1995.5 2.7 Manual 4x4 - Vermont Transplant - Back to CA

Whoops. My bad I thought you were still in VT .

 

So, back to some writeups. I feel like I have a backlog of pictures and I'll start forgetting stuff if I don't get caught up.

I'll start with bodywork. Sorry I don't have a good before pic. I guess I was embarrassed to photograph what was there. Here's the best I could find. I added the arrows to point out where the big dents were.

EDIT: Found some old pics from when I first bought it on another thread. You can see the paint had been steadily chipping away from the dented spot over the past 3 years.


The dent on the hood had been there forever because it was inaccessible from the back. I think the PO had it painted over, and they didn't do a great job. At least they didn't fill it with bondo. I ended up sticking a long crow's foot in there and using it as sort of a dolly. For a first effort doing something that difficult, I'm happy with the result.

I tried painting it with the cheapest black paint at Napa.

I hated it, so I decided to sand the whole panel down.
Please please please don't buy cheap sandpaper, guys!

I used cheap 60 and 150 grit, and went through way way more than necessary. It put really bad swirl marks in the paint (it even shows through the new paint), and I couldn't switch disks fast enough. I finished with 3m 220-600 grit, but the damage was done.

It took me about 5 hours of sanding to get a product I thought was smooth enough (with no primer, and a gloss black finish, it definitely wasn't).

First time spraying aerosol outside. First time painting anything gloss black. First time not adding clear coat on a car. Needless to say, it didn't turn out great, but it's good enough for me.

You can see the AC components are coming out here. See a later AC pic for the fixed bumper (hopefully I'll have the AC project finished up next week).

I'm not quite sure how to go about fixing the paint situation on the roof. To be honest, the work I've done makes me nervous about parking it on the street. I've kinda relied on it looking terrible to keep people from messing with it. It needs something to keep it from getting rusty up there, but not sure what.

 

I also replaced a few things I don't have pictures of. I've been chasing hard start issues for a while. The truck has been a hard starter at temp since I bought it, but recently it's also been sluggish immediately after cold starting.

I figured while the AC compressor was out, I'd get to some things in that area. I replaced the exhaust manifold gasket. Checked the valves while I was in there. Unfortunately I broke off one of the EGR bolts on one side, and lost one on the other side, so..... Don't rush on exhaust parts, guys.

Also replaced the Engine Coolant Temp sensor, which had completely deteriorated. I'm not sure how it was working at all.

While the intake stuff was off, I replaced the ripped boot that attaches to the throttle body, trimmed some cracks out of a few vacuum hoses, and checked the butterfly for excessive grossness. I also pulled the plugs for a visual check. Unfortunately I forgot to gap them while they were out.

Still have a sluggish idle sometimes after cold starting, but not always... Also still having a hard start condition at temp. The valves, throttle body, and plugs all looked fine, which leads me to believe it's an electrical issue. I do need to go back in and replace the EGR bolts that I broke/lost, but I kinda doubt that they're contributing.

Replacing the ECT sensor definitely helped with idling in general. It had always stumbled a little, now it sounds great.

 

AC (continued from posts 26 and 29)

I started by just pulling all the components and hoses out.



There was still fluid in all the components, and a few hoses.


Mandatory evaporator leaf debris pic.


You can see the stuff I ordered on post #26 and post #29. They all fit well except the evaporator to compressor line. I cleaned up and reused the old one. I used only AC flush fluid for cleaning.

I also had to reuse the hard lines that go through the firewall, and the compressor cover (all with new seals). Never looked those parts up, but I bet they're pricey.

I emptied the PAG oil out of the new compressor and filled it with new oil according to this thread, along with the other components, being careful to keep things sealed from dust and (to some extent) air.

I couldn't find a rental vacuum pump when I first looked, unfortunately. So, once I had everything installed, I took it to the neighborhood's favorite shop and had him do the final phase.
Or so I thought.

It failed to hold vacuum, so to track down the leaks they put some dyed R134 in and pressurized the system. They traced the leak to somewhere in the evaporator housing, and "they don't take apart dashboards anymore", so it was on me to fix it. The visit cost me $225.

