up in the mornings. Nothing like putting it in neutral or turning it off helps. I did finally get some of that Chevron cleaner and put it in my tank but it didnt help at all (crosses fingers hoping its not the injectors) I did call a place the other day asking about putting it on a diagnostic machine and they said it sounds like maybe my exhaust system is plugged. Who knows........

heres another problem i'm having and have been having with my 93 4runner v-6 sr5, been trying to figure this one out for months now :confused: (just too embarrassed to post). It sometimes doesnt have any "get go"! Sometimes it will drive fine and other times it wont go very fast and other times it actuallly slows down as im driving. SOmetimes I cant go over 20 mph. It has no rhyme OR reason for anything, it just does it speratically throughout my driving days. Ive recently replaced my air & fuel filters, plugs, wires, rotor and cap which actually made it run pretty good for like a day! I also dont know if this has anything to do with my other posted problems (theres so many who can keep track?!) Any ideas??? Thank you :)


Corrosion in injector plugins can cause a problem like yours and be intermitent....best way to check this is to take a long screw driver and touch to injectors one at a time with handle end low and just behind ear and listen for a ticking from each one and ones that don't tick clean contacts on injector and inside of plugin but unfortunantly you can only easily get to only the ones on drivers side bank on most models including yours....check for codes,TPS/airflow meter and other plugins on sensors and ignition system for corrosion yet???

heres another problem i'm having and have been having with my 93 4runner v-6 sr5, been trying to figure this one out for months now :confused: (just too embarrassed to post). It sometimes doesnt have any "get go"! Sometimes it will drive fine and other times it wont go very fast and other times it actuallly slows down as im driving. SOmetimes I cant go over 20 mph. It has no rhyme OR reason for anything, it just does it speratically throughout my driving days. Ive recently replaced my air & fuel filters, plugs, wires, rotor and cap which actually made it run pretty good for like a day! I also dont know if this has anything to do with my other posted problems (theres so many who can keep track?!) Any ideas??? Thank you :)

P.S. Perform test when it acts up.
Happy holidays and goodluck.

well.....my exhaust is not plugged.!
I took it to a place to have the timing checked and adjusted. They were confused as to why it wouldnt zero out??? (Not sure if thats how it was said, not good on car lingo ;))
Wanted to know if someone had taken my distributor out and not put it back in right.? Not that I know of!! lol... Soooo they say either my distributor is not in right :bloated: or my belt needs to be replaced.

Is there not a way of knowing ahead of time before spending money if either of these things are true??? What should I expect the cost to be if it were either of these?? AND.....once they get the cover off to check or replace the belt are there other things under there that could be the problem and cost even MORE money??

Sounds like you got worked over by the parts changer squad and need to talk to a more qualified shop more able to open a book and read timing procedures and specs...in short try another place to get timing checked as some vehecles you have to disconnect a wire in order to set timing and it WILL NOT let you see TDC(top dead center) aka *zero mark* which means zero degrees of timing (I do not know if this is something you have to do on V6 3.0L engines but sure someone may give feedback on that later)


Have you checked inside your connectors going to airflow meter,tps,dist.ect.ect.ect. for water and corrosion yet???

To set the timing on a 92 3VZ-E two terminals on the "check connector" need to be shorted Te1 & E1 with the idle speed at 800 +- 50 rpm.
Set to 10 degrees BTDC using a timing light. (Transmission in neutral range)
After tightening the distributer bolt recheck the timing.
Toyota 1992 4Runner Repair Manual, Engine Specifications: Pages IG-(17&18).


There is a "knock" sensor that will cause the ECU to retard the timing if it is sensing an ignition knock.

If this sensor is bad the ECU will "default" to a retarded timing state for safe operation. Preignition if advanced enough will actually eat a hole through an aluminum piston.

The knock sensor in these motors is fairly high tech, due to it's construction it does differentiate between mechanical kocks and knocks caused by ignition sources.
Ignition source knocks produce a 7khz knock and that is what the peizo electric crystal wafer in the knock sensor is tuned to resonate at, producing a small voltage that the ECU looks for and then starts retarding the timing until it stops.
So just unplugging the sensor will cause the ECU to retard timing.


"If you can't open your doors the snow depth is just getting FUN!"