[slosurfer]

I'm starting this to document what I do to my (new to me van) to make it into a reliable work vehicle for my tile business. I guess it's a "build thread", just don't tell my wife. For those that care, here's the thread about how I came upon the van and got her home. Buying Vanna and the trip home

By the way, her name is Vanna, and has been through a couple owners. So, I figured I'd keep calling her that also.



A few specs:

89 Van 4wd 5spd

205,500+ miles on the odometer

2.2 Liter 4Y motor putting out a whopping 100hp

She is rear wheel drive with a true 2 spd transfer case and an IFS front end very similar to the 86-95 IFS on the trucks and 4runners, just smaller.

Rear axle is a 7.5in coil sprung 4link w/ panhard bar. (Once again, very similar to my 93 4runner)

Front is a 6.5in (I have to double check on the exact size) driverside drop IFS diff.

4.30 gears

Steering is rack and pinion

Automatic Hubs

Seats 7

Middle and Third Row seats are removeable and fold down to make a full size bed.

Has Front and Rear AC

Power Door Locks

Crank Windows

Cruise Control

That should cover about everything on how she came equipped from the factory.

[slosurfer]

Now on to how she came to me:

The good:

She came with Thule Racks and 2 Thule bike attachments. A big plus, since I have many other thule attachments.

She came with a custum made, lockable metal rack that locks in in place of the third row seat and rear cargo area.  So far this has come in very handy for work.

Interior is fairly nice considering it is almost 20 yrs. old from CO and used for many camping trips, etc...

Runs fairly well and transmission shifts very well. She is a blast to drive, and I can't help but grin while driving her.

New tires (about 6 months old)

Alignment done a few months ago

Windshield replaced last year and has no pits or cracks

Fuel injectors replaced a couple years ago.

Doesn't burn any oil and came with a fresh oil change.

Belts all less than 6months old

Only 205,000+ miles (these things go for crazy amounts of miles)

The Bad:

1. Rust, Rust, Rust- Pass rear fender is shot on the outside, Driver front has some issues on the bottom, and the other corners have little spots.  Front windshield has a couple little spots as well.  The good thing is that it is all contained to the outside; the inside of the wheelwells, floor panels, etc... are in great shape. Really not too bad for being in CO for almost 20yrs. Too bad Toyota didn't paint the rocker panels with their undercoating.  With some help from Bob, we should be able to get her fixed.

2. PS pump leaks and may be leaking onto the alternator, which isn't great.

3. Valve cover may be leaking some, but not enough to notice a drop in the oil level or drops on the driveway.

4. I have to smog her (I'll pretest first and who knows it may not be an issue)

5. 206,000 miles and I don't have a real good idea about her maintenance before the last owners.

6. AC has not had a belt on it since before the last owners so at least 5yrs.  (not a big deal for where I live but I may try to tackle that down the road)

7. A brown interior (yuck), although probably good since it is a work vehicle. Also, no cup holders. That should be an easy fix though.

8. Engine bay is disgusting with dirt and buildup.  Good thing I run a self serve car wash, so I can make a mess without pissing anyone off.

9. These engines run so well, I think some basic maintenance has been skipped, so time to catch up on that.

10. Muffler may have a leak in it, not surprising since it is the original.

11. Fan clutch may need to be rebuilt

That is all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure there will be more after the smog pretest.

[slosurfer]

First thing to be done, was to load her up and use her for work.  All the while, looking for problems and seeing how she does.

I tested out the strength of the rear cage by picking up 400 lbs. of thinset from the tile store and stacking it on the front half.  I'm happy to say that it held up nicely.


I plan on new springs, shocks, and an airbag system to help with the loads, but the old springs actually handle loads fairly well for how old they are.

I also plan on removing the center seats and building a platform in front of the cage at the same height, to aid in storage of tools, hauling etc...  This will be pretty simple and I will have access to under the platform by way of the slider door. I will also make it simple so that it is easy to remove and replace with the center seat which does fit both kids carseats.


Amazingly, the automatic hubs on here are the exact ones that came on some of the trucks and 4runners.  Therefore, the manual hubs from an 86-95 IFS can be swapped on and you only need to get some 54mm nuts and washers to hold the wheel bearings in.

Big thanks to Milton (Cabbage) for hooking me up with a set of manual hubs.   I now only need to order the nuts and washers from WabFab. Automatic to Manual Hub Swap

As for the rust, I'll post pics when we get to fixing that. Once that is finished, I may try my hand at the $50 roll on paint job and truck liner for the rocker panels.

[slosurfer]

Now on to the engine.......

Other than running slightly hot in the desert when it was near 100*F, I've had only one other problem with the engine.  I've had a high idle that would come and go.  My cold starts were fine 1500rpm but then after driving it would still be at 1500-1700.  Then on warm starts, the idle would be about 800rpm (which is really close to perfect), but then after driving even just a little ways, it would be back at 1500-1700 again.

