straygoose

They quoted me at 4 bucks a plug. Went to the AP store, and asked for NGKs, and they were about six bucks for the set IIRC. 4 each isn't expensive, but it is clearly over-priced. Of course this is the same dealer that wanted about 300 for the spare tire tool kit. Dealers...

I just swapped out my plugs a couple weeks ago, and I asked the store clerk to look up the gap on the computer. I believe he came up with .034 for the NGKs I bought.

How do you slip the alt belt on and off by hand? And if you can do that it can't possibly be tight enough to function properly, can it? Reason Iask is for a totally unrelated reason. My alt belt comes a little loose and about once a month I get in there and tighten her up. For the life of me I cannot figure out why she repeatedly does this. I put a star washer on the bolt to kind of lock her in place on the arm, but the alt still slips just enough for a little squeaking when I fire her up or really stand on the gas pedal. Like I said, it usually takes about a month for it to work its way loose, so I'm not sure what I'm dealing with. I've been cranking down on that bolt pretty good, seeing as I don't have an impact driver. Maybe I just can't get it tight enough with a 3/8 socket wrench? It's kinda hard getting anything bigger or longer on that bolt.

Oh and do you have to go through the whole rigmarole with a timing light and warming the engine in a certain amount of steps? That was the biggest pain about scanning the Ford. Took like 30 minutes just to get her prepped to get an accurate scan.

That's right, I remember now. Had a belt give up the ghost on me during the winter. Good thing it was only a mile from home. She was running pretty hot when I got her back to the house. I knew it was one of those pesky warning lights. I try to pretend they aren't there! La-la-la-la! BOOM! Anyway, I remember using a jumper on my Ford so I'm familiar with the process somewhat. Does it do something like flash a sequence of lights to tell you the code? My Ford would flash the CHK eng. light say 3 times, pause, 4 times, pause, 1 time. That would signify code #341.

Yeah, I haven't even looked for a connector yet. I'm kind of surprised it wouldn't be in the usual place by the battery. But Toyota does what Toyota does. Who am I to question?

I figured there would be one out there. I used to have one for my old Ford-driven MH and it came in handy. I usually take a quick look at the scanner display when I'm in an auto parts store but hardly anyone carries OBD1 units anymore, let alone for imports.

Do the standard ODB1 readers work on Toyotas? Or is there a special code reader? If so, where can I get one?

Couldn't this also be from a bad/loose alternator belt? If its slipping the check light will sometimes come on.

This sounds pretty much like how I use my OD. I don't turn it off on every little rolling hill, but I do when I know I have to climb. BTW I checked and it appears I have a stock trans cooler. Someone mentioned that the OEM coolers may not be enough, but so far I haven't noticed any problems.

I figure it probably does have the cooler already, and if not it will get one when I get back to Texas. Like I said, the mechanic that did the flush said everything was fine, so I suspect I don't have the overheating problem. I'm going to take a look for the cooler later this afternoon. Yep My OD is the same. I have the on-off switch on the shifter lever, and a little orange light by the AC console. I'm still don't get the OD hurting the mpg angle. I get better mileage with OD on and running at lower rpms. I understand the power band theory, but I still get better mileage with OD. I drive a lot of flatlands and gently rolling hills, so that might be the reason. I rarely have to boot her in the rear end with that passing gear to do any climbing. I took her through the Appalachians on her maiden trip with me and found out right away that her and the mountains are not a good match. So now when I head back down to Texas I just go around 'em. The trip is like fifty miles longer, so its no big deal. And I certainly didn't make a huge study of it. I just know from experimenting on a couple of long trips that no OD=lower mpg. I have a pretty steady foot, so I'm reasonably sure its not my driving habits. It was probably about 1-2 mpg, by my reckoning. Maybe not as earth-shattering as I previously mentioned, but on some of the 1700 mile trips I make, 1-2 mpg means a fair amount of money at the pump. Plus, I just have this aversion to running four-bangers at high revs. Blew a 4cyl. sky-high once and learned an expensive lesson.

Sorry to start a dustup, but I'm still not completely understanding this. I have automatic OD. That means that when I am going up a hill, if I step on the gas hard, it shifts out of OD and into the "passing" gear. If necessariy, it will even shift into another "climbing" gear on long, hard hills. I try to avoid that, since I figure the engine is running close to red-line at that point. I'm not trying to prolong the argument here, just trying to figure out what you guys are trying to say. It sounds to me like you have OD, but its not automatic, which doesn't make sense. Or that driving with OD and the cruise control on at the same time is the problem. That would kind of make sense since I could see the CC overriding the OD, causing the trans to overheat because it didn't shift out of OD. My Goose is an '87, but its on an '86 chassis. Was the powertain package for the '86 Hilux any different from previous or future model years? I know I have this funky 1/2-ton front axle, 1-ton rear setup, but other than that I thought she was pretty much a generic Toyota setup. BTW, I had the trans flushed and tuned about a thousand miles ago (43K), and I asked the trans guy if anything looked amiss. He said that the old fluid looked great and that the internals looked great. I did specifically ask him if the trans fluid showed any signs of being burnt (the smell test), and he said no. So, I don't be seem to be having this problem of the OD overheating the trans. And I drive her virtually every day, to the tune of 14K+ miles since last November, probably 80% or more of those miles in OD. Maybe the previous owner put a trans cooler on her and I failed to notice it. I'm going to have to check on that, and if not, she's going to get one soon as I get home next month. Either way, I'll keep an eye on my trans fluid. It'll be the first indicator of any overheating problems. To Linda: How do you get better mileage when you constantly run at higher rpms? I tried running without the OD for a full 200 miles a few times and went through way more fuel than when in OD. Matter of fact, one time I don't think I even made it 200 before having to re-fuel. And I usually get 220 or more if I'm topped off, on mostly flat highways or rolling hills. Not saying your wrong, but if you are pulling it off, I want to know how. Could be useful information down the road somewheres. I drive a lot of miles in my RVs (anywhere between 15-20K miles a year). I've had the Goose long enough now that I know her fuel needs like the back of my hand. She gets waaay better mileage running in OD.

Yeah, I was all set to do it yesterday then work changed my sked, lol. It figures. I'm gonna have to do it next Saturday. Gotta couple other minor things to do too. And now that I think about it, I might just go ahead and replace vacuum hoses while I'm at it.

I assume you are talking about trans temp, and no I don't have gauge for that. I do notice that engine temp goes up a bit on the long climbs, but other than that, no problems. I shut the OD down when I'm climbing hard anyway.

OK so she's overdue anyway. I'll just go ahead and take her hat off and do the adjustments. Gotta run and go get some gaskets and a feeler gage before I go to work tonight. Thanks and talk to y'all later! You were great!