Truck help

So long story short, the puddle was much deeper than the others, front end went down and was sunk just about near the tops of the front tires. Couldn’t back up or go forward so had to go back the next day with help…. Power washed the mud out of the engine today as it was caked from trying to back out of the hole I was in. Checked the air filter… It was completely dry, went for a short test drive and it seemed to have a little weakness in the acceleration… It was running rather smoothly with low rpm’s but when I tried to gas it up, it would take a little while and then surge. It was switching gears from what I could tell without difficulty, but it just doesn’t feel right… Is there something else I should be checking? Anyone done this before? Grouse hunting adventure I will likely never forget!

Hard to say for sure without seeing how much mud was in there. First thing you will want to do is change the front dif fluid, water could have come in through the vent. Was the mud up to the spark plugs? Check all fluids that could have been compromised with water, engine, trans, transfer case. check to make sure the plug wires are clean and don’t water in them also. We used to silicone our plug wires at the plugs, at the cap, and seal the cap on. We would also cap off the vents for the transfer case and axles. If you have manual lockout you will want to take those apart as well. pretty much need to pull everything apart and clean it up. Mudding is like sex, 1 minute of fun for 30 minutes of clean up. Good luck.

30 min of cleanup???

Would it make any sense to change the oil 2-3 times after running the engine for 10 min? I’ve never been there but I’d think that flushing the oil like that might remove a lot of contaminants.

Thanks guys, I’ll check everything you mentioned onestout and let you know if I have any more questions… Mud got sprayed over everything inside the engine, there wasn’t a single clean spot.

So I got down to the grit the last few days. I had assumed I narrowed the problem down to sensors or vacuumed leak/fuel pump regulator. I purchased a hand-held diagnostic tool and it didn’t pull any codes. So I started the truck and it sounds rough and starts to choke or kill unless I give it gas, then after a little while it runs smoothly on idle at about 1000rpm. I tested the fuel pump regulator by removing the hose from the regulator while it was running. I noticed 3 things: 1) before the engine started running smoothly on its own there was hardly any vacuumed pressure coming from the tube. 2) once the engine began a smooth, consistent idle, while the hose was removed idle rpms jumped up to 1.25k whether I plugged the tube with my thumb or not. 3) no gas came through the regulator after 5 minutes of observation.
So I got back in the truck and let it idle until it choked out after 2 minutes with the hose plugged back into the fpr. A check engine light finally came on, so I plugged back in and got a reading that cylinders 1,3,5 were experiencing random misfires. What would cause only 1 side to misfire?

Ben Putnam wrote:

What would cause only 1 side to misfire?

Easy answer would be burying your engine in a mud puddle. Other than the obvious smarta$$ answer, I got nothing for you.

John Schultz wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ben Putnam wrote:</div>
What would cause only 1 side to misfire?

Easy answer would be burying your engine in a mud puddle. Other than the obvious smarta$$ answer, I got nothing for you.

Got a chuckle out of that, thanks.

First off, what is the make model and year? Whenever water is involved I chase electrical first.

1998 toyota t100

I still lean towards spark plug wires. Make sure the ends are clean and dry. How many miles since plugs and wires were replaced?

swap #1 wire to #2, #3 plug to #4 and see if misfires move…..

Actually bringing it to a buddy’s tonight to check plugs and wires, I’m shy of a few deep sockets. Hopefully that’s the case. I’ll let you know how it goes, thanks for the help so far.

So it being a toyota it has distributor caps on the 2,4,6 side with a plug runningfrom the distributors to the 1,3,5 side. Checked the plugs, wires, connectors, distributors and there’s no sign of any leakage into anything, the wires where they go into the plugs are coated in silicone and the chambers to the plugs are shiny and clean… I’m thinking about installing new distributors and spark plugs, but after that I’m out of ideas.

sounds like a weak coil but I’m not real familiar with Yota’s. Do the plug wires plug directly to the coil? If they plug directly into the coil try this. With the vehicle running (helps to do this in the dark) and a good pair of insulated pliers pull the plug wire off at the coil and see how far the spark jumps. If you have a bad coil you will notice a difference in how far the spark jumps and how bright it is.

This is what the plug cables, caps and coils look like.
Buyautoparts.com sells a set of new aftermarket coils with a 1 year warranty for $70 while Napa sells the manufacturer’s coils at $75 each coil. Is there a good reason to not go with the aftermarket set? Would it make sense to just buy new coils, throw in new spark plugs and see how she runs? There’s nothing else on the engine that connects to the 1,3,5 plugs outside of the coils on the 2,4,6 side. Or do you think there is something else I should try and diagnose before I go that route?

