‘97 3.4 Tacoma won’t idle/ dies after timing belt

Hey all, I’m hoping there’s something really stupid I forgot that’s causing this, but I’d love to hear feedback. I just replaced my timing belt, water pump, TB tensioner, cam seals and crank seal in my ‘97 Tacoma 5 speed 4wd. Double checked everything I could think of and triple checked the whole way through the job. All marks line up as they should, followed a YT video from nononsensenohow on the job start to finish, and observed all torque specs.
The only electrical that I unplugged was the batt. ground. I left the connection on front of the timing belt cover plugged in during the job. About 2 months ago I did the same job on my ‘02 Tacoma 5vzfe and had not a single hiccup.
when I started the ‘97 for the first time after the job was done, it idled rough and died. Several attempts later the only way it would stay running was with my foot on the throttle. If I give it too much throttle, it dies just like you jerked the key out. No amount of throttle “saves it” from dying once it cuts out.
I’ve run it with the throttle held to get it up to temp and sometimes it idled (though very rough) and sometimes it will die soon as I let off.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you all!

 

Sorry but you need to check that timing my friend

 

Assuming you checked vacuum hoses?

 

I am guessing it ran fine before this adventure .

something having a poor connection you disconnected.

One of the Cam gears moved when putting the belt on.

 

Timing is off, or you might vacuum leak. Two things that match your symptoms.

 

While it’s definitely not impossible timing could be off, I’m insanely anal about such things and checked all cam, belt and crank marks at least 20 times. Probably 5 times AFTER releasing the tensioner and spinning the motor 2 revolutions.
There was 1 vacuum hose going into the intake silencer that I forgot to plug in before the first start attempt.
I then remembered and plugged it in. I appreciate the responses, time could be off but it would be incredible to me if it was.
Another important fact I forgot to mention is this truck is LONG overdue for 02 sensors, and has had a random hesitation/ miss occasionally (only at full throttle). Starting around 8-10 months ago it would be rough on cold start up, and would be rougher for longer the longer the truck sat between running. The 3 weeks I’ve had it down working on it is the longest it’s sat in forever. I’m going to be installing new up and downstream 02 sensors is several days, which has been put off far too long.

 

You have pulled any pending codes ??

Your not running out of gas ??

 

I have a Scangauge in my ‘02 that im going to hook to the ‘97. The last time I had the ‘97 checked it was a p0420 if I recall

 

Did you plug the IAC and TPS back in all the way? I fed the TPS sensor false values once and got exactly what you're describing.

 

Treyus30, I left both the IAC and TPS plugged in. Please excuse my ignorance but do they normally get unplugged for a TB/ cam seal job?

 

What about your Cam and Crank sensors ??

 

What about your crankshaft positioning sensor......I would definately go back and double check every connection to make sure they're plugged in and making contact. I read on one of the threads here on TW someone stated to make sure you disconnect the negative battery connection before unplugging and plugging back in any connections, especially the MAF sensor. You can try disconnecting your battery for a few minutes and then retry.
I'm definately no expert when it comes to electrical gremlins on these trucks but you just never know. I've been plagued with them myself. Good Luck!

 

Great Q’s and thoughts you all keep them coming. I didn’t unplug the cam sensor, I gently set the whole “backing plate” between the Airbox and intake, making sure not to have any tension on the wiring. I didn’t touch the crank sensor either.
Probably being optimistic with this, but I’m putting in 2 new 02 sensors Monday, we’ll see if there’s anything there. They’ve been bad for a long time, and the truck (prior to this job) has run progressively rougher on cold startup the longer it sat. It’s sat over 3 weeks up until now.

 

Don't you have to remove the valve covers to get to the cam seals?

 

Nope, just pull the cam “cogs”/ pulleys and then the backing plate and the cam seals are right there. I used a lisle seal puller to get the old ones out, and used the old seals to help drive in the new ones.

 

I think you should check all your electrical connections, even if you didn't disconnect them. Just moving them can cause the plugs to dislodge a bit.

 

Will do, unfortunately it will be several days until I can get back to the truck.

 

the camshaft position sensor comes off the P/S cam... is that connected? On the intake manifold by the Diagnostics plug there is a common ground point, check for loose/broken wires there.

 

Thanks Glamisman! I’m definitely going to be checking those points, wasn’t aware of those!

 

Glamisman is there a photo of the ground point/ diag plug you speak of? Some things I do ok with and others I excel with ignorance.
I knew 02 sensors likely wouldn’t be the fix, it was too coincidental for that to be the case. Replaced up and downstream today with Denso’s. The sensors that were in the truck were some ancient knockoffs, so they needed replacing anyway.
If the ground looks good I’ll start tearing into look at the timing belt, hopefully tommorrow.
I almost hope I got it off a tooth, at least then I’d know what I did.