Hey all,
A friend has a 82 Toyota Truck 4x with a 22R Gas & Carb that has developed a set of issues that I believe are related, but I can't tie em together.
Forgive the long post, but I want to give the whole background on this, in the hopes that someone more experienced with Toy's can point me in the right direction.
My friend was coming home from work (at night), and had no issues with starting the vehicle. However, about 15 minutes into her trip, she started hearing a buzzing noise from the engine compartment. The she saw white smoke (she says it wasn't radiator fluid, but something else). A few seconds later all of the electric went out - exterior and interior lights, radio, everything, however the engine kept running.
She then pulled over to a gas station and shut off the engine. As soon as the engine was shut off, all the electrical systems came back up. She then tried to restart the engine, but the starter wouldn't turn the engine. She then called me.
I showed up on the scene, smelt something along the lines of burnt insulation. Popped the hood and the battery negative terminal to frame wire was partially melted. The ground strap on the back of the engine (engine to firewall) has lost most of its insulation. When you tried to turn the vehicle over, the starter was grinding so bad I thought it was going to fly apart.
However, the starter did kick over the engine, and we drove the vehicle home (engine and electric worked without incident for the remainder of that trip).
I then replaced the starter, and the two crisped wires (with same gauge wires). I checked the harness for other visible damage and couldn't find anything. I also checked to make sure that the coil wasn't damaged and arcing into the frame. I also replaced the battery for general PM purposes.
After replacing the starter, the vehicle worked perfectly in the garage. It would start easily, idle properly, etc. The next day, my friend was leaving for work, and the vehicle displayed these symptoms:
(1) Won't start without pressing down on the gas pedal. if you try to start without pressing down on the gas pedal, it's like the engine isn't getting any gas ? it turns, but doesn't fire at all.
(2) If you do apply gas to get it started, you have to maintain a pretty steady press on the pedal to keep it running, or it will stall out.
(3) It lopes badly while running at the lower idle area that keeps the engine alive. It lopes so badly that it will stall out unless a more then reasonable lower idle speed is manually maintained. At higher RPM's it doesn't lope as noticeably, and doesn't seem to affect horses to ground when actually driving it.
I'd like to mention that the vehicle displayed none of these symptoms before the new starter, and didn't when the vehicle was tested after the starter was put in (garage testing and about a 15 minute drive).
For (1) and (2) I thought that maybe the low idle adjustment needed tweaking, but I can move the screw from to it's original position to it's maximum throw (in) without effect. I've reset the screw back to it's old position.
I then I thought that maybe the (mechanical) fuel pump had a worn or bad diaphragm, I replaced it, without effect.
I'm still confused about what caused the initial set of conditions that caused the electrical systems to fail, but allow the engine to continue working (and to allow the electrical systems to come back as soon as the engine was cut off). I also don't understand how the starter could have gotten fried as well since it wasn't in use during the incident.
What really confuses me the most is this new issue with the starting & rough/loping idling. I think these two issues might have something to do with each other (i.e., damaged switch, solenoid, valve, something), but I'm not really sure where to start diagnosing this one.
If anyone has a clue, and has a few seconds to point me in the right direction, it would be much appreciated!
- John