I searched for vaccuum leaks but couldn't find any, so I adjusted the idle screw a little since I can't get it fully smog pretested if it's low idle is above 1050rpm.  The idle screw helped some but I was still haveing the same symptoms, but at just a slightly lower rpm.

I finally found what one of the problems is, my "dashpot" is sticking and not allowing the throttle to close back to the stop screw.  The dashpot, for those that don't know, is only on the manual tranny engines and it slows the throttle down when you let off the gas. Supposedly, it helps to burn off the excess fuel as you let off the throttle.  I'm going to try to lube it up and see if I can get it to work better, otherwise, I'll be ordering a new one.  Here's a pic of it:


Next, I started a seafoam treatment.  I added a pint of Seafoam to the gas tank while it had about 4 gallons in the tank.  I ran it down to about a gallon and then filled it up.  Then I put in 1/2 a pint in through the brake booster line and shut her down to let it soak.

While it was soaking, I took the air intake hose to clean the throttle body with Deep Creep.  Holy S! The throttle was so dirty. It took me about 45 mins. to get it clean and the intake hose attached. For how dirty is was, I plan on removing the throttle body to give it a real deep cleaning.

Between the deep creep in the throttle body and the seafoam soak of 45 mins.  I had some major smoke upon start up and hopefully I didn't piss off any neighbors as I drove off to a nearby country road.  There I was able to open her up through all gears and help burn off all the crud.  I had way more smoke with the van for longer, when compared to seafoaming my 4runner.

Dirty Throttle!


Cleanish Throttle (I cleaned it better but forgot to take a final pic, but still a huge difference.)


The idle seems to be smoother, but I really haven't had a chance to drive it since doing the treatment. I'll be able to tell better tomorrow when I drive her.

One other good thing about seafoam is that it will help you find any hidden exhaust leaks.  I think I have one where the exhaust enters the muffler, at least that is where it seems to be.  I need to crawl in there with a flashlight for a better look while everything is cold.

If so, I'll be getting a custom catback system from my friends muffler shop. It has the original muffler, so it's not that big a surprise.  I just need to figure out whether to keep the stock size or go a little bigger.  I need to talk to some van experts to make sure that I don't go too big.  I also need to find out what the stock size is.

I also pulled the codes and got a stored code 43.  I cleared it and it hasn't popped back up since. I'll recheck codes again tomorrow after driving around awhile.

I also want to check the timing and plan to pull the throttle body, clean it and test the TPS.  It wouldn't surprise me if I need a new one, sense the underhood temps on the vans are hotter because of less airflow.  Therefore, plastic parts don't last as long.

Thats about all so far.  If anyone has any questions or ideas about anything feel free to post them.

[slosurfer]

I got some tech from Corax today concerning my pulled code of 43 in conjunction with my sticking dashpot.  That would be great if this is the only problem and my TPS is fine. Thanks Corax.

. . .  the TPS code was likely set from the throttle stop plunger sticking.  I had the same thing on an old yota p/u, because the ECU sees that the throttle intermittently doesn't close all the way it thinks the TPS is bad and sets that code.

Also, I know this is technically in the garage section, but I don't mind if people post directly in here with tech/comments since it is more of a build thread.  I also take any advice by pm also.   Even though this doesn't have the 22re, many of the parts and workings of the 4y are the same or very similar. So, I'm very open to receiving advice.

[slosurfer]

I decided to pull the passenger side engine cover off today. I needed to know how to do this in order to get full access to the motor.  Also, knowing how to do this can save me some labor$ if I ever have to take it to a mechanic.

For normal maintenance, the driver seat and access panel hinge back and are held up by a strap.  To really get into it, you have to remove the passenger seat and engine panel.  Really, it is fairly simple once it has been done once, but it is time consuming the first time.

Here is a pic from the driverside:


And one from the pass side (in the far left,you can see the handbrake.  The pass cover includes the center console which has the e-brake, shifter, transfer case shifter, and gas door lever.  Amazingly, just a ebrake sensor needs to be unplugged, all the other cables stay attached and it swings toward the rear of the van.


The motor is extremely dirty and I'm going to have to wash this thing down just to see if it is only the valve cover and PS pump that is leaking.  The valve cover nuts were not even finger tight!

Driver side of dirty engine:


Passenger side of dirty engine:


This is how I now have it and it only takes a few minutes from here to remove the pass panel and it is perfectly driveable.

[slosurfer]

SHE PASSED SMOG!

[slosurfer]

Vanna's back on the road again!  I've been working on her after work and on the weekend.  We had that heat wave and she was having troubles running hot, by the time I parked her to work on her, I pretty much had to drive with the heater blasting to keep the temp needle away from the red. I was pretty sure that the waterpump was leaking.

First thing I did was to try to spray down the engine some.  I got it somewhat clean but it was really dirty and I wasn't impressed with the "foaming" engine brite (I got some of that purple stuff to try later).

Next I flushed the coolant system with the Prestone flush stuff and then flushed it a couple times with distilled water.

