Intermittent Check Engine

[Aldo]

Hey Everyone,

 

Thanks for all the help from everyone here. I'm a newb to the camper thing, a mechanical hobbyist and home rebuilder. I've never had a travel house before though. So my first two-in-one'r. 

 

86 22RE SeaBreeze. Auto. 

 

Check engine light:

 

1. Pops on when stressed in 4th gear above 60 e.g. headwind or up hill when on the gas. When I lift off, it goes away. My fix currently is to turn off overdrive and just keep it at 55 or so when I'm getting strong headwinds or climbing

2. Pops on when I try and use the engine to brake down a hill by turning off overdrive. Blinks 5 times at me (i think it's 5, it's certainly a sequence of purpose). Fix here is...don't do this. 

 

The problem is only an interstate one, around town and even on non-interstate "easier", less trafficy highway, it never happens. 

 

Have I replicated anyone else's experience? Is this common? I've put about 1300 miles on her like this. Fluids are all good and new and seem be staying that way, engine temperature is always on the lower side and never changes. Everything else seems great. 

 

Thanks everyone,

 

Aldo

[linda s]

First thing to do would be check your engine codes and see if it's throwing any bad ones. Easy to do and no equipment needed. 

Toyota Tech - Diagnostic Trouble Codes (4crawler.com)

 

As far as leaving it in overdrive when going uphill or with strong headwinds, just stop it. Your transmission is undoubtably getting hotter than it should and heat will eventually trash a transmission. I never turn my overdrive on. The 22re runs just fine at highway speeds in third. 

Linda S

[thewanderlustking]

Aldo, I am exploring some of that right now working on an engine management conversion.  Looking at the codes in the list above, I don't see any related to this directly, but something in the later systems apparently monitors the transmission and exhaust gas temperatures.  The 5 code seems to point towards OX though.  An overheating sensor could easily be caused by the conditions you mentioned, and potentially throw this code.

 

But follow the diag procedure to see what is stored, and try to count/verify the blinks when it occurs.     

 

Oh, I don't know if this is standard on these, but mine has a decent sized transmission cooler.  I plan on monitoring my temps and seeing if I can safely get my overdrive usable.  I frequently do things I am not supposed to do though...  😝

Edited December 27, 2021 by thewanderlustking

[Maineah]

Maybe on a dead flat road with a tail wind. I did use the auto trans like a manual because that was what I was used too but with the weight and wind drag on a under powered brick it was seldom used. 

[linda s]

The only way to make the A43D usable with in excess of 5000lbs weight is to rear gear the differential. 4.56 and 4.88 are the options available. Plenty in junk yards on 4x4 trucks and 4runners

Linda S

[86Dolphino]

On 12/27/2021 at 11:39 AM, linda s said:

First thing to do would be check your engine codes and see if it's throwing any bad ones. Easy to do and no equipment needed. 

Toyota Tech - Diagnostic Trouble Codes (4crawler.com)

 

As far as leaving it in overdrive when going uphill or with strong headwinds, just stop it. Your transmission is undoubtably getting hotter than it should and heat will eventually trash a transmission. I never turn my overdrive on. The 22re runs just fine at highway speeds in third. 

Linda S

definitely getting hotter in OD period. Since I installed a transmission Temp sensor I can see the needle clime when in OD. Take it out of OD and the needle will drop. And that’s on flat surfaces 
 

 

[86Dolphino]

On 12/27/2021 at 11:04 AM, Aldo said:

Hey Everyone,

 

Thanks for all the help from everyone here. I'm a newb to the camper thing, a mechanical hobbyist and home rebuilder. I've never had a travel house before though. So my first two-in-one'r. 

 

86 22RE SeaBreeze. Auto. 

 

Check engine light:

 

1. Pops on when stressed in 4th gear above 60 e.g. headwind or up hill when on the gas. When I lift off, it goes away. My fix currently is to turn off overdrive and just keep it at 55 or so when I'm getting strong headwinds or climbing

2. Pops on when I try and use the engine to brake down a hill by turning off overdrive. Blinks 5 times at me (i think it's 5, it's certainly a sequence of purpose). Fix here is...don't do this. 

 

The problem is only an interstate one, around town and even on non-interstate "easier", less trafficy highway, it never happens. 

 

Have I replicated anyone else's experience? Is this common? I've put about 1300 miles on her like this. Fluids are all good and new and seem be staying that way, engine temperature is always on the lower side and never changes. Everything else seems great. 

 

Thanks everyone,

 

Aldo

i had a similar issue my checks engine light would come on going down hill above 50 mph or so. My problem was the 02 sensor.