Is the Check Engine Light on? Have you put an OBDII reader on it to check for any codes? What vehicle/engine is it?
Oooh , I have a 2001 3RZ as well! I'd start by looking at Crank & Cam Position Sensors. Coil packs, ground wires, etc. This sounds like an electric issue more than fuel/air.
Seems to me 335k miles on gas 4 lot of miles pretty worn engine. Why that last plug will not come out, aluminum head? Water in that cylinder? Oil milky? Radiator level still up? Above texashardcore ask good questions. Sure would like to get last plug out
Timing chain isn't likely. If it were a V6 with the timing belt, yes, but the 3RZ's all have chains and are not prone to those issues. Have you tested all of the fuses & relays? With the cam & crank sensors, either test them or replace them to rule them out. They're not very expensive and they're simple to get to. MAF Sensor, IAC, TPS...all of these send signals to the ECM that could possibly lead to this no start. Could be an ECM, bad wire in the harness, etc. I'm just spit balling here, as I'm lucky to not have had any issues with my 245k miles 3RZ Tacoma over the last 13yrs. It has been the best vehicle I've ever had, and I have vowed to never sell it.
If the engine is not getting fuel, but it has spark and compression, it should run with starting fluid. But if it's flooded, or had been flooded and the plugs are fouled (which you can't always tell by looking at them), then starting fluid won't make it run. Usually having 3 cylinders with adequate compression will let a 4 cyl engine run. The compression numbers don't indicate a blown head gasket, but a blown head gasket can do interesting things. Ignition...fuel...it's all controlled by a computer that relies on proper signals from sensors.
1. Does spraying starting fluid eliminate fuel system problems, keeping in mind that it's a complex fuel system? It bypasses the fuel system, so it doesn't eliminate the fuel system problems, but will help eliminate sensors/electrical issues. 2. Does a large compression difference make the engine not start? That variance of compression across the cylinders doesn't seem to be enough to cause a no start. It'll still run 3. Blown head gasket? You'd see a bigger variance across the cylinders in the compression test, or water in the oil/oil in the water, really bad spark plugs, or smoke out the tailpipe. it'll still run. 4. Any other ideas? If that pick & pull long block is decently priced, I'd jump on it and save it for if and when it's needed. A pullout 3RZ is expensive, a rebuilt 3RZ is even more expensive.
Does the throttle plate move when you turn the key on and try and start it? If you plug it in to a reader can you ‘see’ the crank sensor?
The light flashing sounds like anti-theft. OE or aftermarket, they would normally interrupt spark and fuel (still crank). Compression is high enough in the 3 tested to pop, if sprayed with fuel and has properly timed spark. Disconnect the battery, charge it if low, then try again after a while, making sure to actuate any keyless entry or alarm before entering. If it still will crank but not even pop and still has a spark, it's either timed wrong (cam/crank=chain, most commonly tensioner) or spark timing is wrong (cam/crank sensor) and the computer is unable to trigger spark at the right time. If you can pull codes after this test, they may help.
Basic code reader should register rpm (live data) when it’s turning over on the starter that’ll confirm the crank sensor is working.
Customer Concern: It will not stay running but it does crank up and it will not idle. Average Reported Mileage: 190213 Tests/Procedures: 1. When the vehicle is cold and the problem is occurring, open the throttle slightly and check to see if the engine will start and stay running. 2. Check the idle air control valve opening voltage. The Black/Red wire should read approximately 3.5 to 4.5 volts during crank and slowly go towards 8 volts when warm. 3. Remove the idle air control valve and monitor the opening angle of the rotary valve when the key is turned on and off. The valve should move. Tech Tips: There is a bimetal element built into the idle air control valve that forces high idle when cold. The valve can work perfectly fine by electrical control but not operate mechanically. This will cause a start and stall situation when cold. Saw this, If you haven't checked the Idle Air Control Valve yet.
Customer Concern: The engine starts and then dies after a few seconds of running. It seems to have injector pulse and spark when it dies. Average Reported Mileage: 156637 Tests/Procedures: 1. Eliminate the vehicle's fuel supply and then run the engine on external fuel to see if it will stay running. If the engine stays running, check to see if they are clicking when running it on external fuel. Check the injector on time. Normal idle on time is close to 3.0 M.S. 2. If there is no injector pulse, monitor the IGF signal from the ignition coils to the Engine Control Module (ECM) to see if it is steady signal. If the signal is cutting out, disconnect one coil at a time to see if the pattern changes. One faulty coil can affect the signal from all the coils. 3. Check the crankshaft position sensor to see if it has a good pattern. It should produce 3 volts peak to peak on a lab scope. And this one for the crank sensor.
Is there a schrader valve on the fuel feed so you can just see if you’ve got fuel by pressing it, put a cloth over it so you don’t get it in the face.
