DaveT

Weird to be getting so many... check the ground wire in the engine harness, it is bolted to the lower part of the thermostat housing. Near the CTS and the temperature gauge sender.

Year of Toyota is not critical. Back when I first made the modification up, I used solenoids from similar year Toyotas. I'm still using the same solenoids.

Yeah, I though that a few time through ended up mixed up, yes every 180 on the crank one is at tdc.

Car has been great. 2 drives today, nothing unusual. 3rd run, I'm on the highway, going up a medium slope hill, 65MPH, 4000RPM, and start getting random pops / backfires / coughs / skipping. Like seconds apart, not like 1 cylinder quitting. Loosing power. Lighter throttle lessens the problem. End up downshifting to 2nd for a bit. 4000 RPM light load doesn't bother it. Get off at the next exit, and continue on back roads. Drove ok until the long hill, where again, same thing, random pops / coughs. Downshift, get to the top of the hill - it's a good couple of miles or so. Start down. Idles to zero. Crank, fire, shuts down. As if the fuel pump isn't running, and you just dumped an ounce of fuel down the intake. Coasted down the hill, a mile or so to a better place to take a look. Though maybe intermittent fuel pump, so swapped that fuse with another less important one. Same thing, crank, fire, shutdown. Hmmm. Tried it again, while holding some gas, and it stayed running. revved, stayed running. Drove to work, since it's on the way home anyway. Ran ok, until again, a uphill grade. Decided to head home, all back roads. Started normal. Ran normal until the hill up to my driveway, then same deal. Normal temperature the entire time. It's in my garage now. I've had water and crud in a fuel filter, this isn't like that, that just made power loss on the uphills, not the crazy pops / backfires bucking. Not running like one cylinder dead, that's steadily rough, and low power. Not like the time I had an IAC valve die, that just made idle = 0RPM, so I had to do it manually with the gas pedal. Hard to imagine timing being a problem, because it comes and goes, except acts up on hills. I had a catalytic converter block. almost totally once, that just made massive power loss, not the skipping / weird stuff I got today. I'll put the fuel pressure gauge on it, see what that says. Anyone else ever had this sort of thing?

Yeah, you might. ..

The bearings are pretty destroyed by now, grease won't put the metal back. The needles get out of round, grooves get formed on the race surfaces.

A good local shop can modify the "non serviceable" U joint mounts. At least the local one here did with my older Loyale "non serviceable" driveshaft. The U joints on my 09 Forester look pretty much the same as the ones on the Loyale shaft, although I have not measured them.

Easy check for exhaust blockage - loosen the 4 nuts on the Y pipe to head studs. Get a gap at least 1/4" or so. It will be loud, but if you have normal power, the exhaust is blocked. If the performance does not change, it is something else. The O2 sensor and the ECU won't care or know until the engine is up to normal temperature. All you need is a short drive to check for normal power.

I never checked. Just put the crank and cams on their marks, slip in the belts and go. I've done it numerous times, could not be just lucky that many. As long as the rotor is pointing to the cylinder that is at TDC it is going to run.

Turn it 3 more revolutions. Each TDC will point to another plug. Re check the timing marks. Put the crank at the 3 lines. One cam dot should be uo, other down. One rotation of the crank they should swap.

Some of the fuses are switched by the ignition switch. So, yes, if there were an open circuit between the always on feed to or from the ignition, switch, it could cause the switched fuses to never get power. The always powered ones are not effected by the ignition switch, the are fed directly from the fusible links. A wire could be broken inside, or a connection or crimp could be loose and corroded, causing the intermittent troubles.

The only way to know for sure is to start with carefully checking the level and the air quantity in the upper hose. Before each drive. Short drives at first.

That all makes sense to me.

I did this once, many years ago, on a 1986 EA82 . Don't remember doing anything particularly unusual. All I had was an ordinary combination wrench and socket sets. Might have to take 1/12th of a turn at a time, flipping the wrench, or remove some other obstructing part?

It's not a relay problem. Some of the fuses have power all the time. Some only when key is on run position. There is a relay for some other circuits also, but it doesn't matter if you don't have the always on and the switched power from the ignition switch. Anyone have scans of the schematic online?

Lifter tick can be surprisingly loud, but it is a thin mettalic tapping clicking kind of sound. It may come and go for a while also. Rod knock would be a deeper sound.

Look up Amsoil bypass filters. I have been running with them since the 80s.

After all these years, I finally had to get this figured out. I could never get the outer CJV apart to properly clean it out when a boot failed and dirt got in. So I set the ones that were too contaminated aside. Never had to worry too much for years, because used OEM axles were not hard to get. I always re grease and reboot them. The only [few] non OEM axles I have came on cars I bought. I always had extra axles, due to cars being retired due to rust. I save the entire drive line, scrap the rusted out shell. Came across a video on youtube - Take a piece of 2x6 a foot long, drill a 1-1/8" hole in the center. Slip it over the axle, after removing the inner DOJ. Clamped the axle in a bench vise, with the CVJ pointing down, with some padding under. One moderate hit with my bigger ball peen hammer on the wood block popped the CVJ right off! Also got a pack of the silicon universal CVJ boots, so far so good with those. Need those to rebuild my turbo axles.

Some variants of the distributor use a small screw to hold the rotor in place. If it is that kind, and the screw works loose and falls out, it won't run.

I'm not a pro mechanic. But I have been maintaining and repairing my EA82s since 1988. Electronics engineer. I was designing and building electric and electronics since before high school.

I'm in colchester, pretty much the center of the state

Trying to run one of these old cars, you have to know or learn how to fix everything or have a load of cash to pay one of the rare places that will work on them. I'm guessing you are nowhere near Connecticut

If there are currently active codes, the LED will blink them without any diagnostic connectors connected. The LED is viewable through a hole in the ECU. The plastic panel under the steering column must be removed to see the hole in the ECU. I meant to mention that the O2 sensor would likely be very stuck.

The CTS cannot be on the radiator, that is something else, probably the fan sensor. I can only look at the diagram in my FSM. The CTS looks like it is on a coolant duct - cast aluminum thing - behind the intake manifold. On the thermostat side of the engine.

That points to something at the fusible link box. Power has to go through the links to get to the fuse box. Careful inspection. All the connections need to be clean metal, no corrosion. The metal tabs can be removed. You want to check that the crimps are good also. I made a tool for removing the contacts from fuse blocks connectors, etc. From one of the stainless steel strips on the side of some windshield wiper blades. Depending on the particular connector, grind some width or thickness down so it fits - there is a plastic catch on the housing or a metal tab on the contact. Use the stainless steel strip to get into there and to release it.