Cold weather/altitude issues: anyone else?

[avocadofarmer]

Howdy!

A few of us Yankees have imported 1KZTE's and installed them into US spec 4runners. There seems to be an alarming number of us who find that they run terrible in the cold and at high altitude. For instance, they start up fine down to at least -20C but after one or two minutes they start to misfire and stumble and smoke and make a terrible mess. This makes them nearly undriveable.

Has this happened to anyone with a KZN 130?

We are also looking for a way to fit a manual injection pump to this engine and ditch the electronic setup. It really sucks because there is no way for the user to adjust the timing. The computer does it all, but it does it wrong!

We have also experienced knocking that sounds like the pump is too far advanced. This gets worse at altitude too, even in warm summer temps.

Does anyone have any ideas on this one?

Thanks in advance!

[Sancho]

I can't help much, I'm afraid, but there is definitely a way to take all the electronic stuff of the engine. The UK 4runners (which were massively unpopular) had the 1KZ but not the the EFI, so the parts and design for a non EFI 1KZ do exist.

On the second point, some of the Surfs had a 'winter pack' fitted, the mostly obvious part of which is a heated fuel filter. I'm wondering if sourcing or making one would help cure your cold running problems.

Some of the guys here who use vegetable oil as fuel have come up with various ways of heating it to help things along. You could try searching for it, although I suspect it's going to be a tricky one to find.

Finally, this is an obvious one, but are you sure your glowplugs are up to the job?

[gwh200]

Unless your fuel is freezing, it does sound air related. have you tried running (albeit stationary) with the air filter off ?

[Sancho]

Unless your fuel is freezing, it does sound air related. have you tried running (albeit stationary) with the air filter off ?

That's kind of what I thought and then I couldn't really work out what could be going wrong on the air side of things across various vehicles at the same time.

Mind you, when I drove my 2.4 up the alps it had all sorts of problems, then shat itself and cracked the head....

[gwh200]

That's kind of what I thought and then I couldn't really work out what could be going wrong on the air side of things across various vehicles at the same time.

Mind you, when I drove my 2.4 up the alps it had all sorts of problems, then shat itself and cracked the head....

Just not enough of it.

[Sancho]

Just not enough of it.

Try a 'freeflow' filter?

Why would it being cold make a difference?

[the silver surfer]

I live at an altitude of about 750m above sea (as opposed to below!) and it's pretty cold here in the winter, although not -20 cold, perhaps -5 at times. Yes it does get that cold in Spain. I have a replacement K&N filter in the standard air box and I can't say the altitude has caused any problems for me and I do frequently drive to about 1100m. Are you using bio diesel or WVO?

[avocadofarmer]

Ya, I really don't see how it could have anything to do with the air filter. Especially since it happens to many different trucks...

I've been running a mix of biodiesel and diesel, it happens regardless of what fuel is in the truck.

We've determined that it is a computer/pump issue because a guy here installed a manual pump and it totally cured all of the issues.

I'm just looking for a mechanical pump now!!!

[the silver surfer]

Thought it might be your WVO clogging things up in the cold weather. From a lot of the info I've read about using it most people never use more than a 50/50 ratio in the winter, but that's UK winter, not -20 winter. I'm no expert on it mind, just thought I'd throw my 2 Centimos in!