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Master techs and experts, solve this head scratcher!??


sexybluelady

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Okay, well I've been having issues with my truck for years now. As some may remember my truck was heavily vandalized by a group of students at my old college. Fast forward three almost 4 years later. I have gotten it back to being derivable. But it still have a strange problem that I can't figure out.

When It is started from being ice cold, it fires right up on the first crank, will run great for about a min, then it starts to surge really bad to the point were it sounds like it has a miss fire, sometimes backfires out the exhaust, until it warms up then it idles great, and runs great. If I put a load on the engine the idle will sometimes sorta even it's self out a little bit. Say if I turn on the heater to full blast, the idle also starts to choke on it's self if I turn on my backup lights when I am reversing. Never had that problem before. I know that some may be yelling that it's the IAC but so far it pass test via my ohm meter and the good ole, "unplug it to see if the idle changes". It is new (which doesn't say much now a days), I have taken it off and cleaned it as well.

To get my truck back into running and driving condition I had to do the following after my truck was vandalized. PLEASE READ! what I have already replaced, fixed and diagnosed before telling me to do something that I have already done. thanks :)

New fuel tank,
both fuel pumps new
New fuel filter
New FPR
New coil
Tune up, plugs, cap, rotor, wires, PCV, air filter, oil change, ALT PS belts new
New fuel injectors
Cleaned out the fuel rails
New water pump, thermostat
New timing chain, reset my timing
New IAC
New MAP
NEW TPS, adjusted the TPS sensor as well to 0.96volts (throttle "closed")
NEW coolant temp sensor both gauge and temp sensor
Changed out the intake gaskets and exhaust header gaskets
New Fuel pump relay
New motor mounts
Did a vacuum test, no signs of exhaust blockage, motor has good vacuum
Compression test, cly were between 145-165psi, no cyl had zero compression
Replaced ign module on the dizzy
New clutch and clutch slave cly
New o2 sensor
Sprayed carb cleaner EVERYWHERE to check for vacuum leaks, found none
Seafoam the **** out of the intake used deep creep, then a bottle in the gas tank and a some in the crankcase (mixed with engine oil)

Misc things, rewired my lights and cb radio and amp. replaced e-brake cables, rear brakes, front brakes, new u-joints all around, driver side axle, fixed steering wheel looseness, new steering damper, balanced driveshaft, new tires (students slashed my old/new 33' mickies), made a headache rack, toolbox, body work and installed bullhorns.

Yea it's been a LONG ASS project.:icon_surprised: I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Anyhow my truck has been through Hades and back. I do not know what else it could be unless, maybe the new IAC is bad, or maybe I need a bigger heavy duty battery? or the alt upgrade (which I plan on doing anyhow). I'm trying to think of anything and everything right now.


I have VIDEO that I took of what it is doing, it is uploading to my youtube channel right now.
 


sexybluelady

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Here goes the video. I'm now thinking that maybe I am having power issues? Since it's not as bad when a load in put on the engine. Time to upgrade to a 130amp alt?????
https://youtu.be/AidW3h4UdqM
 

Spott

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I'm definitely going to say it sounds like an electrical power supply issue, based on your examples of the blower motor and the backup lights.

The stock alternators on the 2.9 were always on the weak side.

If you haven't already, also check your battery connectors, alternator cables, and main power/ground wires for damage or corrosion.
 

sexybluelady

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I'm definitely going to say it sounds like an electrical power supply issue, based on your examples of the blower motor and the backup lights.

The stock alternators on the 2.9 were always on the weak side.

If you haven't already, also check your battery connectors, alternator cables, and main power/ground wires for damage or corrosion.
Yup checked those yesterday. I'm going to head down to the local scrap yard and pick up a 130amp alternator, a have a gut feeling it will solve everything.
 

sexybluelady

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Just a update, it's not the Alternator even though I needed to do that upgrade. I went ahead and checked my timing again who knows the 5th time. It was off by a lot, not sure how it slipped so much. My locking nut on the dizzy was tight and the dizzy couldn't move without backing off the locking bolt. When I reset my timing back to 10 it sounded great but my idle was sky high way over 2grand. It was around 2200k to sometimes 2500k.

I then double checked my tps to make sure that it was adjusted correctly at 0.96volts it was right on the money. My AIC only has two wires power and ground, unplugged it and the engine idle changed via the computer trying to compensate, I tentatively ruled it out. And the motor would buck after 5 mins of driving it around. I had to back off my timing a bit and retard it back a few degs to get the idle down to 1k and in order to get it back to a drive-able condition.

It doesn't look like my harmonic blancer has moved at all, it is a little beat up since it's a old truck, but it doesn't appear to be shifting around on it's own. Now I am back to square one of trying to figure out what is going on with my truck.
 

