3.4L TRD Supercharger rebuild

The Canada via Fl threw me off a little.

You must be fairly high up in elevation which would explain why you do get the spark knock.

How long you been running factory plugs like that? Technically you’re supposed to run cooler plugs with a S/C. If you’re not getting engine temp readings through that OB2 You “should” be okay I’m not sure.

@eon_blue what plugs have you run?

 

You need the software for it and a Windows laptop, I have the software but need to borrow a friend's laptop to use it. I've also heard that it's a little confusing to try and work with so I'm reading up as best I can on other forums to see how to tune it properly. Not many on here seem to have done it, but I'm all ears if anyone has any tips...

I run IK22s that came with the 7th injector kit, as well as the high flow Walboro fuel pump (190 lph I believe)

Spark knock does sound almost identical to pinging (predetonation), it can be easy to confuse the two so it's always good to check and make sure you're running at least 2 step cooler plugs with the supercharger.

 

Methanol kits are another option instead of the 7th injector, there are a few guys on here that run methanol injection instead and swear by it. It does do a better job of cooling the supercharger than the 7th injector does, and those kits are usually cheaper. Neither one is smog legal in CA though, which is why I opted for the 7th injector kit because it's more discreet looking in the engine bay. I passed my smog/visual inspection just last month with it installed.

 

Well damn, what’s weird is that before I installed the cooler plugs I ran it for a little bit and did not notice any ping/spark knock.Now I get it in 3rd around 2k+.....not sure what’s going on.

I wanted the meth injection but when I started to notice ping I opted for the 7th since it can retard the timing. There’s also another guy on here that has the S/C and water/meth and still gets ping. Another reason I opted for the 7th. Also those guys that can run meth kits are also higher in altitude which, for some reason, reduces the chances of ping.

 

Having a little/some ping is just the name of the game...the TRD instructions that came with the supercharger installation kit say that "some ping is normal" under acceleration but it should go away after a second or two.

Mine was really bad in the high gear/low RPM range (manual transmission), such as accelerating on the freeway in 5th gear at about 2.3k RPMS. I would get pinging something fierce that wouldn't go away until I let off the throttle. Was so bad that if I happened upon a hill on a freeway I would have to change lanes to the slow lane so that I could baby the throttle and avoid the ping. The 7th injector fixed maybe 75% of that, I still get it at times but it's less noticeable and not nearly as frequent. So some fine tuning is in order once I figure out how to do it.

Some trucks just don't take to the supercharger as well as others do, it's weird. I know guys that just bolted it on and away they went, ping free. Others like me, not so lucky. There are other variables to consider as well like climate, elevation, overall health of your drivetrain, etc.

 

Also you definitely want to run an AFR gauge to monitor your readings, only way to know for sure if you're running too lean or too rich.

 

Yeah I’ve heard that some trucks don’t like it. I just find it weird that with stock plugs I got nothing. Change plugs cooler and there it is.

 

hm, that is strange. I wonder if maybe one of the new plugs was bad or compromised somehow.

 

I have one waiting to be installed. I’m waiting on an 02 flange so I can put it in the factory spot. It will simulate an 02 sensor as well as wideband.

 

I should note that I first gapped the iridium plugs to factory spec. .043 then gapped them back down to try to fix it.....I could have damaged one or gotten antizieze on one. But not sure if that would cause spark knock.

 

Hey John, I finally got around to ordering this gasket through LCEngineering for my blower, hoping to do my throttle body cleaning this weekend if it arrives in time...thanks again for the link

Have you installed this one before? Do you know if it just bolts/sandwiches in place between the TB and intake or do I need to seal it with silicone?

 

Just bolt in, no need for silicone, torque it down is all

 

Hey John, did you install this LCE gasket on your truck too? Did you have a higher idle afterward? I just got done cleaning the throttle body (removed it completely) and bolted on this gasket...made sure everything was reconnected properly and tightened down, but my truck is idling at 1100 now when warm instead of ~700 like normal.

First thought was maybe the seal around the new gasket isn't tight and it's leaking air but I can't find any sign of a leak...

The gasket extends a tad around the edge of the intake (almost like it's a bit too large) which the paper one didn't, which is a little concerning but that might just be normal.

 

Just a heads up, I have done cleaning on a couple Tacomas (all higher mileage), and the idle ended up being high afterwards due to wear in the throttle body that carbon and gunk was masking. I wouldn't clean any TB's with more than 200K!

 

Hmm interesting...hadn't heard that before but mine was pretty dirty. I've only got 60k on my truck though. Wondering if maybe it just needs to adjust to the cleaner airflow now

 

I just bolted it on when I installed the supercharger after it was rebuilt with no issues. Sometimes when
a throttle body is cleaned it causes a fast idle because the carbon build up filled in a low spot in the
throttle body tunnel, but I'm not sure with your case, if you look at other threads on cleaning the throttle body you will see a high idle as a result for some

 

Drive IT for awhile and see if it calms down, you might adjust the rpm screw

 

Yah it seems to run fine otherwise...I'll give it a couple days and see what happens.

 

This is the adjustment screw for the rpms for my truck that I can change my idle rpms

 

Hmm interesting. Mine's different of course being an 04, but there was a mystery screw on top of the throttle wire assembly. I didn't touch it but I wonder if that's what it's for, if my 04 has one anyway