Help w/ diagnosing a problem please

[teambeechstreet]

Was checking out a 1985 Toyota Pickup Xtended Cab yesterday with the 22RE-T (2.4 Turbo). The car seemed to be running fine until you shifted out of Park. It immediately dies unless you keep the RPMS above 2K. The guy selling it said that it was diagnosed with fuel injector problems and he had two replaced, but the car still dies when taken out of Park. Also noticed the oil had slight coolant contamination.

I could do the headgasket myself (if that is the source of the coolant in the oil contamination) but what could be causing the vehicle to die when shifting out of Park? Anybody experience something similar or know the cause of the problem? I know that some of you here are pretty handy when it comes to diagnosing stuff on cars.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Quest]

insufficient information to begin with.

Knowing that there are gazillions of possibilities during a witch hunt, I would start by gathering all the service histories and test/diagnostic records of this vehicle before jumping into conclusion blaming the injectors (injectors rarely fail in Japanese cars).

 

[teambeechstreet]

oh whoops just noticed i posted this in the wrong section. could a mod please move it for me to the Mechanical/Maintenance section? Id appreciate that. thanks

 

[Squishy]

How fast does it die? It could be the torque converter staying locked while in first gear, and bogging the engine down until it dies. What happens if you don't press the brakes when you shift into drive (leave lots of space in front of you)?

 

[Ramblin Fever]

Well, we had that same p/up, just recently parted with it in fact, it was the 22RE - EFI engine, that sucker went through 1 engine & 3 headgaskets in 22yrs and 280k miles.

Won't ever have another.

BUT, in it's defense, it was a great truck for the things we did with it - hunting, construction work, 4x4 trails, etc. we were not exactly rough on it, but, we were not easy on it either.

In my experience, if you're seeing coolant in the oil, DO NOT EVEN START that engine - fix it before you crack the block! If the cooling system is original, i.e. radiator, buy a new one & get it in asap, this was the cause of the original engine overheating at 14yrs & 199k miles.

The 2nd engine/headgasket were not put in correctly to begin with, thus the 2nd headgasket went after only 40k miles on it; after it's 3rd headgasket started to weep at about 35k miles into it (270k on the truck), we decided we were fed up.

Do NOT let that engine even get a little past warm!

You didn't mention if it's an auto or 5-spd; ours was a 5-spd, and when ever the headgaskets were getting weak, the truck would consistantly run rough/ragged and sometimes outright die. Although, when the 1st gasket went/original engine, it still ran like a bat out of he$$

FWIW - we never had a fuel injector issue.

How old is the gas in the tank? Has it been sitting a while, i.e. moisture in the gas?

 

[PT1]

Run to the nearest Chevrolet or Ford dealer and buy a real truck. I have only had a half dozen of em and never a gasket failure on any engine or trans.

 

[Mokanic]

Quote:

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Run to the nearest Chevrolet or Ford dealer and buy a real truck. I have only had a half dozen of em and never a gasket failure on any engine or trans.

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They don't have a real one. The Tundra's are down at the Toyota dealer.

 

[Chris142]

Alot of times the plastic timing chain runners break.Then the timing chain will wear grooves into a water passage in the timing cover and you have water/oil mix.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Quote:

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Run to the nearest Chevrolet or Ford dealer and buy a real truck. I have only had a half dozen of em and never a gasket failure on any engine or trans.

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I'll pass on the knocking Chevy's but I wouldn't mind a Ford truck, although i'd prefer a Toyota, Nissan or Honda. I hear the newer Nissan pickups are hit or miss though.

 

[Ramblin Fever]

FWIW - we DID in fact buy another Toyota truck, it is a 2004 Tacoma V6 3.4L, so far it's great!

I won't have another 22re, but for a daily construction truck, you can't beat the overall reliability of the 'Yota's - that old '85 truck broke down maybe 5 times in 22yrs, that ain't too bad.

Aside from that, not one thing, aside from shocks/brakes, had to be replaced on that suspension, and it was only on it's 2nd clutch, 2nd starter, 3rd alternator, O2 was original and it went through a set of shoes every 50-60k miles, but that's typical.

I'm not bashing american either though, proud to say I've owned some full-size Chevy trucks, and I have a dodge cummins diesel sitting right beside my 'Yota.

 

[eljefino]

Usually idle speed problems are symptoms of the idle speed controller. I would, though, look for enough vacuum at idle. An engine that's not motivated to keep on sucking air in at factory idle speed has real issues.

I hope this truck is Reeeeeeeaaaaaly cheap.