Van seem to lose power and struggles to drive highway speeds

[Burntboot]

Bad lifters can make a heck of a racket.
Physically, they are located just above the crankshaft in the block, well south of the head and could easily be confused with a bottom end noise.
I would hesitate recreating the condition anymore than absolutely necessary, anything that causes bad noises will surely cause damage.

An engine needs to breath, if it can't bad things will happen.
I have seen bad Cats cause gaskets to blow out, EGR components to melt and sometimes all sorts of weird noises.
Just try going for a jog and breathing in but not out and see how long YOU last.

Checking the cat is so easy to do, it just makes sense to rule out that possibility.
They have flanges and 2 bolts (and a gasket) on either end.
You only need to split the connection at the forward side (closest to the engine) and look inside.
You'll see a nicely formed honeycomb inside, if you see blobs or gobs on the inlet side (or if it's broken or cracked), it's toast.
I would have new gaskets on hand (fresh bolts would be a good idea too), best not to try to reuse those bits as leaks are sure to follow.
This would be a $20 and 3 beer type of "investment" and maybe an hour of your time, well worth checking if just for peace of mind.

There is no way of cleaning a contaminated Cat, replacement is the only course of action but it is still an easy thing to do, especially if you replace with either OEM (big bucks) or A/M, if you go A/M make sure you get a "direct fit" as it will be a simple bolt in with no mucking about required.
Further, Cats don't "fail" they always get taken out by something else (either from running rich, lean or excessive oil consumption) if the cat is bad you WILL want to make sure you fix whatever caused it to fail.

If the Cat is good on inspection, then move onto the fuel filter. As you don't know the history, it's worth changing it out.
Fuel filters are relatively cheap too, just make sure you get new gaskets for the banjo fittings (if going OEM, they don't come with the filter)

But you'll want to do things in a logical manner. (easiest and cheapest first, then work your way up)
The more variables you eliminate the easier it will be to solve the issue.

I am NOT saying there are no issues internal to the motor, but it doesn't sound like they put much effort into the diagnosis.
BB

[trestlehed]

Usaviator wrote:

I took the van to a shop that has a history of working on this van for years. They seem very reliable and have great reviews, so I suspect no bending the truth here, but this is what happened.

I feel your pain. When I first got my van it had lots of problems. I called a lot of shops and finally found one that had experience working on our vans. Or so they claimed... After several months and lot of $ I realized they were just putting on new parts willy-nilly to see if that helped. After that I waited for my trusted mechanic friend at work to recover from a shoulder injury to work on my van. In the interim, I did find one shop nearby Miramar Road that I talked to, and the mechanic said he had worked on a lot of TV's. I started asking van specific questions that he knew the answers to, such as the Hose of Death. Anyhow, I never took my van there but you might want to check them out. They were called AAA Japanese Car Specialists, and I think the guy's name was Thi.

Here is a Yelp link for you. Hope this helps and Good Luck!
http://www.yelp.com/biz/aaa-japanese...ts-san-diego-3

[timsrv]

Your symptoms are starting to sound like the symptoms in this thread: http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...-at-high-temps. I would recommend doing an oil change and looking for crud or clumps in your drain pan. If you find any then I would pull the pan & investigate. Tim

[Usaviator]

RIP my 1985 Toyota Van. Engine is fried. Knocking like crazy on startup, only runs for a few minutes and shuts down. Finally brought it to a guy who knew what the heck is going on with this vehicle, I'll call him Mr T. He identified it almost right away. Super embarrassed to admit this, but oil was almost all dried up. There was about 1 quart left in the engine. Not enough to lubricate. When I bought the vehicle, I was pretty certain the oil had just been done recently, however, Mr T told me that a fast oil consumption can be expected after having a head gasket replacement. When the upper portion of the engine has all new gaskets and seals, the internal fluids still always take advantage of the weakest points, which is around the piston rings and lower end, which causes excessive burning of oil. I never suspected this, neither was I warned about it. I was stupid not to think of checking the oil level through all of this. I was too consumed about the cooling issue, which was just about all fixed anyways, that the oil had dried up and it fried the engine. I know what you all are thinking. I was thinking the same thing when this issue happened with my wife a few years ago to her first car. I really feel like beating my head into a wall, but these things happen, and although it's an embarrassing mistake to admit, let my problem be your wisdom. Out of all the suggestions from my previous mechanic, and all of the suggestions on this forum, checking the oil level was overlooked. It could have been overlooked easily on this forum because it's a pretty basic thing to check and maybe it was just assumed, but I had no idea that having a new head gasket would make the engine more prone to burning oil. I am a little pissed that my original mechanic did not ever check the oil, but I feel bad bringing that up because I have also missed easily preventing a huge problem. Mr T was seems like a much more knowledgeable mechanic and if anything else I got out of this, it is that I have found a new and respected place to bring my vehicles. He knew this van inside and out. He knew how to identify the problem immediately and he explained everything very articulately and it just made sense. I just really sense that this guy is a good mechanic and someone to stick with. When he first noticed the low oil, the first thing he did was pour 2 quarts into it, and he never charged me a dime for anything. I think he felt bad, but still he was very nice with his service.

So now my van was towed back, It sits peacefully in my driveway and I need to figure out what to do next. I think this will lead me to asking a new question on a new thread...

