Need help please, 22RTE sputtering

GONOVRIT · Mar 21, 2015

1987 22rte with a cut harness in a tube chassis. Start the engine and it has a tad of a high idle, you can rev it now. Wait about a minute and it will idle down to around what is normal(not running a tach) give it gas and it sputters and pops. If I hold it there for say 10 seconds, wait 3-5 seconds and hit the throttle again it will rev, wait till it idles down and it sputters again. It is not driveable. Not sure if it has anything to do with it but the engine did get wet in a rainstorm while traveling on the trailer, it ran fine when I loaded it. Traveled 4.5hrs to ride for the wknd and came home early, not happy. I appreciate any help and suggestions as I'm pretty much out of ideas. I've had this happen twice before, first time it cleared up on its own, second time found water in the diagnostic port. The Diagnostic port has been sealed well since then and was bone dry this time.

Here are just a few things I tried;

Plugs and wires look good
Distributor is good and dry
swapped ecm's and nothing changed
fuel pressure is 40lb
swapped coils nothing changed

bamatoy · Mar 21, 2015

You have a spare tps to swap on it?

chembree · Mar 21, 2015

Mine was doing pretty much the same thing and the fuel pump was going bad .....

Rokcrler · Mar 21, 2015

Re:

Mine did the same when it got rained on. Dry all the plugs and add dielectric grease. Mine was mainly the distributor/igniter plug

GONOVRIT · Mar 21, 2015

bamatoy said:
You have a spare tps to swap on it?

Yes but I've always been a little intimidated from touching that due to the problems that could result from not getting it set correctly, I'll feel better about it once I get educated more. I actually have another engine that I use for parts. I run an e2000 fuel pump, I swapped it out yesterday and nothing changed, as mentioned the FP is steady at 40lb.

GNorton · Mar 22, 2015

Also, pinching off the return line momentarily would smooth it out perfectly. We had a guage on it and the pressures were good while it was stumbling. You could actually hear the stumble at idle also.

bluetoy · Mar 22, 2015

The Toyota TPS does not like getting wet. It will fry them for sure. However, it sounds more like a fuel pressure issue. Especially, since pinching the return line clears it up. If you have a spare fuel pressure regulator, swap it out. I've seen these go bad and cause this exact problem.

GONOVRIT · Mar 22, 2015

Well I just drove the buggy. No hesitation, sputtering or backfiring. Just a higher idle than before that will not go away. I Don't want this to fix itself, I REALLY need to know what is causing this to happen. Could the high idle still be a result of the tps or regulator?

GONOVRIT · Mar 22, 2015

Turned the idle air screw to an rpm I was comfortable with and took it for a drive. It's running as strong as it ever has now. I want to waterproof this thing as if it's a mud truck. With that said I don't know any of their tricks. This will get wet again but I desperately want to prevent this episode from happening again.

al1tonyota · Mar 22, 2015

GONOVRIT said:
Turned the idle air screw to an rpm I was comfortable with and took it for a drive. It's running as strong as it ever has now. I want to waterproof this thing as if it's a mud truck. With that said I don't know any of their tricks. This will get wet again but I desperately want to prevent this episode from happening again.

Get a tube of dielectric grease and fill all the connectors on the engine with it will keep water out and a lot easier to deal with down the road unlike silicone!

Rokcrler · Mar 22, 2015

Re: Re: Re:

Rokcrler said:
Mine did the same when it got rained on. Dry all the plugs and add dielectric grease. Mine was mainly the distributor/igniter plug

Answer was posted already :dblthumb:

dwa2469 · Mar 23, 2015

Had the same described problem, turned out to be a poor connection to the AFM .

GONOVRIT · Mar 23, 2015

We checked the afm as well, removed it and all. We thoroughly finger ****ed the entire engine. Its still eating me as to what it was. It's been brought up to wet parts down one at a time but I regularly wash the engine and don't get this issue so it could be just a waste of time. In a soaking rainstorm going 75mph on a trailer I don't think there are any parts or electronics that could be eliminated from not getting wet for sure.