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Ok just to make sure how are you checking your timing?
 

sexybluelady

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Ok just to make sure how are you checking your timing?
With a good ole timing light. Nothing special. Take out the pill, hook up your lead cable to spark plug wire of cly 1. aim your light at the harmonic balancer, and move your distributor until the light matches up to the correct mark (desired degree) on the harmonic pulley. This is after of course you find TDC and set the rotor to cly 1. Just the standard, nothing out of the ordinary, but hey I can be missing something, we all look over things from time to time. :)
 

adsm08

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In my professional opinion, it's f*cked.

The speakers on my computer suck. Is it actually surging, or is it just the tach jumping?

I notice you didn't replace the ignition pickup. That sensor is bascially the cam and crank position sensor in one, and COULD cause either potential symptom, but is more likely to cause a no-start. So could a bent vane on the rotor.
 
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sexybluelady

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In my professional opinion, it's f*cked.

The speakers on my computer suck. Is it actually surging, or is it just the tach jumping?

I notice you didn't replace the ignition pickup. That sensor is bascially the cam and crank position sensor in one, and COULD cause either potential symptom, but is more likely to cause a no-start. So could a bent vane on the rotor.
I did replace the ignition pickup, I forgot all about that. I think that you are right thought, sigh. My baby does have over 660k on it, old Helga has grey hairs now. I was just thinking about how I will probably have to rebuild the entire top end come spring time, heads, push rods, valves blablabla the whole nine yards. Or I can try to find a mitsu 4dtt (I think that is the engine code) 4 cly turbo diesel motor. I've been looking for one of those for ages! When I have money I can never find one, but when I'm dead broke one always shows up out of the blue.
 

adsm08

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4D55. That would be a nice swap. A 4BT would be good too, but both are expensive.

Look around for people scrapping or parting forklifts. The 4D55 was only used in the Rangers for a year or two, but that is still a common engine in larger Mitsubishi forklifts.

The truck can be fixed. Its just a matter of tracking down the problem.

I never did get an answer to my question though. Is it actually surging, with the engine revving up and then bogging out, or is the tach just jumping around? Like I said, the speakers on my computer suck, even with it turned up all the way I can barely hear the narration, let alone the engine.

Also, if you have a spare dis, or feel like having to re-spike the one in there, you could pull it out, turn the key on, and run the distributor with a drill. This will simulate the engine running at a constant speed, and should make the tach run consistently. This would rule out a wiring issue, and would eliminate a number of potential causes.
 
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sexybluelady

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.....

I never did get an answer to my question though. Is it actually surging, with the engine revving up and then bogging out, or is the tach just jumping around?.....

if you have a spare dis, or feel like having to re-spike the one in there, you could pull it out, turn the key on, and run the distributor with a drill. This will simulate the engine running at a constant speed, and should make the tach run consistently. This would rule out a wiring issue, and would eliminate a number of potential causes.
Oh sorry about that, I didn't mean to ignore yea. Yes it the motor is actually surging and bogging. Not nearly as bad as before, after I messed around with the timing again and dialed it in as much as it could be dialed in. But it still surges for a little bit about a few mins after the engine is started for the first of the day dead cold startup. I haven't had any backfiring out of the exhaust lately as well. And the surging/bogging cycle doesn't last as long as it used to. As soon as it warms up it drives and sounds great, it's still just that short period in-between cold and warm up.

I gave my spare dis away to another member that really needed one to test out something on his truck. When it's not snowing out I'll give the drill a shot. I've heard about that trick before, but I've never had a opportunity to use it myself.

Like always I wish you lived closer to me, most of the people that are local are goobers, and I know that they cut way to many corners (from working with them personally) so I can't call on them for any suggestions.

Thank you for the input as well, always appreciated.:icon_thumby:
 

sexybluelady

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UPDATE!!
I figured out that I must of given the distributor that had the new ign pickup in it to another fourm member that needed a working distributor. I went ahead and bit the bullet and picked up a new distributor since it was only about 12 dollars more for a entire new distributor vs just getting another pickup coil. Long story short, it looks like it fixed the problem. The truck started up and sounded great just like a new born with a bit of a smokers cough. :) I still have to fine tune my timing but so far so good.

My oil pressure dummy light also came on, but I think I may have kicked the wire loose when I was climbing up into my engine bay. I will mess around with that tomorrow. But for now I am happy that it looks like my baby is finally doing better. Now I just have to do some body work and chase down some rust spots.

Hopefully this will help out someone else that may be having trouble with their truck.
 

adsm08

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Called it.

I kinda wish you were a little closer too. You seem to run into enough screwball problems that I would love to get into personally, rather than play arm-chair mechanic.
 
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sexybluelady

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Thanks, you have helped me catch things that I have missed more than once. You were right on the nose.

I refuse to get a new car. When i was a tech at Honda and we were learning about the new OBD3, I was like nope not for me. You are a rolling plastic and fiber glass computer box that can be hacked by a 10 year old with six months worth of coding experience. I'm keeping my old cars running until they grow roots into the ground.

While looking over my oil pressure switch I noticed a pretty good leak coming from between my transfer case housing and transmission. Looks like my snowy weekend is gonna be booked again with me replacing hopefully just a gasket.
 

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