After a tune up...

[ac41233]

I'm new here. My name is AC. I have a question, and hopefully someone can help me with my problem. My son just bought a used 1984 Toyota Pickup. It was running a rough, and i figured it was in need of a small tune up. I used to own a 1987 Toyota Pickup, with the same 22R, 2.4 Liter engine as this one that my son just purchased. I used to give my Pickup tune ups, oil changes and brake jobs all the time. i even changed the clutch twice. So i thought I had some experience with working on this type of engine today.

I decided to change the spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor, and spark plug wires this afternoon. i felt that did everything correctly. I took each wire off individually, and attached it to the correct plug and to the correct spot on the cap. I felt good about what I did, and when I went to start the truck, it was sputtering and running like it was mis-timing, and it just seemed like it wanted to stall. So, i turned it off and rechecked all the wires and made sure that they were all attached. I re-checked the distributor cap. Everything seemed right, and when I went to start it up again, it wouldn't start. it just kept cranking, but a rough, sputtering type of cranking. But not starting...

What did I do wrong? I'm stumped... My son is in need of this vehicle to get to and from work.

Please Help!!!

['93Hilux]

I hate to ask the obvious, but are the new plugs are the same as the old ones?
Short of that, if it was running fine before the new parts, process of elimination works a treat. Throw the old spark plug leads back on, if it works, there's your problem, if not, try the next part etc.


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[ac41233]

Originally Posted by '93Hilux

I hate to ask the obvious, but are the new plugs are the same as the old ones?
Short of that, if it was running fine before the new parts, process of elimination works a treat. Throw the old spark plug leads back on, if it works, there's your problem, if not, try the next part etc.


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app

Thanks for the response...

I didn't use the same plugs. I used Bosch Copper Super+ Spark Plugs. The old plugs were Nippondenso.
I'm going to clean the old plugs and put them back on, and see if that's the problem. It got too late yesterday, I ran out of sunlight.

And, one of the spark plug wires was corroded at the connection to the distributor cap. It was the short lead to the first plug. It had greenish corrosion and the tip was completely gone in the distributor cap hole.

There might be a possibility that I got the two middle cable mixed up. Would it do what its doing if thats a possibility?

[ac41233]

I didn't have to take off the new plugs and put the old ones back on. The old ones were pretty bad. The post's on 3 of them were all slanted, and the other one was all caked up with this grayish scale...

Duh, I had the #2 & #4 spark plug wires reversed... I went online and found the firing order for the distributor cap, and went and checked it and found out I had them wrong. I traced them all from the cap and made the switch, and the truck fired up, and runs like a top...

Note to self: Do Not Work On Vehicles In The Dark.

['93Hilux]

Haha Good to hear. I learnt working in dark is a bad idea the hard way too, as well as in the grass 'cause if you drop a nut, good luck finding it!


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[89Truk]

Get yourself a headlamp, its literally a life saver under the hood.