Charis Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 (edited) Hello, my boyfriend and I just purchased a 1986 Toyotal Dolphin. It has 55,000 miles and the engine ran great when we took it for a test drive, albeit a short one. Then today as we were driving it home, it started jerking and shuddering. Was about five blocks from home and the engine quit altogether....just stalled completely out. I restarted it and managed to drive it the five blocks and it stalled again just as I turned to go into the driveway. I got it started again, but had to really gun it to get enough power to get up over the curb to the driveway. From reading these forums, I'm concerned that it may have been sitting for a long time with a tank that was sitting on E. Any suggestions for easy (and relatively inexpensive) options to try first? Neither of us are particularly mechanically inclined so the various options I've read here of dropping gas tank and such are not really an option. We're in the Denver area, can anyone recommend a reliable place to take it? Turns out the place I had been going, has been ripping me off and it turns out that contrary to their ads, they are no longer an AAA authorized repair shop. By the way, it does have the EFI logo on the side. My boyfriend is terrified that this will end up like the used car he bought last year where within two months of purchasing it he had to put $3500 into it. Edited August 27, 2008 by Charis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Stock Toyota fuel tanks have a drain plug in the bottom. If your does drain it. Be careful, bas gas burns almost as good as new gas. Put the plug back and poor in 2=-3 gallons of kerosene, rock the RV back and forth. Drain tank again. See if you can disconnect the fuel line from the tank somewhere underneath. Add 3 gallons of gas to the tank. Attach a hose and run the fuel pump by turning the key on/off a few times. IF it pump clean gas the next thing is to change the fuel filter. On the 22RE it is a major PIA to change so a mech might be a good idea at this point. Otherwise plan on spending $2-300 on having the tank dropped and cleaned and new filters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLittlePuppy Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Hi Charis, Welcome! We have a '84 Dolphin and it had not been driven for quite awhile when we bought it. So on the way to our mechanic this spring, it did the chug chug die thing too. It finally wouldn't start at all and ended up being towed to the shop. Yes, it was the fuel pump that had died. Found out this was caused by lots of crud in the old gas tank. They removed the old tank and tried to have it cleaned, but it was just too old and completely fell apart in the cleaning solution. So our mechanic ordered a new one, but it didn't fit...so back to hunting one up from a salvage place. He found one on a wrecked Toyota truck and removed it, cleaned it (no interior crud left to gum up another fuel pump) and now it runs great. So, you might try looking at salvage places and hopefully find a gas tank that will work for your '86. Hope you're able to get this fixed and soon be on the road enjoying your "new" Toy...they are worth it and they are fun! Best wishes, Dianne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nibs Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Before you do anything else, you might try putting about a cup of alchohol (Methanol - methylated spirits - ethanol - gas line anti freeze but not vodka) into the tank & crank it over, the alchohol will bind with any water in the system and bring it into solution with the gasoline, the motor will burn it no problems. If you are really lucky that may fix it, otherwise see above. good luck, Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charis Posted August 29, 2008 Author Share Posted August 29, 2008 Thank you everyone for all the advice. We're trying adding gas cleaner first. That seems to have helped a bit... it's running well right now in neutral... will see what happens when we try and drive it. Have also been referred to a mechanic that a co-worker of my boyfriend knows and most likely will have him run a diagnostic and do a tune up on it. Will keep all posted. In the meantime the neighbor, who is also an RV owner, has come over and seen it and says he really likes it. The inside has all been redone and looks great. Only thing previous owners hadn't gotten to was replacing the shower pan. Also a previous owner removed the A/C and the last owner, rather than replacing the leaking front window, above the cab, simply "boarded" it up with a fiberglass panel, so at some point we're going to want to have that removed and a new window put in... but all in good time. In the mean time we need to get the engine problems solved.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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