Idle down to 450 rpm's and check engine light on and off?

[SlapFunkWarrior]

1990 7mgte in 1990 piggy. professionaly rebuilt and installed.

so my engine is now over 5000kms and broken in . driving the GF home the other night i pull into her drive and pull the e-brake, put the gearbox in neutral walk her to her door and then it happens. idle dropps drasticly. get in and the check engine light is on . so i decide to give it a tad of throttle and she revs up idles down and stalls. so i start her again and she still idles low but feathering the pedal i get her out tof the drive and head home . well it seems to drive "o.k" on the way home but only with throttle being applied. while driving the engine light goes off . when i engage the clutch idle dropps fast and light comes back on and she tries to die.

got her home ok no bad metal sounds or anything of the sort.


and ideas guys.

my thoughts are .... timing went out somehow, or fuel pump is on its way out.

i wish i were a mechanic to diagnose this stuff .

so should i drive it down and get it put on the cpu to see what code is triggering the engine light?

any help would be appreciated guys.

[moonpie33]

TPS slipped????????????????????????????

[SlapFunkWarrior]

never even thought to look. thanks.1 more thing to check!

[Tire Shredder]

check the engine codes. the check engine light is an indication that the ecu notices something wrong. Your issues sounds control/electric related and I bet the ecu is pinpointing the issue.

[SlapFunkWarrior]

well. a bit of an update. went and got the car checked yestserday. the only code we got out ofo it was code 51.tps open. did some searching and cant find anything on this issue. does this mean my tps is shot or is there a fix. i have another tps but i worry about taking 1 out and replacing it as i have heard horror stories about getting it set right again.

the only other thing that i have a concern about is on cold startup. when the engine is cold i start it and hear the sound off moving gurgling water . i figure i must have an air pocket in the cooling sysyem, but i have drained and refilled the cooling system 3 times now and each time it still happens. just wondering if maybe this may have somthing to add to the issue at hand. maybe a temp. sensor is not reading collant temp properly due to air pockets. does anyone have a strategy to remove airpockets from the cooling system.?

the car seems to be running very rich. on start it idols at 450-500 rpms then the engine light comes on . then black smoke out the tailpipe. not super thick but enought to see well. would a shotty tps cause these symptoms. or should i look somwhere else.

[ToxicZX]

You can bleed air from the cooling system like this:
Park car on incline (or with front wheels on ramps).
Start engine and run to operating temp with rad cap off and heater fan on high blowing hot.

Thermostat could be stuck open causing engine to run attempt to run like it's warmed up when it isn't.
My old 4runner used to gurgle alot. It had a bad head gasket and leaked exhaust into the coolant passages. May be a good idea just to check for oil in coolant and vice versa.

[SlapFunkWarrior]

i have checked the coolant for oil and vice versa and none to be found. i am positive its not a bhg. thanks though.
i have used this method to get the air out to no avail. but i could keep trying maybe it will burp one of these days. problem is i dont feel good starting it right now as i do not want to cause any more damage than may have allready occured.

[jsn_ayers]

When I burp these engines I loosen the heater hose at the control valve on the firewall. Fill it with water/antifreeze and when it starts flowing out the hose I tighten it up. Start up the engine and top it off. It is better to do this with the front of the car higher than the rear. You can also do the same with the TPS coolant hoses.

[whitey408]

if you believe that u may have to switch out the tps, start the car, pop the cap off of the tps and see if you are able to rotate it a tad bit and see if it fixes your prob. if not then just get one from another engine and you should be able just screw it right on as it would already be set. i didnt have any probs when i replaced mine.

[SlapFunkWarrior]

You can bleed air from the cooling system like this:
Park car on incline (or with front wheels on ramps).
Start engine and run to operating temp with rad cap off and heater fan on high blowing hot.

Thermostat could be stuck open causing engine to run attempt to run like it's warmed up when it isn't.
My old 4runner used to gurgle alot. It had a bad head gasket and leaked exhaust into the coolant passages. May be a good idea just to check for oil in coolant and vice versa.



Well guys . just goes to show how small somthing can be to cause big problems. i got her fixed up today. all "boiled" down to sticky thermostat. would open then close . thanks for all the help.

[SlapFunkWarrior]

Well guys . just goes to show how small somthing can be to cause big problems. i got her fixed up today. all "boiled" down to sticky thermostat. would open then close . thanks for all the help.


I hate it when a problem goes away and another one appears......... that said,the thermostat wasnt "the" problem. Yes it was faulting, but i went about 5 days and it started acting the same again. Idle down, and running rich. Well i spent a few days reading the forums and going hard into some old threads when i found one that was involving a bad M.A.F.S.
So i figured what the hell eh' . its worth a try. went and borrowed a buddy's known running one and swaped it out.
Bam, done . Running perfectly now.
So i called around to find a price . Well, three of four places had a decent ,yet high, price for one ranged from $550-$735. then i called my local toyota dealership. (and yes i did call vancouver toyota) They wanted my first born , and i had to get a vasectomy for this thing ....!!!!!!!! an unbeleivable $1600!!!!! so he told me the price and i just hung up. no words spoken.

i went for a new niehoff unit . runs great. i know buying from a dealer is much more expensive. but c'mon all i want to know is what the hell my dealership is smoking to be more than twice the price over anywhere else, even another dealership? gotta be crack! friggn crakheads!

[SlapFunkWarrior]

after a good drive this morning it definatly runs better than it ever has.

finally problem solved.