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

sounds like you need around 4 cases of beer and lots of gas because I don't think that truck will stay in one spot for long, I think you will be driving it 16 hours a day all weekend long lol.

 

OK Mod, guess you don't want any of these, so I'll send 'em all to Keakar and Bama then?

 

TACO is back guys! Running like a dream! So powerful and smooth! For anyone reading this thread due to a similar problem, if you live in the Pacific NW, I would highly recc' (EDITED SEE BELOW)! Those guys have been so professional and knowledgeable every step of the way - the cost is worth it! Granted, this is day one w/our new engine and all the other goodies they did - hopefully I'll be singing the same tune many years from now. But at this moment, I am so grateful that we seem to have found a mechanic that took such great care of our beloved Taco, and I CAN'T WAIT TO TAKE A LONG ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!!

Mod & Keakar, can't even hear the wheel bearing noise - at least not yet anyway. Husband's gonna pull the tire this weekend and see if he can hear it/pinpoint it, then we'll decide the timing of the repair after that.

Thank you so much all of you - you guys have been an ENORMOUS help through an EXTREMELY stressful time. I really can't express how grateful I am for all of your advice and support from day one of our Taco's illness. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotta go do some now!!!!!!!!!!!!

EDIT: I've deleted the name of the business that replaced our engine from this post, because problems developed with the truck after the work they performed, and those problems are still in the process of being diagnosed as of today 2/4/15. Until I have a full clear picture of what these issue are and what caused them, I do not want to recommend or speak poorly of their business. Thanks.

 

I'll take some of those little delicious wheel bearings. (no-must resist-now).

Crushed pecans,,mixed in? Sister whips those out once in awhile,,they get gone pretty quick. She gets evil and puts a schmear of cream cheeze frost on 1/2 of the batch.

Sadly, I must pass. Send them to Keakars shack.



Congrats on the truck and for many more miles.

 

The good, the bad, and the ugly......

 

I WANT MY COOKIES!!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqL7jyrXhLs

 

I've enjoyed the hell out of this thread. Now you need to edit your opening post to get rid of the frowny face.

 

Glad the truck is back up and running...I wonder if we could get a summary statement of work performed and the associated costs? It is always nice to have some bench marking numbers for future work...

Howard

 

Guys, I hope you're still with me here. Taco's hesitating to start after she'd been turned off for ~30 minutes. Starts great cold, and starts great after being turned off for just a few minutes. It's like what the mechanic described in that email, before he replaced the regulator -

"I got the engine in and running, It runs great, the wide band o2 gauge looks like it is running good at idle and under acceleration, no lean condition. I am having one issue, when warm after a very short stop, 3-4 minutes it fires right up but when warm if it sits for 30 minutes it requires excessive cranking. The cold start fires right up. This indicates to me that it is loosing fuel pressure in the fuel rail slowly. Firing up good cold it has the added cold start injector but warm after 30 minutes the pressure bleeds off but the engine is still warm. I will test the fuel pressure regulator and the bleed back on the pump and get it dialed in to fix the issue."

I verified w/him several times that he was confident it wasn't the fuel pump, and he said it wasn't, that he had tested it. He replaced the regulator, and said the back pressure testing after that was good/normal.

Haynes manual on this topic ("Engine hard to start when hot") said 1st thing to check would be dirty air filter, so even though old filter looked only a little dirty, we put in a brand new Toyota OEM Denso air filter right before the final start in the video. The next start 1/2 hour later (last start in video) was even worse - cranked longer than the one last night. 2nd thing in manual says "fuel not reaching fuel injectors; check for a vapor lock situation, brought about by clogged fuel tank vent lines."

When dealer saw it ~1 month ago, they checked the yellow box ("may require future attention" box) next to an item that says "Fuel lines & connections/fuel tank bands/fuel tank vapor vent system hoses (damage/leaks/corrosion)." Of course since they didn't really give us the time of day after their inspection, we had no way to clarify with them what exactly they were referring to.

Please help guys. As usual, any and all input would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you. Will email video to mechanic and attempt to reach him today - they're only open M-F, but he did say he'd be there today from 10-2, so not sure if I'll be able to communicate w/him today or not.

 

We're taking Taco back out there now. I was able to reach him and describe what's happening, and he said all he can think is the fuel pump, since that's virtually the only thing that hasn't been replaced on our fuel system. I told him how the Haynes manual refers to a possible vapor lock situation, and he said they can definitely check the EVAP system, but doubts it's that because we would have gotten a check engine light, which we didn't. Does anyone have thoughts? I'm just nervous to keep throwing more parts/money at it without having a pretty solid hunch about what the heck we're doing, as we're already in for nearly $6K at this point........would be great to get feedback from you guys, in an effort to help us chase the correct problem.....

