My camper just cut out while driving.. Any ideas ?

Hello,

I've got a 1993 Cruising Cabin with a 3L engine and today completely out of the blue the engine cut out.

It always starts instantly when you turn the key but it refused to on my first attempt to restart it. Second try not a problem and I'm off again for about five minutes and then it stopped again. Same thing, after the second attempt at restart off I went and took it home to be parked in the naughty corner !

I can't fully recall what I was doing when it stopped as I was more worried about the lack of power steering and pulling over, but I wasn't going fast ( 25- 30 mph ) and don't think I had my foot on the gas at all as I was going around a bend first time and slowing down the second. It ticks over fine and didn't drive any differently when it was behaving itself, no splutters, coughs or anything unusual even straight after restarting. It just went on strike and then changed it's mind.

All ideas appreciated, thank you.

The 3L engine is about as simple a diesel as it’s possible to have. With correctly timed fuel injection, an uninterrupted fuel supply system and enough air for combustion the 3L will run practically forever. It’s also mechanically controlled so the engine really needs no electrical supply to run once it’s started and should not stop except if stalled or starved of fuel or air.

The three things I’d check are all basic diesel mechanical aspects.
1 – idle speed too low (esp if cold).
2 – air in fuel, or other intermittent fuel problem.
3 – electrical gremlins related to the engine stop solenoid.

HTH

Thanks, I was thinking it was a fuel thing. The idle speed is fine even in the cold but today I ran it for a bit and for the first time ever it dropped and the engine "wobbled" a bit. It didn't stall but it wasn't it's usual happy self. I upped the revs and it never happened again, steady as a rock once more.


Something's going on, problem is finding out what it is when it all works fine most of the time.

Back again,

I'm still investigating this and have a new fuel filter and air filter now along with better jubilee clips on the fuel lines and I poured a bottle of injector cleaning additive in the fuel tank. But it's still not right.

The other day I sprayed WD40 on the vacuum hose joins and it seemed to improve but it's hard to say because the problem is intermittent however it could be an air leak with them. I also put some around the fuel filter plunger so it might be from there too.

This might give me a clue.. With regards to the fuel filter plunger once you've pressed it a few times and it goes harder to press, should it stay like that or does it get softer and lose pressure over time ? If not can the plunger be pulled apart and inspected ?

Thank you.

Try this for air in fuel system , take the return pipe to the tank of put it in clear bottle you will definably see any air present , the 1kzte system has a high rate off return to tank to facilitate a self bleeding system this will test for blocked filters etc.

JT69... Thanks, but I don't know if I have the same system mine's a 3l engine. Does the plunger on your fuel filter lose pressure over time ?

Not familiar with the 3l but filter head is same pump will go hard when pumped then go soft slowly normal.

JT69.. Ok thanks I won't keep staring at the pump anymore and wondering if it's behaving itself.. But it's not completely off the hook yet until I find out what's going on.

Back again,

I took my van out today for a drive and it was alright for a while but then tried to cut out. I avoided it by putting it in neutral and revving it a bit. So I did a bit of an experiment and this might be a clue or it could be nothing and just a coincidence.

I noticed that if I roll up to a stop slowly and don't use the brakes much it's fine but when I brake for a longer period of time before stopping or brake to slow from a higher speed before stopping the engine is definitely unhappy when it tries to tick over. Is this pointing at some sort of vacuum thing ?

Suspect there could be a fault on vacuum system ether a leak or bad vac pump that are usually very long lasting some have oil in them. Vac lines are main suspect , do not know what vacuum controls are on the 3L but 1kzte its mainly egr related ( most are disabled) a vac gauge is fairly cheap if you cannot borrow one .

I just looked up vacuum gauges and it might work out cheaper to buy and fit an extra dial under my dashboard, they don't cost much at all and might even make my van look a bit racey I must admit I did find it highly amusing when the insurance company asked if I intended to use it for racing or time trials !

I'm going to have a word with the mechanic that did some bits on my van about this, as he must have a gauge and means of testing it.

I doesnt look like racey looking vacuum gauges work on diesels

Just to throw something in the mix....
Something simple..
Check your Alternator ... it might be on the way out..
If its not putting out correct voltage that will mess everything else up.
Power steering, brakes etc etc..

My 2c..

OKJDM.. Thanks for the suggestion, I will add it to my list of possibles. I discovered that there's some sort of air leak near the air filter which I'm going to investigate too.

There is some sort of container next to the air filter container that has two plugs in it and a valve on the air filter housing that lets air out. One of the plugs was missing and the valve was really crappy and needed a clean. I replaced the plug with a 50p generic plug and cleaned up the valve but having sealed it all up I'm now aware that there is air blowing down from around the air filter housing and the container next to it which can't be right.

The quest continues !

I have sorted out the air filter system and it's all shiny and working properly but I just discovered that my vacuum switching valve doesn't work and no vacuum is getting switched over to the idle increasing actuator.