I got it home and had the evaporator housing out and taken apart in about 10 minutes. I found one of the o rings from the expansion valve floating around in there. No idea how it could've popped out, but there it was.

Put a new one in, and bench tested the evaporator as best I could with only two hands.

The R134 had sprayed all over the inside of the evaporator housing and melted all the duct seals, so I replaced those with weatherstripping.

After reinstalling it in the truck, I searched for a rental vacuum pump again and found one at the local O'Reilly's. To rent the pump and manifold gauges was $326, which they gave back when I returned the tools.

I pumped down the system and it held vacuum until I tried disconnecting the gauges. The low side service valve leaked bad (that was the hose I'd reused, I should've just replaced the valve right off the bat).

Here you can see the finished product after fixing the dent in my bumper, too. Pretty happy about it.

Anyway, I had to make a schrader valve tool out of an old bolt.

Once I'd replaced the bad valve, everything went smoothly.

I pumped down the system and it held vacuum for a full week.

Unfortunately, because they'd put some R134 in already, I wasn't comfortable charging the system myself, so I brought it back to the shop with a case of Bud Lights.

Fortunately, they liked me and they only charged me $95 for the second visit.

I didn't have it finished in time for the week it was 105°+ here all week, but it's blowing really nice and cold, and my defroster's working.

All in all, I think the project was nearly $1k including taxes and shipping and everything.

Not sure what it would've been if I'd gotten all new parts installed at a shop, but I'm betting at least double.

I wish I'd saved $300 or so by vacuuming and charging it myself. Or at least the $225 they charged for the first vacuum test. But it is what it is. I'm happy it's done.

 

I brought the old components to the local auto recycler. I'm sure I could have gotten some money for them by recycling them at a dump, but they'd leaked R134 in my bed and it smelled terrible and I didn't want to deal with draining them before bringing them anywhere. I just wanted them gone.

 

Just discovered that my wheels came off a 4runner.
(old picture, but it's the only one where they look clean)

gen 3 4runners came with this wheel @ 16x7 while Tacomas were 15x7

Never put that together in my head until tonight when I checked my tire size (265/70 r16 or 30.6"x10.4"). Those tires have been on there since I bought the truck, so never had to really think about it.

Thinking about it now:
My axle code is B02A, which I've gathered means a 3.58:1 gear ratio, and my truck came with the 225/75 R15s for a stock tire size. The W59 transmission has a 1:1 ratio in 4th gear. That means in 4th gear my speedo is set up to read 60mph at 2551 RPM.


With these tires and my stock diff ratio, my is 3.31:1. Currently, my speedo reads 60mph when I'm driving ~65. If I upgraded to TRD 3.91:1 diffs, that would essentially fix the speedo. With these 265/70 r16s my speedo would read 60 when I'm driving 59.42mph!

However, a good rule of thumb I've always stuck to is 2:1 tire:wheel diameter, so a 16" wheel would be mounted with a 32" tire. Currently, that would lower my effective gear ratio to 3.16:1. My speedo would read 60mph when I'm driving ~68. BUT, if I upgraded to TRD 4.10:1 diffs, that would leave me with an effective gear ratio of 3.62:1 (with 32" tires). My speedo would read 60 when I'm driving 59.26mph! With 255/80 R16s, it'd be even better (59.37), but apparently that's not a tire size you can get....

Hmmmm.

I've kinda grown to like the ratio I have. It drives pretty much like a 4 speed with an overdrive that's useless under 75mph. In low range, 5th gear is good for about 40mph, which is kinda cool for towing around town and dirt roads.


That said, the math fits, and being 3k miles from home, this truck needs to be more of a jack-of-all-trades than it has been, so making it off-road worthy is definitely on my mind. I haven't needed a locker yet, but it'd be near the top of the list if I started going that direction. Plus, I'm sure my clutch would be happier, and I wouldn't mind a little better drivability on the street.

 

I hear ya on the AC repair. Just did mine, tried doing most of it myself and still ran me like $500.

 

I just got back from a two week trip home in VT for the foliage / my birthday / consecutive weddings.

I had a package of plug wires waiting for me when I got here (still chasing the hard start issue), so I dove into it. I decided to replace the plug tube seals and valve cover gasket to eliminate any possibility of fouling the new plug wires.


