starvin? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

lcruiser · 09-19-2005, 05:03 PM

Hi, first time user. Seems to be some intelligent posters here so maybe I'll get lucky. I have an 85 Landcruiser that will not idle and cuts out around 2300 rpm. It seems to get worse as the engine gets warmer. Last week, it died twice, at stop lights, but restarted and ran smoothly afterwards. Now it will not idle without being partially choked. I have replaced the fuel pump and filter and have cleaned the carb. Vacuum hoses all seem to be in good shape. Any ideas?

reb · 09-19-2005, 09:48 PM

I think you are on the right track. It sounds like a vacuum leak somewhere. I don't know how your carburetor is put together, but I had similar problems with a couple of Holley carburetors. My cure was a complete rebuild before I found out what the cause was. The fault was vacuum leaks in the carburetor itself. They were temperature sensitive. As the carburetor warmed up a gap developed where some particularly thick gaskets had dried with age. Your problem could be in the carb, in the gasket between the intake manifold and carb, or in the intake manifold gasket. Also in the vacuum lines or some device on the engine that uses vacuum.

lcruiser · 09-20-2005, 06:34 AM

Thank you Reb, You may be right. The truck started and idled perfect this A.M., when it was cold. I think it's time to find a carb. man. I appreciate your response.

reb · 09-20-2005, 04:08 PM

If the problem is in the carb, you might save a bunch of bux by putting a rebuild kit into it. Last time I checked, it was easy to spend several hundred on a carburetor. A rebuild kit is significantly less and takes only a little bit of time, if you have a good place to work on it.

It might not be relevant to your problem, but the fix for the Holley carb problem I had was to have one of the surfaces machined (after I figured out where the problem was). Fixed the problem and did not cost a lot.

lcruiser · 09-24-2005, 10:33 AM

I was going to install a kit myself but as I was labeling the vacuum hoses I decided "heck with it, I'll pay to have it rebuilt." Yes, it cost me 2 bills and some change but my 'Cruiser now runs great. You were dead-on correct and saved me undue hassels and headache. THANKS REB!

reb · 09-24-2005, 01:49 PM

Glad to be of help. Much of my experience has been on vehicles built before EFI became common. I signed in here to learn about these newfangled gadgets. However, since I have recently become an ex-Toyota owner, I will probably fade away.