My 85 22r has been sitting for about one month. (I know. Truck Abuse) When I last started it, it was starting just fine. Pump the gas twice and it would start right up. I went to start it three days ago and the battery was dead. The battery wouldn't hold a charge so I bought a new one. Put it in, and cleaned up the connections really well. Went to start it and now all it will do is crank. Thinking it might be a gas issue I shot a little bit of starting fluid down the Carb and it did absolutely nothing. It didn't even try to turn over. So this leads me to believe that it is a spark issue. Pulled all the plugs and they show signs of running rich. I cleaned them and put them back in to see if I could at least get it to start and then I would address the rich issue. While I had one of the plugs out I tried testing it for spark by cranking the truck and grounding the tip of it out. I did not see a spark. It was getting dark so I shouldn't have had any problem seeing the spark. When I went to pull the spark plug from the wire to install it back in the block it shocked me. So I have no idea what is going on now. I do not know how to test the distributor, or the coil/ignitor. I'm not sure how to tell if the engine is getting gas or not. when stepping on the gas while you have the ignition on it sounds like it is spraying gas but I don't see any. I am not sure if you are suppose to be seeing it when you look into the throttle bodies. Please help!!! I hope to be selling my dime pretty soon to get a tacoma and my yota will become my daily for awhile.

 

you got a mechanincal pump right?



it might take a few cranks to "prime" the fuel line.


try pouring a tablespoon of gas down the throat of the carb.


if it starts you have air+spark.


so it turns to a fuel issue.



you can see the fuel level in the carb through the sight glass, should be near center of the lil window.

 

sounds electrical as you mentioned. have the coil tested or go out and test it yourself. that will tell you if everything is good on that end and youll need to check between there and the spark plugs...... (wireset, distributor etc.....)

take the cap and rotor off, make sure carbon didnt build up on it and is preventing the spark from getting through.

check your electrical connections everywhere from the coil out to the plugs.

sometimes these ignitors go bad just like that..... hit up Gina (aka SD Mini Truck Girls) if you need one of those ignitors...... she's got a few laying around.

 

It is wierd that all of this happened because I was thinking of upgrading the ignition system. I was thinking about getting one of the DUI HO distributors that has the coil in it. I talked to them and asked if the ignitor was needed. They told me no I didn't need it. With this distributor you can advance the timing 8 deg and gap the plugs at 55. I am thinking about going this route. From the things stated, do you guys think this would solve my problem. ShoNuff wouldn't the starting fluid have taken the place of pouring gas into the carb. I can try that also though. I am willing to try anything. SDyota I will try taking the cap off and checking for carbon. I purchased the truck a few months ago and they guy I bought it from told me the distributor was about 6 months old. I know he could be lieing but I think I believe him since it does visually from the outside look new.

 

I am not a mechanic...but I get way way more calls for ignitors than distributors on the carbed #75 ignitors. I can sell 2-3 a week. So, now must be the time. It's something to check. When it's a daily driver your vehicle will want to shut down after it's running for a while (heats up). Then, it will usually start back up after it's cooled down...then when it's finished it's done. But, that's just my experience, and not all are the same, and again I am not a mechanic ...just observant.

 

starting flui "should" work but it evaporates so quick, who knows if it even had anything in there to light it off with by the time you tried........ then again it should have had enough of something to pop or "something" either way.....

i dont really trust any "new" parts from stores........ toyota's run best on toyota parts.

check around. these motors and the systems are fairly simple. shouldnt take long to figure out whats wrong.

 

I have a D.U.I. ignition on my '79 pick up. I bought it when I ran into a similar situation of trying to track down a component failure and rather than spend money on parts that were expensive and weren't a sure thing, I just opted to swap in a DUI. The DUI kicks much ass! Install is simple, just one hot wire to the ignition and you are set. The one wire simplicity is way better than the multiple components and mysterious wiring clips that my truck had stock. I gapped my spark plugs out to .055 and definitely noticed power gains throughout the RPM range. They do build each unit custom for the application and mine was supposedly set up for low end torque for my 4x4. I paired mine with a 1 wire chevy alternator for a two wire charging/ignition system. The only thing I would warn people of is the height clearance. They are really big, so if a body-drop is ever in your trucks future you might want to go with something else. Otherwise the DUI is great!

Just in case people don't know what we are talking about:
http://www.performancedistributors.com/toyota4dui.htm
I would have to argue that Toyotas would undeniably run better on a Davis Unified Ignition. It is also a much simpler setup than stock.