[timsrv]

Sorry to hear that. Sometimes the most obvious things elude us. You're a brave man to admit here on the forum (I doubt I would be able to do that). I've heard claims before that reworking the top end will put more stress on the bottom end, but I never bought into this. I've done lots of head work on various rigs over the years without any problems occurring with the bottom end. I have however had rigs before that simply "drank" the oil. My 86 would go through a quart every 500 miles (did this since I bought it and continued to do it for about 30k miles) then almost instantly started using a quart every 75 miles (never leaked a drop). From my vantage point (driver's seat) I wasn't aware of any smoke, but suspect people behind me would disagree. When I finally tore the engine down everything was in good shape except the oil rings. All of them were crudded up and stuck to the pistons (no movement in their grooves). I suspect just removing, cleaning, and reinstalling them would have solved the problem, but since they had over 200k miles I replaced. That completely solved the consumption issue. I suspect yours likely had a similar problem.

I could totally see what happened to you happening to anybody who might have started driving my 86. Without prior knowledge of it's consumption issues who would think to check the oil so frequently? (it would literally run itself dry in 200 miles). Anyhow, it's water under the bridge now. Unfortunately this isn't an engine you will likely find at one of those Japanese engine places & I doubt your old one would make the best core for an overhaul. Perhaps you can find a decent used on at a salvage yard. Good luck. Tim

[trestlehed]

Usaviator wrote:

Mr T was seems like a much more knowledgeable mechanic and if anything else I got out of this, it is that I have found a new and respected place to bring my vehicles. He knew this van inside and out. He knew how to identify the problem immediately and he explained everything very articulately and it just made sense. I just really sense that this guy is a good mechanic and someone to stick with. When he first noticed the low oil, the first thing he did was pour 2 quarts into it, and he never charged me a dime for anything.

So sorry to hear about your van. However, if you should decide to, if you watch Craigslist you will
quickly find another one.

Since I just had my head gasket done I'm grateful for the tip on the higher oil consumption. I will definitely be
on the lookout for this!

In the meantime I'm requesting that you post the info related to your mechanic (shop name, etc) for the
other van owners in the San Diego area. Could be a very valuable resource to them.

Thanks and good luck!

[originalkwyjibo]

Sorry to hear this. I feel your pain. I too have to admit to damaging mine in a similar manner. After repairing my head gasket I checked the oil every time I filled the fuel tank for 9 months and it never used a drop. I slacked off for awhile and one day while accelerating from an intersection glanced at my oil pressure and noticed after it reached it's usual peak it started going down while I was speeding up. I checked the oil to find it two quarts low. Shortly after, I repaired an exhaust leak that revealed a noisy timing chain. I continued to keep the oil filled until I had time to fix the timing chain since the oil leak appeared to be coming from the timing cover seal. I was amazed at the amount of oil I was going through and noticed it leaving a mess where I parked it so I stopped driving it. After the timing chain repair I started the van and immediately noticed knocking from the crankshaft bearings now that they could be heard without the timing chain rattling. My heart sunk. I had finally gotten this running great and now this. Fortunately it wasn't horrible but noticeable so I continued to drive it(still driving it now). Unfortunately the oil leak was not fixed. After much searching it turned out to be a plastic spacer used under the mechanical fuel pump block-off plate that the fuel filter mounts to on our vans. It had gotten brittle and pieces had fallen out presumably on a recent 4-wheeling trip over some very rough dirt roads. The oil was pouring out of it when it was running. After fixing it it now burns one quart of oil every 200 mi. After inspecting the cylinders for scratches with a borescope and doing a cylinder leak down test, I have attributed this to coking of the oil rings(as Tim described)from running it low too many times and over heating the remaining oil. Ultimately this $10 part and my own negligence in checking the oil damaged my engine. I was going to post about this plastic spacer along with some pics as a warning but forgot to take pictures.

[Usaviator]

I feel your pain. When I first got my van it had lots of problems. I called a lot of shops and finally found one that had experience working on our vans. Or so they claimed... After several months and lot of $ I realized they were just putting on new parts willy-nilly to see if that helped. After that I waited for my trusted mechanic friend at work to recover from a shoulder injury to work on my van. In the interim, I did find one shop nearby Miramar Road that I talked to, and the mechanic said he had worked on a lot of TV's. I started asking van specific questions that he knew the answers to, such as the Hose of Death. Anyhow, I never took my van there but you might want to check them out. They were called AAA Japanese Car Specialists, and I think the guy's name was Thi.

Here is a Yelp link for you. Hope this helps and Good Luck!
http://www.yelp.com/biz/aaa-japanese...ts-san-diego-3

Trestlehed, I actually called this place before I brought it to Mr T. They were probably the most discouraging place of them all. They barely wanted to hear what I had to say about my problem with the van. It was almost an instant shut-down when they heard the year '85. They told me I'd be better off trading it in for something better - they wanted nothing to do with this. So I thought that was odd I got such a different response than you did. After this, by process of elimination, the only other recommendation I got was Mr T.

Mr T stands for Mr Tapp. He is the owner of Convoy Auto Body on Convoy St in Kearny Mesa, San Diego. It is right by the airport I work at, Montgomery Field. His shop is on the backside of a plaza and if you're going north on Convey St, you need to take a right onto Armour and turn left right behind the plaza facing Convoy St. He said he hasn't worked on a Toyota Van in a long time, but he seemed very familiar with the setup as soon as he looked into the engine he knew what was where and he seemed very willing to help me and much more knowledgeable than my previous mechanic. Very friendly guy.

[trestlehed]

Usaviator wrote:

Trestlehed, I actually called this place before I brought it to Mr T. They were probably the most discouraging place of them all. They barely wanted to hear what I had to say about my problem with the van.

Sorry to hear this. Apparently they are no longer the "Specialists" that their name suggests.

Mr T stands for Mr Tapp. He is the owner of Convoy Auto Body on Convoy St in Kearny Mesa, San Diego.

Well, hopefully Convoy Auto Body can and will be that "one shop" that has van experience and can do the job.
Again, good luck with whichever path you choose (wether it's a different van or an engine replacement) and thanks for your replies.