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onestout wrote:

Do the plug wires plug directly to the coil?

Yes they do, I’ll give that a whirl after work today, thanks again Sir.

When you had the 1,3,5 misfire code was there any O2 sensor lean or rich conditions? Its possible an O2 sensor/sensor plug/sensor wire was damaged and causing a bank to lean out or richen up to cause a misfire….

kroger3 wrote:

When you had the 1,3,5 misfire code was there any O2 sensor lean or rich conditions? Its possible an O2 sensor/sensor plug/sensor wire was damaged and causing a bank to lean out or richen up to cause a misfire….

The only codes that showed up were
1) Random misfires
2) Misfire in cylinder 1
3) Misfire in cylinder 3
4) Misfire in Cylinder 5
It was tough getting that code to even show up, I had to run the engine until it choked out and the check Engine Light finally turned on. After the first time getting those codes, and without clearing the codes, the check engine light is not on, and the code reader comes up with “0dtc.” So I have to wait for the check engine light to come on (by running the engine) in order to get the codes again. I’m also trying to limit myself from running the engine any more than is necessary, so as not to make anything worse.
I’ll take a look into those O2 Sensor parts also though, to make sure that isn’t the case, thanks!

How many separate coils are there? If you get cel on a regular basis try swapping the coils to a new location and see if the misfire follows. I hate throwing parts at issues, I prefer to spend the time diagnosing and only fix what needs it. If you have 100k on the plugs and wires I would replace those now.

onestout wrote:

How many separate coils are there?

Those are coil packs…1 for each cylinder…

Ben,
Unfortunately, mud + excessive water = time & MONEY. Been there a few times over the years with swimming a car/truck in the mud. All very good points brought up above. Because you had to bring so much excessive water into the equation to flush out the engine compartment, you have water in places that it shouldn’t be. Time and a very dry environment MAY clear this. Most likely you have either water in a wirte harness giving you grief, or a damaged sensor (or contact to a sensor). I agree with above on a sensor causing you to be rich or lean.
I would go through each sensor and make sure that you have a clean connection to your wire harness. In most cases when I had firing issues after taking a truck for a swim, that was the issue. It’s too bad there is NO easy button for this one. Trial and error will be your best best friend. But on the good side, you’ll get well acquainted with that engine

Ben Putnam wrote:

So I have to wait for the check engine light to come on (by running the engine) in order to get the codes again. I’m also trying to limit myself from running the engine any more than is necessary, so as not to make anything worse.

Doesn’t the computer store those codes even tho the light is not on.
Can you get the truck to an auto parts store like auto zone. They will read codes for free. Maybe their reader will provide a little more info.

Randy, I have been taking Q-Tips to every connection I’ve come across, you’re right in that I am getting pretty close to my engine now.
@Unowimfishen The auto parts store here doesn’t have a reader, but I have my own. The computer should store the codes, that’s what is really confusing me.

@Onestout checked the spark from the coil pack last night and they were all about the same, so I didn’t have anything to compare to when it comes to how far the spark was jumping. I don’t know what normal is supposed to look like either, but they were sparking. I’m just going to replace the plugs and wires like you mentioned as that isn’t very expensive and I don’t know how many miles they have on them. I guess I’ll just do one thing at a time until it starts running normally again.

Normally you should see a big difference if there is an issue with a coil, like the spark will jump a 3-4″ gap on a good coil and only a 1″ gap or less on a bad coil. Sounds like you have good spark as long as the wires are making a good connection (it is still fun to do that test at night with all the lights off). Next thing I would look at is as stated by others, unplug the sensors, look for moisture, clean up and plug back in. It just seems odd that only 1 side is misfiring, most fuel conditions will affect both sides. Good Luck.

Definitely not a 3-4″ jump… It looked more like a lighter’s sprark… Maybe 3/4″ at most.

Seems little week for todays ignition systems but I don’t see many yotas and I doubt they would all fail at the same time, I think something else is going on.

Would the fact that the codes are clearing and the cel doesn’t stay on lean towards anything?

Not really sure on that other than the computer thinks it is running ok which would lean towards it not being a sensor. It’s not uncommon to have a bad injector in that motor but it just seems odd the way it started. Tough to diagnose without seeing it. Were all the fluids ok (engine oil, trans, etc)?

“Would the fact that the codes are clearing and the cel doesn’t stay on lean towards anything?”

A Toyota mechanic ??

Something else that I didn’t catch before is that this has a timing belt, this could cause the misfire on one side if water/mud got into there. You need to take the cover off and check the timing marks on both cam gears. all timing belts need to be replaced around 100k typically, if close take it in and have it done, not something for a novice to try. This would be the next thing that I looked at.