Everything internal looked good, but I don't think the plug tube seals had ever been replaced, nor the valve cover gasket bolt seals, they all crumbled apart.

So did this "Idle Up Valve", so I have a replacement for it coming.

I also checked the plug gaps and sprayed some intake cleaner down the plug tubes to get rid of the gunk in there.

When I'd gotten everything put back together I did a test start. It cranked and cranked and cranked. Once it finally started it sounded great.

Not sure if the hard start was because of the intake cleaner and associated gunk I sprayed into the cylinders, or maybe something else I did. I'm choosing to believe it's because it had sat for two weeks without running. If that is the case, I might have a fuel pressure issue, and I'll still be chasing the hard start. We'll see.

 

Alright, so I took it for a 15 minute test drive to the grocery store. Spent about 20 minutes shopping. When I came out, it cranked a little too long for me to say the issue is fixed. The condition has always been somewhat sporadic, so I'll spend some more time driving it before I make any decisions, BUT:

the plugs, valves, and intake all look really good.
the plugs have been in there longer than I've owned the truck, and when I checked the gaps today they were dead on.
the engine runs strong.

for these reasons, I do not believe I have fuel pump or filter issues. I think I have a leaky regulator or injector(s).
not sure why that would mean more issues with hot starts than cold starts. I'll have to read up on that.
I think I should be able to check into the numbers more with my brother-in-law's obd reader. I've been wanting to play with it anyway, so maybe I'll get into that later this week.

I also noticed today that my coolant overflow reservoir is losing fluid again. I think I'm nearing the point of dumping some gasket fixemagoo in. I've been avoiding it, but I'll definitely try that before pulling the head.

 

Looks like you had an awesome road trip driving your taco home. I would love to do the same thing one day, except East to West coast. Just not sure what I can buy out that’ll make it home

 

I find that New England is the cheapest place to find pretty much any vehicle you'd want on craigslist. Mechanics up there hate fixing rust, and pretty much any body rust will fail a VT inspection these days.

VT now holds the individual mechanic who performed the inspection liable for damages resulting from failures due to rust, so most shops just don't want to deal with it at all. Even the guys who will pass you have to be really careful about it, because VT inspections require a ton of picture documentation that's reviewed by the state.

That means there are a lot of really really good drivetrains that are essentially being thrown away. Vehicles that would easily have another 30+ years of life in CA, in some cases.

Plus, when I see the prices for diesels in CA it makes me want to roadtrip all my family's diesels out here and sell them.

 

A quick google search is telling me that the top symptom of leaking fuel injectors is hard starting at temp. I've decided to just clean the injectors. I am sure they've never been removed, and they'd appreciate the attention.

I've ordered replacement seals from rockauto, and I have a lady dropping off an ultrasonic cleaner in the morning.

 

3RZ (2.7L) INJECTOR REPLACEMENT

Ok, so the injector seals I ordered from RockAuto arrived, and I dove into the project.

First, let me talk about the seals that are needed.
Here is what I bought from RockAuto


This contains four o-rings, so it's good for all 4 injectors, but it's only good for one of the three types of o-rings needed for this job.

Here's what I got from AutoZone once I realized I'd bought the wrong thing.


Unfortunately, I can't say for sure whether these will do the trick for you or not. 2 of the 4 boxes I got were correct, but the other 2 came with 1 o-ring that was way too big (seen below next to the correct size for comparison).


Luckily, the Fel-Pros filled in the gaps for the incorrect sizes. All in all, I'd say if you're ordering online, order 1 of the Fel-Pros. Then you'll know for sure that you've got your bases covered.

Ok, now on to the replacement procedure.

I'd seen a few people say that removal of the throttle body was unnecessary, so I left it in. Removing it might actually save some time, I have pretty thick hands and fingers, and getting the electrical plugs on and off the injectors took quite a bit of patience. That was really the only hard part, though.

I also didn't fully remove the fuel rail, I left the fuel line at the front of the engine attached (more on that later).

When I got my injectors out, I was greeted by a thick coating of RTV that the PO (or PPO) had decided to use rather than getting new seals


I spent 45 minutes to an hour with a dental pick and a vacuum cleaner that I'd "adapted" to fit down into the injector cups cleaning the RTV out.


