HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here --- SOLVED

HageredYota85 · Dec 1, 2015

Some quick info im working on an early 22R swapped into an 88 truggy with weber carb and mechanical fuel pump. It gets fuel and air perfectly. I cannot get the distributor to fire all 4. We have tried a brand new distributor with vacuum advance and 2 others that we know are working for certain. The issue is the same with all 3 distributors. We reset the engine to top dead center on the intake stroke as well as exhaust stroke (we tried both ways just to be sure we werent 180 degrees out of time). The timing light works on the coil cable, but it is intermittent on the spark plug cables. It flashed just enough on spark plug cable #1 for us to set the engine at 8 degrees of timing. We have replaced 3 ground cables. We voltage and ohm tested ALL ignition components per internet and fsm instructions(multiple sources). Everything checks out true to specs. We even put the new distributor, coil and ignitor in another buggy and it all works perfectly normal. Sooooo WHAT COULD BE THE PROBLEM in the 88truggy that makes the distributor not work?!?!?!

TBItoy · Dec 1, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

Is the ignitor and coil well grounded in the 88truggy?

HageredYota85 · Dec 1, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

TBItoy said:
Is the ignitor and coil well grounded in the 88truggy?

Yeah i sanded the mounting surfaces and brushed the bolt threads. Also it has a GM one wire alternator and it keeps the optima red top a juicy 14.2 volts. The boys at the garage are pissed off and ready to set the truggy on fire!!! Thats why im here now!

zukimaster · Dec 2, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

I'm no toyota guy, but make sure you have a full 12 volts going from the switch to the coil, if it's like a older GM setup, the switch wire goes to the starter solenoid, then to the coil, but for a quick test, just run a jumper wire from the + battery to the + coil side and see what it does.

84mallcrawl · Dec 2, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

also check the pickup inside the distributor if it is too far away of has "dirt" on it you will get the no fire random misfire situation

HageredYota85 · Dec 2, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

We put a wire from batt + to coil + and it didnt change anything. Cap and rotor are in working order on all 3 distributors that we have tried.

Yotanut · Dec 2, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

got a timing chain once that had 1 too many links in it. My freaking luck

al1tonyota · Dec 2, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

Is the rotor button turning when you crank the engine?
Is the block grounded?
Not sure if there are differences but do you have a efi dist or carb dist?
When you say not firing you are referring to the spark and not the actual engine starting right?

HageredYota85 · Dec 3, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

al1tonyota said:
Is the rotor button turning when you crank the engine?
Is the block grounded?
Not sure if there are differences but do you have a efi dist or carb dist?
When you say not firing you are referring to the spark and not the actual engine starting right?

Correct. We actually had it running 2 days ago. The engine ran great when it was in the donor! We have efi and carb distributors. I believe it is a grounding issue myself, but like i said we changed all 3 ground cables soooo...

al1tonyota · Dec 3, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

HageredYota85 said:
Correct. We actually had it running 2 days ago. The engine ran great when it was in the donor! We have efi and carb distributors. I believe it is a grounding issue myself, but like i said we changed all 3 ground cables soooo...

Did y'all use the original (same) wiring from dist to the ignitor? Didn't reverse the wires by accident?

HageredYota85 · Dec 3, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

Yes stock wires with big green plugs. :dunno:

The truck owner is getting some 0gauge cable tomorrow to rewire everything so i said fook it let him tinker with it I have a V8 swap project of my own to work on tonight anyways!

KyTrash · Dec 4, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

HageredYota85 said:
Yeah i sanded the mounting surfaces and brushed the bolt threads. Also it has a GM one wire alternator and it keeps the optima red top a juicy 14.2 volts. The boys at the garage are pissed off and ready to set the truggy on fire!!! Thats why im here now! Unhook the alternator and try starting it. I saw a Gm one wire cause this before. Why, I can't answer that question, but it would run with the alternator unhooked and miss like crazy & when it was hooked backup. Good Luck.

bluetoy · Dec 5, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

Doesn't sound electrical to me. If the coil and igniter is firing at all, it is working. The distributor decides which cylinder it goes to. You say the distributor works fine in another rig, so that rules it out. Essentially, you have power and ground on the coil, and two wires from the distributor to the coil. Not a lot to go wrong there.

Is it a dead miss on a specific cylinder(s)? Checked compression?

HageredYota85 · Dec 7, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

No progress yet. It still has no spark on 1 and 3. Engine gets spark and runs on 2 and 4 only. Its like the rotor wont transfer electricity to 1 and 3, but like i said before the distributor is brand new and works fine in other engines :dunno:

compression is good on all 4 cylinders. The GM alternator might be an issue somehow but i dont know why it would be :dunno:

RustyC · Dec 7, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

Bad plug wires on 1&3? Do the ole switcheroo and recheck.

jethrobodean · Dec 8, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

You 100% positive that it's spark it's not getting on those 2 cylinders & not lack of fuel? Get you a newbie & check it with a method other than an inductive pickup ;D

It is a pretty common issue for the soldered together wires under the intake for the injectors to get corroded & drop a cylinder or 2, especially immediately after handling it so extensively. (Still causes a miss, but it's because it's not firing those injectors) Also pretty common to forget to connect the ground wire under there too after head or swap work, which could cause ECM issues,

TBItoy · Dec 8, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

HageredYota85 said:
No progress yet. It still has no spark on 1 and 3. Engine gets spark and runs on 2 and 4 only. Its like the rotor wont transfer electricity to 1 and 3, but like i said before the distributor is brand new and works fine in other engines compression is good on all 4 cylinders. The GM alternator might be an issue somehow but i dont know why it would be

Are you pulling the plug wire and actually checking spark? Or going off it missing?

Toyota efi is batch fire, so that makes me think you have an injector harness or ecm issue.

Make sure that ground on the intake is grounded, and that there is a ground from the Intake to block. Stock there is a steel brace from the intake to the block, sometimes on swaps it gets left off and the intake isn't grounded good enough.

HageredYota85 · Dec 8, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

TBItoy said:
Are you pulling the plug wire and actually checking spark? Or going off it missing?

Toyota efi is batch fire, so that makes me think you have an injector harness or ecm issue.

Make sure that ground on the intake is grounded, and that there is a ground from the Intake to block. Stock there is a steel brace from the intake to the block, sometimes on swaps it gets left off and the intake isn't grounded good enough.

Its a weber carbuerator setup. No efi or computer. We used a timing light to verify spark. A timing light will work on all 5 spark cables. All grounds have been uprgraded to 4ga and 8ga monster cable but its still having the same issue.

ROKTOY829 · Dec 8, 2015

Re:

Have you pulled the plugs out on them cylinders. Wondering if you don't have fouled plugs.

TBItoy · Dec 8, 2015

Re: HELP! i have a problem for the TOYOTA ELECTRICAL GURUS on here to help me with!?

HageredYota85 said:
Its a weber carbuerator setup. No efi or computer. We used a timing light to verify spark. A timing light will work on all 5 spark cables. All grounds have been uprgraded to 4ga and 8ga monster cable but its still having the same issue.

Oh. **** I forgot the "backstory" and didn't feel like going back and re-reading.