[Nybbles]

I have an 89 Pickup, 2 WD, Manual Transmission with a 22-RE that has almost 140,000 on it.

Basically, lately it's been idling rough when warm, and a little harder to start when warm. It runs fine otherwise. On a warm day, when the engine gets nice and warm, the engine can run very rough almost to the point of stalling, though it never actually stalls. The Check Engine light has never come on either. Just a couple days ago, I jumped the computer and pulled the codes, and it was all normal. Any ideas on what to check now?

It has a new Toyota Starter and fuel filter that are maybe a year old, fairly recent cap and rotor, new air fliter, just changed the oil and filter, and i run injector cleaner through it every oil change. A few months back, my vehicle failed the timing portion of CA smog test and I successfully re-adjusted the TPS myself thanks to a guide on the net.

I have been told that by someone that supposedly knows their stuff that I need a valve adjustment. I'm going to look into getting this done in the next week or two. This wouldnt cause a rough idle ONLY when warm though, would it?

Thanks.

 

[chronoti]

could be the fuel pump going bad when it warms up it loses power .... you can also try cleaning the tb with some carb cleaner that helps me sometimes, and maybe new plugs if you didnt when you changed the other stuff

 

[OEMonkey]

I have been told that by someone that supposedly knows their stuff that I need a valve adjustment. I'm going to look into getting this done in the next week or two. This wouldnt cause a rough idle ONLY when warm though, would it?

You obviously know more than this guy who supposedly "knows their stuff."
From experience, this sounds like a stuck open egr valve, not closing when the throttle is closed(idling).
Disconnect vac line that opens egr valve, plug cap everything to prevent vac leak, start vehicle and let run til it's at normal operating temps., if the rough idle disappears then it's a egr valve that intermittently gets stuck open. If it still idles rough after it warms up with the egr not operational, post again and I'll come up with another guess. Or you can take it to a good tech since it's obviously much easier to diagnose a vehicle when you can actually see it.

 

[npitakis]

I have the same problem with my 96 pickup. I tried disconnecting the vacuum line to the egr valve but it still idles rough. I also noticed that the vacuum line going to the egr valve didn't have any vacuum after I unplugged it, is that normal?

 

[Nybbles]

I have the same problem with my 96 pickup. I tried disconnecting the vacuum line to the egr valve but it still idles rough. I also noticed that the vacuum line going to the egr valve didn't have any vacuum after I unplugged it, is that normal?

Disclaimer: I am not a mechanic! Someone more knowledgeable than I please feel free to correct me.

With that being said, the way I understand that the EGR works is that vacuum is present on that line while the engine is cold. That vacuum opens the EGR valve, recirculating the exhaust back into the engine to re-burn the extra hydrocarbons (for emissions reasons) while the engine is cold/warming up. When the engine warms up, the EGR valve is returned to the closed position by removing the vacuum from that line.

I did the tests that OEMonkey suggested and noticed no vacuum on the EGR wether the engine was warm or cold. I will be checking it again probably today.

Regarding my valve adjustment issue: I guess i phrased things confusingly. I was told that the valves did need to be adjusted, but was not told that that was the solution to this issue. I was merely confirming with you guys that that was not causing the symptoms I described.

 

[OEMonkey]

I did the tests that OEMonkey suggested and noticed no vacuum on the EGR wether the engine was warm or cold. I will be checking it again probably today.

That's a good thing.
Recirculation only occurs during closed loop, cruising conditions. Never during open loop, closed throttle, idling. The vehicle would stall if you open the valve while idling.
Again, I suggest disconnecting the vac line to the egr valve and plugging the vac line. Then start the truck and let it warm and drive it a short distance. If the rough idle when warm still occurs, then you have eliminated the egr system as a possible culprit. There are of course a list of other possible causes, such as the AFM(I'm guessing the 22RE has one of these), a lazy o2s, secondary ignition, etc. so just keep troubleshooting.

 

[relickone]

change your timing chain because if yah don't plan to buy a new valvetrain or more. my mechanic and one of my good friends is a toyota tech and he says 22re timing chains should be replaced at about 150,000 miles

 

[Nybbles]

change your timing chain because if yah don't plan to buy a new valvetrain or more. my mechanic and one of my good friends is a toyota tech and he says 22re timing chains should be replaced at about 150,000 miles

that is quite costly. What's weird is I've seen conflicting advice and evidence on the internet, as well as recieved conflicting advice from local dealers. One dealer simply quoted me an astonomical price. The other dealer asked me why i wanted to get it changed and went on to tell me that if it isnt making any noise, then not to worry about it.

Besides, wouldnt the cost of getting that work done would be a huge percentage of the value of the vehicle?

 

[relickone]

a qualified tech should not charge you more than $500-$600.roger has been a toyota technician for over 20 years,jon has been a toyota tech for over 10 years(master) and charlie has benn a mechanic for almost 40 years and retired as a autoshop teacher.if you want to keep that truck for a while change it or at least bring it to a qualified person to check it.i had to learn the hard way-good luck!

 

[XB~Blondie]

change your timing chain because if yah don't plan to buy a new valvetrain or more. my mechanic and one of my good friends is a toyota tech and he says 22re timing chains should be replaced at about 150,000 miles

WOW, every 150,000!! I've got 250,000 on my 89 pickup 22R 2WD and it's (timing chain) nvr been changed!! Do the RE and R chains have the same life span?

 

[relickone]

no,not neccessarily....okay i had 2 trucks already.my first one was a '91 and had roughly 160,000 miles at death and had the same symptons as the subject truck but my dad kept telling me it wasn't my timing chain because at the time his '92 had more miles on it and wasn't ticking,idling weird or overheating.then my truck's 22re went with a burnt valvetrain,warped head,it was a mess.

basically what my mechanics were telling me was that changing your timing chain at 150,000 is basically prevententive maintenance for the motor.a lot of people's trucks are gifted and don't need it but it will go out and when it does don't expect it to be a cheap fix.it's kind of like changing your oil at 2,500 when a lot of cars can go nearly 5,000 w/o changing.