SOLVED! Post 2853 Leaking Injectors, Dealer Techs Rock! Extended Cranking after Engine Swap 3.4L 5vz

well that would be 1stJen

 

jen and i made it back to base (cheap hotel) from day 2 of outback driving...found some serious obsidian (thanks @Dirty Pool). last night after coming out of the local store, we had a weird crank start. thought we might have imagined it. then today departing the scrub, we had another weird one. we are still sure about the new set of injectors because we have noticed a HUGE improvement, but we think there might be something else going on too, not sure.

 

Keep an eye on it. I know this trouble has made you super sensitive to off sounding starts. It has for me with my own trucks. Time to break out the video app on the phone.

 

interent sucks here, i want to share more about eric's post but typing here sucks. heading home, will post more this afternoon. in my mind, something is till wrong with the fule sytem on top of leaky injectors (or leaking is symptom of something else)

EDIT: Ha! Found the hotel lobby computer, much better. Normal typing! Now I can explain a bit more.....

So we drove a few hundred miles this weekend, some highway country roads at 50-70mph and some bumpy dirt roads (nothing seriously crazy, just washboard with potholes now and then). Did probably ~4-5 hrs each day of a mix of this kind of driving (Sat & Sun). And Sat evening, we stopped at a store for ~10 min (1st stop after a few hrs of high speed driving). When we heard it start when leaving there, we looked at each other like, was that normal? Decided to tell ourselves it was, cuz who wants to think otherwise?!?!? Certainly not us. But we both noticed it, which tells me it wasn't normal. Then yesterday, it happened when we were leaving that Glass Buttes place east of bend that DP suggested. That place is so super cool!!! Got a giant bin of really cool looking obsidian. Little pikas everywhere chirping and running and hiding. A sprinkling of people camping out up there, such a beautiful spot. Anyway, that one for sure we didn't imagine. And still, it's not even close to the long extended crank time it used to be. It's like that weird one yesterday leaving there was comparable to one of the "better" abnormal starts from before. We are thrilled to have such a huge improvement, would have never had the courage to do this trip if we hadn't improved it so much. And the fact that different injectors made such a dramatic improvement makes it seem to me that there is no question whatever is still wrong is a fuel thing, and we have got to be so close to finding it now.

But I'm telling ya, I know my truck and something is not right still. My best guess is the abnormally high fuel pressure is the real culprit, and injectors do their best to keep up? And the older/crappier the injectors, the less capable they are, which would explain why noahpete's injectors made a MAJOR improvement? Trust me, I hate sharing anything but positive news, I am so ready to move on. But I'm not gonna pretend that isn't happening, or that it doesn't worry me that the new injectors might start dripping too, if my "best guess" theory is right.

We are willing to spend $ to replace fuel filter, FPR, injectors, whatever it takes. I know the FSM says to replace FPR if pressure is high. I want to replace my FPR.

 

The injectors would only begin to drip again if they became worn or clogged due to fuel deposits. This would take a very long time to occur again.

 

I see. I don't understand what it could be then? I think FPR, Eric thinks a fuel line is restricted. I remember the mechanic that first looked at the Taco (after the engine guys worked on it) found a leak in a fuel return line, I think he said a hose that comes off the FPR. He replaced it. But seems like maybe something else was damaged that is tough to identify? I don't know. We are about to leave LaPine, and if it's OK with you guys and we don't hit any delays, we'd like to drop it off this afternoon when we get back to town.

We've been getting fuel at Chevron, Shell, etc - always top tier stations, period, since the engine swap, including since noahpete's injectors have been in there.

 

Hey there TW! Just got back and we are tired! What a weekend! Lots of fun, just kind of a bummer about those couple of weird ones. No problems getting home. And overall a major improvement with the donor injectors, so we're still pretty darn happy about everything in spite of those weird ones. Took about a zillion pics, will pick some favorites and share a few later. Those glass buttes were so cool @Dirty Pool !!! Thank you so much for the great inside tip. Had a heck of a time finding that place, no signs at all! Drove back and forth past the access road about 10 times before finally figuring it out. Was totally worth it though, actually made it more of a fun adventure!