With that out of the way, and a box of parts from NTP, I got to work:

I replaced the waterpump with a Toyota waterpump.  I'm pretty sure that the old waterpump was the original!
(hard to see, but notice the "Teq" on the WP)


I then replaced the thermostat with a Toyota one, this one had been changed by a previous owner and there is a definate difference between the lengths of the aftermarket and the toyota one. I have heard that the longer aftermarket ones actually block a passage that it shouldn't.

I took apart the fan clutch which was not the original to see if I could rebuild it.  I opened it up and let it drain for two days and then wiped the rest out.  The old oil in it had definately seen better times.  I added in 35ml of 5,000 R/C car diff silicone and put it back together.  We'll see how long it holds up, as it didn't have an o-ring but a built in plastic ring to seal it.
Here's the stuff I used:


I then removed the throttle body.  Man was this thing nasty!  I removed the TPS and then it took me a couple days to get it cleaned using carb cleaner and deep creep.  I put the TPS on and adjusted it, then reinstalled it. I also took the dashpot off, cleaned it, and sprayed it with silicone.  It now doesn't seem to stick anymore.

Somewhere in there, I removed the alternator and cleaned the exterior of the PS fluid that was caked on it.  It is a "Bosch" so not sure how long it has been on there, but I'm really surprised that it is still working considering how dirty it was.

The A/C belt had supposedly been removed two owners ago, and the last owners did not know why and hadn't explored it any further.   I checked that the idler pulley, pulley, and compressor all turned easily by hand, so I went for the long shot and went ahead and got a belt and installed it.

I put in a new air filter.  The other one was nasty!  What a PITA it is to change the filter on these vans!  I can't imagine how it could be done if you have big hands.

I also saw that my power steering pulley did not line up with its other pulleys, so I took it off and flipped it around.  Someone had installed it backwards!
This is how it was "lined up" by some "mechanic" prior to me having the van :


I got everything buttoned up, belts on, etc... and filled the coolant system back up with Toyota red.  She started right up and I was met with the nice "roar" from the fan which had been missing before on startup.

[slosurfer]

After running it for awhile with the front and rear heater blasting, I topped it off with coolant and took it for a test drive.

The temp now just goes up to just below halfway and stays there.  Also, before, the float in the overflow would stick even if it wasn't low causing the warning light to come on here and there.   Since cleaning that out, it seems to be working better now and no more light on and off.

After driving for awhile, I went for broke and hit the front A/C switch.   After a couple minutes, it was blowing cold air!  I drove for awhile in town and on the highway and it seemed to blow nice and cold at all times and had no ill effect on the water temp.   I then pulled over and turned the rear A/C on also and drove around for awhile.  Same thing, after a couple minutes the rear was blowing nice cold air too.  I was pretty stoked.  I'm guessing someone removed the belt to help with an overheating issue at some point.

I have one small leak though.   The drain for the radiator leaks (it did before off and on also).  I had thought it had gone away when I tightened it up, but it started leaking this morning.  For now, I added a piece of tube to the outlet and have a bolt and hose clamp on the other end.  This is working for now.

I also have had the brake dash light coming on and off as I go around curves.  I kept checking the level and it looked like it was right in the middle of "min" and "max".  I decided to top it off and in the process, I realized that it was right at the "min" level.   The way the brake fluid reservoir is "colored" makes it look like the level is in the middle of min and max, but once I shook it, I could see the real level was at min.   I topped it off and no more brake light on with every turn of the van.

Still to do:

Still have a high idle once I come to a stop (need to check timing)
Valve cover gasket
Seal kit for the PS pump
More Cleaning!
Get the neccessary nuts and washers to install the Aisin manual hubs
I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of at the moment

Oh, and the rust!

[slosurfer]

These are known for eating alternators, and one of the warning signs is the "christmas dash" which is pretty much all your warning lights lighting up except for the check engine light.  Usually it starts out with some flickering and gets progressively worse.  The alt. are small and it sits right under a leaky power steering pump.  Well finally started smoking and then one morning "no starty" and the battery was dead!  So out with the alternator and it looks like my alternator harness is gone too.  This is another common issue on the vans with 200K + as the wires going into the big plug on the alternator tend to break.

With the 2wd vans an alternator removal is easy peasy. Just undo it and then remove it from the bottom. Well with the 4wd's, the front diff is in the way and it seems impossible to pull it out the top. Well it can be done and I took some bigs the orientation needed to pull it out.

So once I knew it was possible, it took maybe 5 mins, including wiping my hands off and getting the camera out of the house.  You have to turn the alternator around backwards to get it past the fan shroud and upper alt bracket both the fan shroud and bracket have some give to them which is much needed and helpful. Here's a pic of how it looks once it is past those and the orientation that I pulled it up through.


Next you have to get it past the coolant reservoir bracket and the power steering pump pulley. I just kind of muscled it and it bent the bracket just a bit but nothing a screwdriver can't bend back.  Here's a pic of the bracket.


I'm going to print out that first pic and put it in the glove box or with an FSM when I get one.

Hopefully this will help someone down the road.