This could be my problem or at least part of it and would mean that as I drive along and turn on the heater my revs drop, not an issue when stationary but not so good when the engine's driving the van along or even when you take your foot off the throttle it'll return to lower revs than it should..

The valve does nothing, I've tested it and it's dead and I can suck the actuator into action by sucking the hose but the problem is that they are no longer made and you can't get a direct replacement !

I figure it's just a switch that opens a valve so it's not that specific to the engine, has anybody replaced one with one from another Toyota ? If so what one did you use ? Or does anybody have a workaround suggestion I don't think I can go around sucking a vacuum pipe every time I put the heater on !

Thank you.

I'm pretty sure I've fixed it so this is just in case somebody else has similar issues. It could be a combination of many things but there is also a possible unusual cause. In my quest to fix my van I have changed the fuel filter, fuel hose clips, vacuum hoses and the fuel filter housing ( the bit with the pump ). All these improved things but it still wasn't right.

I could not get the vacuum switching valve, Toyota were useless and refused to give me a part that wasn't for my vehicle ( now obsolete ) despite one of their mechanics telling me there were similar switches on other cars ! I couldn't tick the right boxes for the parts department to hand over or look for a part. I suppose I could've found out what car had them, hunted one down and used it's registration number but I couldn't be bothered and I'm not happy with Toyota and don't want to go back there. Amayama said they had one for a 4 runner and this week changed their mind so I give up, I'll get one one day and although the revs drop when the heater's on it's not that much.

Here's the unusual fix/ possible cause of all the hassle.. I changed the diesel heater pump. My diesel heater doesn't have a dedicated fuel feed, it runs off a t piece by the tank. I got a silent fuel pump and when I took the fuel lines off the old pump there was no diesel in them so I might've been sucking air through the diesel heater which hadn't been on for ages. I put in the new pump, got the heater working and my van is happy again.

So beware the diesel heater if you have one that runs off a t piece. I suppose if you have doubts it's a simple test, take out the t piece, block off the diesel heater fuel pipe and run a direct feed to the engine, it's only a short section of pipe.

Hello NickZ

Sorry to hear of your woes and glad you’ve got this sorted. It seems to have been a tricky problem.

I had an air leak in the fuel primer unit (on top of the filter) and fuel would run out and drain the line (a bit), which would make starting a problem, as you’ve found out the hard way. Diesels ‘hate’ air in the fuel. Diesel also lubricates (and cools) the injector pump so air can cause increased injector pump wear, too, if the problem isn’t resolved.

What is the vacuum switching valve you mention? While you couldn’t get one, can you include the part number so I can look it up, please? I’ve not heard of this. What's it for?

It’s my preference to run a diesel heater from the fuel return pipe. I think this minimises the chance of air in the fuel supply side as diesel heater pumps are prone to leaking back. I have a diesel heater in my garage and it takes a few start cycles to get the fuel from the tank, through the pump and up to the heater unit for the first run in the winter and this is with good quality hose and decent fittings.

Anyway, I think running the heater from the return side avoids the likelihood of air in the delivery system. I’ve replaced the fuel pickup in my tank with a new unit (as it was quite rusty on top of the tank). This now has a slightly bigger bore on the return line, plus the return pipe sits a little higher off the tank floor than with the original one. The original one was almost flush with the bottom, the new one is ~1cm off the bottom, but if the new one had been the same I’d have cut a similar length off the return pipe. Btw the tank was very clean even after 30y.

I have a small ‘marine’ diesel filter unit (~5cm3), which also incorporates a decent screw-down shut off valve.

HTH!!

Hello LH119V,

The vacuum switching valve in my van is on the opposite side of the engine to the diesel pump at the top and near the front. There are vacuum hoses running to it so you could trace them back to it. One of the hoses runs from the idle up actuator near the injector pump and this is the hose I don't get vacuum in.

When you turn the fan / air conditioning on electricity goes to the valve which opens up a vacuum line and sends the "suck" to the idle up actuator which moves and increases the revs to compensate for the drain on the engine. I can get it to work by pulling off the hose and sucking it or switching it onto a different connection and there is electricity going to it when I turn on the fan, my valve is just dead.

If you want to test it without hunting it down, run the engine and crank up the air con if the revs drop it might be wrong or pull the hose off the actuator ( easier to get to without removing the panel under the driver's seat ) then turn on the air con and see if the hose is sucking.

The part number is 88690-26030, it's a very simple switch, apparently used on a lot of Toyotas all it does is opens a channel when it gets some electricity but could Toyota be bothered to find an alternative, no and I'm not impressed. You will find it on the parts diagrams in the heating and air conditioning vacuum piping picture which is between the water piping and cooler piping pictures on the mega zip diagrams for our sort of van.

If you type in the first part of the part number on Amayama's search (88690) you will get a few of them coming up, that's how I found one for the same sort of year, they said they had it then changed their minds a few weeks later. I'm planning to take my van overseas to countries where they have no choice but to fix things and seek alternatives and I think that's where I'll get one. For now it's wrong but not that noticeable.

If you find an alternative part I'd be very interested but for now I've called off the search.