Something you might consider is looking up "miniVCI" on ebay. I got one of these cables for our 2GR Toy and it's saved my bacon a couple of times when the check engine light came on. You need a laptop or Windows tablet to run the software but it is the real deal when it comes to interfacing with the computer system in the vehicle. The cable is around $25 but there's a couple of things to look out for when installing it. Rather than posting the info here (Ryan may not want it) just look up forums where people are using the miniVCI cable to read and alter the computer in your Toyota. Look up "Techstream" on Youtube for more info. I have the drivers on hand for the v1.4 cable and they've been extracted so there are no nasty surprises hidden like there were in the downloaded drivers.
To help you with understanding how the sensors work....... First, the computer system normally sends a 5 volt signal to a sensor and then checks to see how much voltage returned from the sensor to the computer. Most sensors work on the premise that they produce resistance to the voltage flow. In an "Air Temperature Sensor" or a "Coolant Temperature Sensor", the air or coolant will heat or cool the sensor and the resistance changes.........so less than 5 volts returns to the computer. The engineers have a computed value for the voltage stored in the computer, and the computer then knows what the air temperature or coolant temperature is. They use a nominal "5 volts" as a reference because trying to use 12 volts would cause incorrect readings when a battery was not fully charged. Even with the 5 volt reference, the battery needs to be reasonably well charged. Some other sensors use whats called a "Hall Effect" to interrupt the voltage signal returning to the computer. A magnetic field is interrupted as the "teeth" on a timing wheel pass the sensor. The timing wheel is on the crankshaft, so the teeth tell the computer which cylinder is ready for ignition (and maybe a squirt from the fuel injector). Logically, this sensor is called a "Crank Position Sensor". Since the crankshaft makes two revolutions to complete its 4 cycles, the computer also needs to know which upstroke is the combustion and which is the exhaust. So another sensor is placed on the camshaft to let the computer know which is which. This sensor is called the "cam position sensor". Often when a problem like yours occurs, it is because one or the other of these sensors has failed. You have decent enough compression for the engine to run. You tried spraying ether and it didn't help. That indicates there is a good chance you are not getting spark or at least not getting it at the right time. Something you want to realize here is that the signals going from the sensors to the computer are not computed codes that you have to understand, but simply voltage that is either varying because of resistance to its flow, or voltage that got interrupted when a tooth on the cam or crank interrupts a magnetic field in the sensor as it passes the sensor. Thats essentially all thats happening. Within the computer, all the preprogrammed calculations reside. You simply look at a small screen that displays what the computer is telling the engine to do. If you want to change something, you merely select a different result and tell the computer thats what you want it to do. If it's displaying an 11.3 to 1 fuel ratio and you want 11.6......simply change the information in that block on the screen to be 11.6. The computer then makes the adjustment to obtain that fuel/air ratio. I would suggest replacing those two sensors. They are easy to get to. I would also suggest that you go on Amazon and buy a diagnostic Scanner and the book shown below is still available on Ebay. Its written in a manner thats geared to someone trying to learn about computer cars. The basic operation of EFI is really pretty simple. You just need to learn the names of the sensors and then it gets easier. Most of the names are pretty logical. Idle Air Control (IAC), or the O2 Sensor(Oxygen sensor) senses the percentage of oxygen leaving in the exhaust pipe so the computer knows whether the engine is burning all the fuel or running rich or lean. Intake Air Temperature ( IAT ) How cold/warm is the air entering the engine.......etc.
Common 3 wire sensor. Numbers are generic, not exact. One wire is 5 volt reference. These are often ganged, so 2 or more sensors share this circuit. This allows diagnosing the circuit. 1 bad signal? Probably not reference. These 2? Could be the reference. The next wire is signal return. As said, 0 volts to 5 volts. In almost all cases, they will only use most of this range, again for diagnosing the circuit. 0-.5 volts is not a valid return voltage. This shows the circuit is shorted to ground or open. 4.8-5 volts is not a valid return voltage. It shows the signal circuit or the sensor is shorted to the reference. .5 to 4.8 is a valid return and will tell the computer what the sensor is 'seeing'. Even this is usually outside normal range so abnormalities are 'seen'. Think about extremes for the outside (Ambient) air temperature. Anything from the Arctic to Death Valley. Add a bit at each end to cover any unexpected extreme. Third wire is ground. Since the voltage is low and every bit of voltage for the whole car returns through ground, there is a bunch of noise and it's easily possible a bit of corrosion will change the signal. So they have dedicated grounds back to the computer. These are often shared with many sensors and are not usually used like the reference to diagnose.