The mirror might have been the most useful tool in that process. Here's the #1 cup after cleaning.

The "vibration insulator" seals (the grommet that goes on the bottom end of the injector and gets inserted into the head) had been painted along with the injector cups (aka "spacers"). They were also really old, so they didn't feel much like rubber to me. That, plus the fact that there'd been RTV used to seal the injectors had me second guessing whether I could easily get them out. I honestly had it in my head that the PO had inserted metal bushings in there for some reason, but after a night of sleeping on it, I got in there with a dental pick and plucked them out, no problems.


Here's the #1 injector cup after removing the insulator seal.


Seems pretty much identical to the previous picture, huh?

Here are my cleaned (not new) injectors, ready to be installed.

Notice that the part numbers aren't all the same. 23250-75050 are the correct ones. Having different injectors in there is not ideal, but I wasn't interested in waiting around for new injectors, so I used what I had.


I ended up losing one of the insulator seals trying to reinstall the injectors with them on. I'd read that a little grease could keep the insulators stuck to the injectors well enough for installation, but that didn't do the trick for me. I think probably the problem was that I'd left the fuel rail attached to that front fuel line, so sneaking it all back in was too much to deal with. My solution was to install the insulators in the head, install the injectors in the fuel rail separately, then ever so carefully finagle it all back together.

The injectors didn't go into the cups as far as I'd thought, but after fully bolting the fuel rail down and not seeing them go in any further, I decided it was probably fine.

 

Fuel Injector Cleaning

I have to insert a safety caution on this one, because it was pretty idiotic.

Warning: The following procedure was performed by an idiot. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Contains explosive gasses, plus plenty of opportunity for ignition!

I'd been experiencing symptoms that were pointing to a leaking injector, so I decided to clean them. After a little research, I found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ_fgUDc0rE&ab_channel=FintechRepairShop

I decided I could cheap out on some aspects of his procedure, so I found a tiny ultrasonic cleaner on Facebook Marketplace for $35, and found the rest of what I needed in the garage.

I used: A 750mL ultrasonic cleaner, Seafoam, the leads from a multimeter, some zip ties, my truck's battery, a battery charger, and scotch-brite.


I started by figuring out if my truck's battery could continuously energize the injectors so they could stay open while the ultrasonic cleaner was doing it's thing. It worked. In fact, it didn't matter what orientation the wires were in at all, energy to the injector opened it.

So, I used the leads from my multimeter which have this neat little cross hatch design that allowed me to plug them into the pins on the injectors. Then I used a zip tie to keep them from flopping around (probably unnecessary, but it looks cool).



Then I used the alligator clips from my battery charger to clamp the other end of the leads onto the battery terminals.

Notice that there is no off switch in this setup. If something goes bad, it's not going to be pretty.

I ended up zip tying the leads to the side of the ultrasonic cleaner in an attempt to keep the electrical conductors out of the solvent. It could have been better.


The solvent and the injectors got really really hot. I don't really want to know why. I kept the garage door open and put all the fans out there, but the smell of solvent was pretty thick.

This ultrasonic cleaner only does 5 minute runs, so I did 2 runs per injector before switching to the next one. After letting them cool off to the point that I could handle them, I used scotch brite to get rid of the RTV and the majority of the rust. Then I did 2 more rounds of 2x5 minute runs (overall, each injector got about 30 minutes in the cleaner).

Here's what the Seafoam looked like when I was done.

The good news is, I didn't die, or blow up the garage.

The cleaning (or maybe just the new seals I installed) fixed my hard starting at temp problem. I haven't had any issues with that in 2 days of testing, and I've done plenty of unnecessary hot starts, just to see.

 

I also did some other stuff while I was in there.

1. I replaced the "idle up valve", which had crumbled when I removed the valve cover. Here's the broken one.


2. While the battery was out, I took the opportunity to paint under the tray (for a truck with no rust, I was pretty surprised at how bad it was under there).
Before:


I sprayed 4 coats of Rustoleum. Didn't do too much prep, just cleaned it with degreaser/brushes. I'll try to make a habit of recoating this area every time I have an opportunity.
After:


3. I dumped this gasket fixemagoo into my radiator.


The fixemagoo seems to have worked well. I can't smell burning coolant after driving anymore, and the radiator hasn't lost any fluid. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on it, though.