Plan with the Taco is to drop it off tonight or early tomorrow, and do new injectors and FPR. Fingers crossed, but I know we are in good hands so that's a huge relief! Thank you @Jayman405 and @noahpete so much for all of your ongoing help with this!!! And TW too!

PS: OK, seriously? Just did a test start after driving ~4hrs then letting it sit for ~45 min, because that's roughly the scenario we were in when it acted stupid at Glass Buttes. Perfectly normal start. I swear, we did not imagine that! We both noticed it! I am seriously starting to believe the truck is cursed and it's messing with us, Christine style or something........whatevs, trying my best to not let it drive me insane. How am I doing?

EDIT: Just looked up elevation of Glass Buttes. It's 5,000'. Pretty sure that was the highest elevation we went to this weekend. Wondering about the elevation impact on the FPR/fuel system in general....

 

Obviously you know your rig but just throwing this out there...both my tacos start slightly different depending on the situation, I just don't want you to think if it starts different from time to time that there is still an issue. Slightly different crank times here and there is totally normal. Not being able to hear what's going on I can't say for sure, maybe it is a weird issue still,(does it sound different or "funny?) but if its just a matter of an extra revolution or two when starting I wouldn't stress it.

With that said I would (as your planning) change that fpr when the new injectors get installed.

 

Thanks for the input buddy. Yep, it's hard to say, as far as the variation thing. I don't remember it ever being different crank time/sound before the engine swap, but then again I never paid this close of attention to it. You said yours sounds different from time to time? I wonder if everyone's does? Obviously we know for sure it was never bad like it was before discovering the injectors and solving that, but I don't know if this slight variation stuff we're seeing now maybe did happen before and we just didn't notice? Not sure. Seems possible. I admit, I felt frustrated about it last night/this morning, but have mellowed out about it now and am just so happy it's improved to nearly perfect.

Agree totally, I just want to do the FPR no matter what. Lots of good reasons it makes sense to me. Fingers crossed it's a good decision.

And coming soon TW: prepare for massive of a billion photos that have absolutely nothing to do with excessive cranking

 

Saw some wild horse on the way over

 

Dolly had a blast hitting the road

 

Coming back to the Taco after hiking at Crack in the Ground. Really cool place, worth checking out for anyone in this area. Did you say you've been there @bry838 ? We thought it was really neat. I never stop being amazed at how many awesome things there are to see and do in Oregon. It's crazy, you just never run out of new stuff to go see!

 

This little dude was hanging out in the Badlands. Didn't seem to mind us getting close at all, kinda weird.

 

Glass obsidian! That stuff is really sharp!

And our badly in need of a paint job topper, will be asking for advice on that soon....

 

Taco's hanging out at Glass Buttes. What a pretty place!

 

This guy was coming at us on this tiny little dirt road, hauling ass. Was glad to be in a skinny truck

 

Hey K, do you feel like your Tacos' cranking sounds a little different in different situations? You remember what your 98 sounded like? How bout your 04?

And you are exactly right about the video idea. After the 2nd goofy start, we had the camera going the next 5 billion times we started it and it was totally perfect every time. Of course I was like, Eric, people are going to think we are totally nuts and making this up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I swear, this truck is messing with me

How's it feel to be back home? Bring anything good back?

 

The only thing I brought back was some t shirts and a tan...wife said I finally have some grey that she didn't remember me having when I left. I have to trust her, she cut my hair just before I went.

I can tell no difference between the 98 & the 04 when it comes to not starts.

I agree that there have been some odd starts on occasion. I don't get worked up because it always starts. Bad gas, letting go of the key too soon, I dunno, there is a lot going on with our engines when it comes time to start. Anything could cause it to hesitate to start.

Maybe turn the stereo up to max before you go to start it. You won't notice it as much

 

I gotta say Both my 3.4 engines once and awhile sometimes don`t start the first crank.

I think maybe your just hyper aware of what is going on after this ordeal.

Where before you really did not pay attention all that much . I know myself I only started when your problems started

You take great pictures !!!

 

I dropped my 11 AC at the body shop for the topper to be painted...got a bid of $800 to color match the topper and put in some tennessee orange trim and highlights. We will see what it looks like when I pick it up. Driving a company car this week.

Howard