Yotamog's 4y engine swap

[YOTAMOG]

Thanks for all you do, Tim. Gonna plug in that new coil tomorrow. Hope it zips!

[YOTAMOG]

Another crossroads: Just for kicks I tested the new coil before installing, it has the same resistance as the one in the van. Feeling less than confident that spending $110 on this will be a solution. I'm gonna play with it for a bit, maybe something obvious jumps out at me.

[YOTAMOG]

Going to return the coil as the van is now running pretty good. Not perfect but I don't have any hair left to pull out.

Thanks to a recommendation from a tech at Toyota, I ran a bottle of Techron through it and noticed improvement immediately. Just finished the 2nd tank with that golden juice (thanks to the wife's 100 milers daily) and only spits and complains briefly on initial warm-ups and a bit now and again at speed.

Pretty happy for now.

Won't be filling up at that "REINO" place again, that's for sure. "You get what you pay for."

[timsrv]

I'm glad to hear it's tolerable. FWIW, the problem most likely lies somewhere in the equipment you re-used off the old engine. A long-block related problem would be excessive oil consumption, antifreeze going places it's not intended to be, and/or noises like knocks and rattles. If it burns less than 1 quart oil every 500 miles, the fluids stay where they're supposed to be, and there's no bad noises, then the block and head are most likely fine. Hesitation and or rough running are typically caused by external components. Tim

[gushaman]

Since yours is an 87 & mine is an 89, the intake manifold along with the injectors will need to be swapped over (just swap the manifold, fuel rail, injectors as an assembly). You will also want to swap and re-use your existing coolant filler neck with it's sensors. You could put the 89 stuff in your 87, but then you'd need to change out the ECU and rework your engine harness.

Hmmmmm..........
I have a question if you guys dont mind:
could I take a 3y that needs to be re ringed out of an 84 van and replace it with a 4y, but use the 3y head, intake fuel rail etc...? would it be o.k. considering the computers are different? or is it just as easy to swap the computer too and just have a 4y 84?
i know your post isnt really related, but it made me think of this option. it could be the difference between a $300 engine swap and a $1500 engine rebuild.

[timsrv]

Sure, you can pretty much do anything like that. There is good interchangeability between blocks & heads so none of that would be a problem. For various reasons I would leave the emissions, computer, & harnesses alone. When it comes to the bottom end, the van won't know any difference. For all intensive purposes you will simply have a 2.2 liter 3y. When it comes to the computer and sensors the older stuff is a bit more simple anyhow, so as far as reliability, there's less to go wrong . Tim

[gushaman]

if my choice is between an 88 and an 89 which would be the better choice, given similar mileage and condition

[timsrv]

The 89 is 1 year newer.............other than condition there are no physical differences.

[gushaman]

cool thanks. i think im gonna try a pullapart 89 engine block. it has 188k but it turns freely and i can hear it compressing air and opening the valves when i turned the ring gear and torque converter. the other van there would not turn in neutral.

thanks

[Mikesta]

Thank you for posting all this. Looking for an engine for my 89 5 speed now. Seems like a pretty simple swap with lots of lessons learned here.