 

I'll be driving the truck around quite a bit before I decide whether or not my drivetrain issues are indeed behind me.

I still need to replace basically all the various oils (engine, trans, transfer case, and diffs), and pull my exhaust manifold again to extract the bolts I broke when I did it the first time (the EGR pipe is definitely leaking).

Next steps (assuming the truck continues running like a champ) will be geared towards getting it ready for light wheeling.

Suspension is at the top of my list, I'm pretty sure I'm still running the factory shocks and struts. After a little research, it seems like Bilstein 4600s should be my target suspension, but I might wait for a Black Friday deal or something.

I also want a winch. Not just for wheeling, they're great tools to have in general. I'll have to make my own winch plate if I want a hidden winch. I like Amp'd Up LLC's hidden winch design (watch their install video ), but it won't work for '95-'97s. It's a borderline impossible fit on these early 1st gens, but I still have hope. I'm on the hunt for the smallest winch (depth and height, not worried about length) available in the 8k-10k range. From what I've seen so far, it's the Smittybilt X20. It's 5.4" deep and 5.4" tall. With a solenoid box relocation. Not including the clutch lever.

Upgrading to more aggressive tires won't make it onto my list until I've regeared the diffs. More on gearing in post #46. I definitely see myself caving to peer pressure on that one, but we'll see.

 

I fixed my exhaust manifold leaks and it's running SO much better at low RPM.

I had sheared one of the EGR bolts and it was definitely leaking. I could see the smoke puffing out when my hood was open, and under load, I imagine it wasn't sealing at all.


3 of the heat shield bolts were also sheared. 1 by a PO and 2 by me.


I didn't have any luck extracting any of them with my cheap AutoZone extractor set, so I brought it to a machine shop, and they took care of the EGR bolt for me. They charged $50, and they said it came right out. Not my favorite way to spend money, but it's a lot better than busting off an extractor and making things worse (ask me how I know).

I upgraded my extractor set with MAC square flutes, and bought an Irwin tap and die set. I ended up being able to tap the heat shield threads to the original M6×1.0, so they're just waiting for new bolts (on their way).

I'd been a little worried about the results after cleaning my injectors because I was having to give it so much clutch at stop lights, but that's totally gone now. After getting everything back together I took it for a spin around the neighborhood, and I'm feeling pretty great about everything (still need to change my trans fluid, for sure). It actually pulls with my foot on the floor, which it's never done the whole time I've owned it. Before now, 50% throttle was the sweet spot, after that it just honked and the power actually fell off. I can't wait to get it on the freeway.

 

As someone whos had a 3RZ and 3.58 gears and 31 and 32" tires... go to 4.10s, you will not regret it and it is a cheap gearset to get your hands on.

 

Moved this over here to not clog the other thread.
I by default assumed you were moving up to 4.88s or something euuuuge.
After playing catch up I 100% agree with speedy^.

4.10s should be in any Junk yard no problem which makes for cheap and accessible, I just moved up to 4.88 and would offer you my spare set however The distance inbetween us makes it a useless gesture.

Sweet rig!

 

2 different guys from the same town are selling diffs I could use to do my swap on facebook marketplace. One is a complete rear elocker axle from an '01 Taco with 4.10:1 ($700), and one is a complete front diff from a '99 4Runner with 4.10:1 ($100). They're both a 2 hour drive away, but it's pretty country, so I'm sure I could find some way to make the trip worthwhile.

I know the 4Runner diff is ADD, but I found on another site that's convinced me that it's no issue, I can just swap tubes. I even think I can sell my old diff with the ADD tube according to this quote I saw there:

Once I sell my old rear axle and front diff, I think this swap would cost me $400 or less (not including gas money). Even if I never use the locker, it'll probably be worth my cost if I ever decide to sell this rig. Plus, having a locker just puts my mind at ease whenever I do anything offroad. Only thing better is a winch.

Also, those TRD stickers the PO put on have always bothered me a little bit, but they'd be a lot closer to true if I had an elocker.