Hello,

I picked up a high-km 1991 Toyota Soarer with a 1UZ-FE that was not running properly. When I first got the car, it would start and run for about 4 seconds, then die completely.

I noticed leaking capacitors inside the ECU/ECM, so I sent it away to be recapped. That partly fixed the issue — the engine no longer immediately dies, but instead it now tries to stall, then revs itself and “catches” again to stay alive.

Thinking it may have been an IACV issue, I rebuilt the IACV, but it made no difference. I also replaced various rubber hoses/seals to rule out vacuum leaks, again with no improvement.

I then suspected ignition issues, so I replaced the coils and ignition leads, but that also changed nothing. After that, I cleaned and checked the cam and crank sensors. This actually did improve the way it ran and reduced the severity of the fluctuation, but the engine is still running poorly.

I have finally managed to pull fault codes from the ECU and it is throwing Code 13.

I also noticed the inside of the throttle body is covered in oil (photo attached), and whenever the engine is running there is a very strong fuel smell. Today I removed the rocker covers to inspect the cam gear/scissor gears — one side appears fine, although I did not get time to inspect the other side.

I also checked the oil level and noticed the oil smells strongly of fuel, so I immediately stopped running the engine.

At this point I honestly have no idea where to go next. Every diagnostic step seems to lead to another dead end.








This is the line from the IACV back to the intake

 

Maybe clean and calibrate the TPS? Might also be worth unplugging the MAF and see if that changes the behavior.

 

Hey mate,

Sorry for the late reply I was away camping with no reception,
I had a monster day on the car today as the engine was half apart so i could get a video of it running, MAF was replaced as the first thing, ECU seems to be dumping fuel going to compression test it and also test the coolant temp sensor but after that i dont have many ideas on what it could be.

 

Its not a maf its a air volume meter and your new maf looks fake? Runs better without it..so whatever average values its giving it it likes it more than what sensor is giving it..
Just an observation
Least you can do is backprobe your maf(its not a maf) and see what its outputting