A few years ago we were on vacation, pulling a big hill coming out of one city late in the day with my wife's 4-cylinder modern SUV. Suddenly the check engine light started flashing and it was instantly down on power. It was running terrible. We ended up limping it back to the city down the hill, and I talked to my buddy who was a master mechanic for the same brand. I got a code scanner and ran the codes, misfire on one cylinder. So I changed the plugs, swapped coils and injectors hole for hole (to see if the misfire would follow), and nothing worked. Got it towed to a dealer, rented a car, and continued our road trip. Turned out that we burnt a piston, and it broke the ring land. It ran terrible, but I was shocked it was that serious. It was a reliable brand of car with low miles. Get a borescope, get that last plug out, and check the cylinders and pistons.
Please share the resolution to this issue when you find it. I'm very, very impressed with the knowledge presented here. You guys have made this computer crap almost understandable, lol.
There can be a lot of frustration learning how to work with Electronic Fuel Injection simply because people trying to explain tend to tell you way more than you need to know all at one time. They are trying to help, but it's like trying to explain how a beautiful girl looks to someone who is blind. They don't have a frame of reference to associate things. Once someone has a mental picture of how it BASICALLY works, they see its much easier than they thought. Then like anything else, gaining a little more knowledge becomes much easier. Most people who successfully convert to EFI end up being happy with it.........if they basically understand it. Its when someone bolts one on without that basic understanding that they usually have a problem. Oh, I'm not an expert on this stuff either..........but I stayed at a Holiday Inn once.
This sounds intriguing. Is the vehicle new enough to have a some kind of a "chipped" or transponder key? Maybe some kind of anti-theft sensor in the ignition switch, or a failed vehicle roll-over sensor? Does the "Check Wallet Light" at least light up when the ignition switch is in the on position without cranking?
You will get live data with the miniVCI cable and the Techstream software. Techstream is the dealership software and what they use to service your vehicle. As RodStRace said, the sensors are the key and the best way to check them is if you can get live data. I went the ELM route and tossed it when I discovered miniVCI. With the miniVCI and Techstream you can stream live data, check historical DTCs, current DTCs and clear DTCs for testing. You can also properly bleed the brakes, change reprogrammable options (door locks and such), check TPM battery life and too much more to mention here. Regarding the Check Engine light and its function, flashing means STOP NOW and shut down the engine to prevent catastrophic damage (if it already hasn't happened) and steady means there's a problem but you can continue driving to take it in and get it repaired. Ignore the flashing light at your own risk.
On removing the spark plug, it's just like any steel into aluminum issue. It's probably galling along the threads. Slow and steady, work it a little at a time, with a lot of lube. If it doesn't start getting easier, heat would be the next step. This can be tricky, depending on what's around it, but you do NOT need to heat it a lot. Aluminum expands faster than steel, so a little heat, squirt the lube, heat again, then while it's still hot, try easing it in and out. I had the issue 2 days ago, got lucky, didn't need heat. Expect the head to need some care before installing another plug.
I'd work on getting that spark plug out. Once its out pull the valve cover and verify your timing marks and check chain tightness. If your marks are aligned I don't think I'd waste the time tearing into the motor much deeper than that.
Just reading your first post again are you sure you’ve got the injectors connected in the right order? I know you said you tried ez start but maybe it wasn’t enough.
I will toss in my 2 cents, I think @TexasHardcore may have nailed it in his 2nd post with crank & cam sensors. I have a different vehicle that uses crank & cam sensors. If the cam sensor goes bad, it will still run .... kinda just does fine tuning. If the crank sensor goes bad, it will not run at all. You will still get spark from the coil but no signal from the crank sensor to the computer to run. The way you describe it lost power then died .... tried to start a few times now nothing .... could easily be a dying sensor that is dead now. The simple fact the car has 335K miles on it and original sensors ... you kinda said no work has been done in the past for repairs, just good maintenance. Point is, crank sensors go bad and leave you sitting on the side of the road .... I know this. When mine went bad at 187K, I replaced the coil, wires, plugs, sensors and just consider it as maintenance. You had wet plugs so you are getting fuel, you have spark .... crank sensor is timing. It replaces a distributor. I would not hesitate to just replace them now .... may not fix your issue, chance it will. If it turns out to be something else, you still have original crank sensor in ..... just a matter of time before it fails and you are facing same symptoms again .... My 1991 Chevrolet truck has a ignition control module inside the distributor. It went out on me a couple months ago. Dead in the water. That sends the signal to the computer to run .... the crank sensor does the same thing .... they go bad.
I hate to say it .... I would probably be better off to just ignore your post and move on. Since I love you as a brother .... I want to help you. You have 14 questions above asking for answers ..... tells me you do not have a clue as a mechanic to actually fix the problem .... 1 or 2 questions I get it ..... 14 questions take the car to someone else. You will never figure it out and if you want your girls car running and save face ..... you need to be smart and have it properly diagnosed. With your 14 questions above, you are obviously not qualified to fix it ..... thats fine. To drag a poor girl through your BS when she needs a car .... grow a set and ask a professional ... you will never fix it.
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