 

Are you guys just starting the truck, letting it sit at idle, turning it off, and restarting 30 minutes later?

As for the innovate guage, there is no need to wait for it to "warm" up. Ive had an innovate for 5 years on my 350z with no issues with immediate starting.

 

I think yer just freakin out over nuthin. I would suggest driving it for a few weeks and see if it gets any better. Have you done your "Mojo" on it? You replaced it's heart, you will have to get to know it now, every car has it's own personality....

 

I'll say that to ME it does sound as if starving for fuel, or flooded. (Both tend to sound the same cranking) when you are starting from a 30 minute sit. I doubt it is a vapor lock. While it CAN happen, vapor lock is VERY rare in modern vehicles today.

The only way to know what is going on for sure is to get an in-lime fuel pressure gauge and watch what the fuel pressure does.

 

Thanks guys. Just dropped it off there.

This time, starting it to drive up there, it had sat for ~2 hours, so I assume it was completely "cold start." And it barely started - unfortunately, we didn't think to video that start, but it cranked for considerably longer than even the worst of the starts in the video. Does the fact that now it's even having a tough time starting cold mean anything significant? I definitely don't think we're just freakin out over nuthin, or should wait to see if it corrects itself - we played that game w/the check engine light (loose gas cap, whatevs attitude) - lesson learned the expensive way. WILL BE TAKING ANY LITTLE ODD STUFF SERIOUSLY NOW!!!!!!!

Bamatoy, he's gonna check the evap system, then I'm guessing move on to the pump. He said he did check the pressure gauge, so that's what is strange - but maybe the results were barely OK or something, so he hoped for the best and told us to pick it up yesterday? Don't know.

C3 rolling, yes, we are starting it, letting it sit at idle for maybe 2-3 minutes, then shutting off. Do you think we're flooding it by doing that, meaning maybe there is NO problem, and we're actually creating an imaginary problem by doing that? And good to know about your experience w/the gauge, thanks for the tip.

One other random question - ~1 week ago, we had them replace the fuel filter, even though it's something we could have done ourselves, because we felt like while they were trying to get to the bottom of all fuel system issues, we figured that would be a cheap part with cheap labor cost, so just in case it was filthy/damaged and might explain something, why not. But the strange thing is, our invoice says:

"Labor - Replace fuel filter on frame rail" - $76.50
"Part - Fuel filter 3.4 L 3378 CC V6 5VZFE DOHC" - $26.99 - (looks like it's a Bosch, after googling the item code on the invoice)

I realize this is something I need to just ask the mechanic, but I'm wondering, is there more than one fuel filter, or did we get completely robbed on the labor for this? My understanding was that this is a super easy item to replace.

 

What Bama said and in addition a scanner with live data needs to be involved along with a person that knows what they are doing reading it. Things like intake air temp and engine coolant temp sensors need to be ruled out. This approach should have been done in the first place before throwing a FPR at it.

I realize the budget is getting thin but the frequency of Tacoma fuel pump failures really starts to pick up around 175K miles so just changing them out at that mileage as PM is not a bad idea at all. More so if you spend time in the back country. It's not a hard DIY job at all and an OEM Denso pump kit can be had for a bit over $100 from Rockauto.

 

Sounds like a new pump is a good idea regardless of what is found then.

 

I agree that a new pump is a viable option to consider. The fact that you let it run a couple of minutes is not going to cause flooding or anything like that. Flooding, in the way I was talking about it, would be perhaps a faulty regulator diaphram that leaks fuel directly into the intake, or a stuck injector leaking fuel, will cause a short-term flooding condition. This results in extended crank times. Again, not a guarantee, but a possibility.

 

Maybe I missed it, did the throttle body and the intake air controller get cleaned?

 

I'm not sold on being a bad pump. You didn't have this issue with the old motor, so something changed during the repair process.

1-starts great cold.

2-starts shitty when warm

I'm leaning towards something simple. There are temperature sensors that tell the fuel how to start the truck, it the truck getting a signal telling it that the engine is cold? this would act like the choke was engaged on a carbed engine. Thus hard starts when warm.

 

I just took a look at my AlData account and found this diagram. It shows quite a few of the sensors on out motors. I wonder if that coolant temp sensor is bad or if there is a cut wire?

Here is the diagram if your interested.