 

ignitor is know to go bad, you jus got a +2 on your internet mechanic score

starting fluid works as well as gas, but its not good to run the motor long on it. i like using gas, the car is usually full of it and a empty beer holds it pretty well



but you did shock yourself with it. ive had a lot of issues getting the standard ground trick to work with yota's. ended up getting a inline test light thingy from harbor freight.

and if it worked once it might work again. look for corosion or breakage on the wires from coil to dizzy. or maybe theres rust on the coil/ignitor mount.

 

Ok. Here is a little update. ShoNuff I have spent the last two hours looking for my little light thingy from harbor freight to check spark. No luck. I agree that sometimes there are grounding issues, so I decided to ground out the spark plug directly to the battery. I ran two gator clips with wire to a spark plug and also to the negative on the battery. I did not see any spark. On top of no spark there was gas on the spark plug when I pulled it out this time. I had already pulled the plugs cleaned them with a wire brush burned the tips with a lighter, and gaped them day before yesterday when I was checking spark. This leads me to believe that I am getting gas into the engine. I don't have any gas laying around so I wasn't able to pour a little into the carb but i didn't think it was even necessary since I found gas on the spark plugs after I had cleaned them a few days ago.

SDyota: I do understand that the starting fluid evaporates quickly so that is why I sprayed the starting fluid directly into the carb the other day while my girl was cranking the engine. Sorry I had failed to mention how I did it in my earlier post.

SD Mini Truck Girls: Thank you for the reply. I was wondering if you could PM me the price of an ignitor. I am assuming it is used? I am just trying to explore all of my options. I would check my ignitor but I am not sure how to test just the ignitor. If anyone knows how please let me know.

Shadetree Mechanic: Thanks a lot for the link. I had already done a search on here to see if this was a common swap for yotas. Your vehicle was the only one I had found. I wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. I do plan on bagging and body dropping eventually. But I also plan on an engine swap eventually. I am leaning towards a 2JZ So clearance wouldn't be an issue for me for now, but thank you for the heads up. I was wondering where you got yours and for how much. The cheapest one I have found is on eBay for $345 plus $75 for a set of Wires.

 

yea........ quick waay to find out if there is spark is with a timing light. you set it up on #1 plug wire and see if it lights up......... if it does, there is spark going through. (also a good method to see if you have a faulty plug wire or misfire ) one of the last things to check is to see if you are getting power from the coil to the dizzy.

if yes, then your issue is in the dizzy. check cap, rotor, air gap, and module etc...

if no then your issue is in the coil/ignitor itself.

so still no spark...... however.......... is there anyone nearby that could loan you one to "test out" with??? be the easiest way......

 

I would suggest taking the cap off and looking closely at the inside. I am a mech I have found from time to time very thin cracks in the cap that would cause the spark to try to go everywhere esle except where its suppose to. I would try finding that timing light that will give you a for sure answer.

 

I learned about the D.U.I. from a hard core wheeler buddy. Like I said, I used it because of stock component failure, but now that I have used it I can tell you it makes noticeable real world power gains. I bought mine directly from Performance Distributors. They will hand build each one to meet your needs. Like mine was for a 4x4 so they built it for more torque. I am sure you can only get that kind of service directly from Performance Distributors. They might be a few dollars more expensive but it is probably worth it to go through them. The Live Wires are nice but watch out for abrasions cutting through the outer thermal covering. It is a little delicate. A zip tie rubbing against it will wear through it. I’d suggest the billet loom kit for the wires. It’s a nice touch. One other point that I failed to mention before is that the D.U.I. draws a lot of power. My Chevy one wire alternator was a necessary upgrade after the D.U.I. as I found the tired stock charging system didn’t keep the charge up at idle. The 1 wire alternator swap is nice though too. You might want to consider doing both.

 

I took your advice and tried to find someone with a working coil/ignitor. I saw a yota a few blocks from my house. I thought it was worth a try, so I knocked on the door. It was an older man, I explained my situation and asked if I could borrow his coil/ignitor. FAILED! He looked at me like I was crazy and told me he didn't feel comfortable doing that. I told him he could follow me to my house with it and he still didn't go for it. HaHa! That was one of the wierdest things I have done, other than knocking on peoples doors to see if they want to sell their vehicles. People usually act like you are trying to scam them when you walk up and knock on their doors with requests like that. I guess I would also if someone did that to me.

I went ahead and ordered the DUI. I hope the alternator isn't 100% necessary at the moment I am running a bit low on funds due to buying the DUI. I bought the 8.2mm Taylor wires. They were a lot cheaper and you aren't the only one that had the complaint of rubbing. I did a little research and found that out also. I was wondering what spark plugs you were using. I ordered NGK-G plugs.