Good points. It's funny, I bought this filter about 4-5 years ago when I was having some type of problem. I just couldn't figure out how to get at it. I guess I fixed whatever was ailing at the time, but I've always been worried about the filter, since now there's 200K+ miles on it.

Throughout this electrical debug, I've wondered if it wasn't a fuel problem. This year the problems got so frequent that I figured I'd replace the fuel filter to either fix a problem or rule that out. It was a big pain replacing it. Lots of swearing, a little blood, and a lot of lost bolts and washers. But I could do it quick now.

I was careful about the direction. And there is a noticable improvement with the filter. It had a real problem with wide open throttle before the filter. Now, that's not an issue.

But, I still have big problems when it's wet, or humid. I have some rain leakage thru the bottom of the windshield or firewall I have to address. Plus, the way-out-of-spec signal generator. I'll replace that in the next week or so, and see if that does it. If not, maybe it could be a fuel pressure problem? Do you have a procedure for ruling that out?

Thanks a lot for the help. I can use it!

Joe

Ps. I jacked the front end to remove the fuel filter -- by the front frame -- to get the wheel to droop the most, so I could have some wiggle room. Guess what happened? The passenger side cv boot sprung a leak on max droop and shot a pile of grease on the driveway. One more thing to fix!

Uhh... Have you checked to see if the ECU is getting wet when the rian leaks inside? Could be your problem right there in front of your face!!!

You gotta love Toys! Huh?
Replacing the Fuel filter is a PITA!!!!! Especially on the 4cyl, at least on the 6 there on the frame/pass. side!
I would curse a storm when I had to replace a ff on a 4cyl!
You learn the tricks ya know!
Anyhow, with the water leaking in, that could be your prob.,NO?
To check the fuel pressure you need a special gauge, www.JCWhitney.com sells them pretty cheap!
You have a moisture/ water problem or a fuel problem.
You would think that's it's elec., but I don't know!
If it was here I would fix it myself!
Something just ain't right! Ignitor? I doubt it! How's your spark? Normal, Ya know, good, deep blue?
How about everything else, drivability, stumbling, accel.?
If you have a good spark, I hardly doubt that your ign. is bad!
Did anyone tell you that the dashpot is bad? That's the newest thing on this post, dashpots! Ask anyone, they'll tell ya~! If it isn't that it's your TPS. I don't agree with them! You can listen to them, buy or alter your d-pot, that's up to you!
Did you ever lube your cable? Prob. not that's pretty simple, Little lube, might be sticking, or it might be your (DashPot)! Never overlook the obvious!
Please tell all.These Toys just don't start to go bad,there's always more to it!
Fuel problem is my bet, or that water leaking in!
If I'm wrong, I'll EAT crow, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm wrong! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

This may not be the problem but I had a neighbor back in the 70Æs that had a little Toyota 4-door sedan. On rainy days, it would not start no matter what he did. I asked him when it started doing it. He said after a tune-up. I asked him what he did on the tune-up and he said I changed the plugs, points, condenser, rotor, dist. cap, and spark plug wires. All were aftermarket stuff. Well sense it was rainy season he had the car towed to Toyota. They did another tune-up replacing all the aftermarket stuff with OEM stuff and he never had a problem after that. When he asked them why it did it with the aftermarket stuff, they said it did not quite fit right and was allowing the whole ignition system to short out!!!!

Sorry dude! You should read more! The man said that he replaced all w/ Toy parts! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shame.gif" alt="" />

I'm pretty sure the ecu is dry. The cab leak is on the driver's side, as far as I can tell. Passenger carpet is dry. Though everything is humid in there after a couple of days of rain. I have unplugged the ecu and taken it out, looking for corrosion on the connections. It looks ok.

Hi Nunsa,

Thanks for the tips. I did replace the TPS about 6 months ago. I was getting codes that indicated the TPS and and knock sensor were ailing.

A new TPS fixed that code, and the new knock sensor wire lead didn't fit -- it was about 2.5 feet too short to connect to anything. Although, disconnecting the original, wrapping it with electrical tape, and plugging it back in has seemingly cured that as well. The other recent stuff I've done is 1) swap out the rear differential with one from a 94 pickup -- no problems there -- and 2) trim about 2.5" of metal from the rusted front fenders. That second item did expose the wiring from to the headlights on one side.

I'm waiting for the new distributor signal generator (and cap and rotor) from Jay Marks to arrive. I really hope that does the trick.

Joe

I think the new signal generator may have done the trick! I put a new cap and rotor on too, so maybe that was it. It started right up, ran fine all (dry) weekend, and ran fine on rainy monday. I need a real humid day to make sure, but I'm hopeful. The bad news... I stripped the distributor threads -- taking the cap on and off many many times, I must have over-done it. Thanks for your advice all.

Update.

Things ran ok for while.. Then recently it started to crap out when warmed up. About 25 miles into my 35 mile commute, check engine light (still code 14) would come on at idle and often stall if I didn't keep the rpms up.

I first swapped back my original coil, then the original
igniter (since replacing those didnt actually fix anything way back when). When I did the igniter, I also examined as much of the harness that goes over the valve cover and into the efi body as I could. It's been running great since then. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/coolg.gif" alt="" />

So I don't know if it was
a) the igniter,
b) the harness that I messaged a little
c) the fact that the temperature has dropped 20 degrees
here in CT, starting the night I worked on this.
d) I'm deluding myself and it's going to run bad tomorrow. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />


One other thing I noticed was that I did rip out the
exhaust manifold heat sheild not too long ago -- it was about to rust off. The sigf line to the ECU goes near that hot pipe, and got me thinking.

Here's an interesting post I came across that might help someone who found this post searching on "code 14"

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=t....145156.1%40tug.stsci.edu&rnum=1

As usual, thanks for all the great advice and help!
Joe

I know you said you replaced the pickups, but while you have the cap off, check for play in the distributor shaft. Mine had enough play to give intermittant signals thru the pickups: the play would cause the distance between the shaft and the pickups to vary. Testing it showed resistance in check, but when running the shaft would move... Just a thought. A junkyard distributor solved my code 14.

Good luck,
Tom