How to replace a fuel injector on a toyota 4 runner

There it is, on most cars the fuel injectors are fairly easy to get to. But on my 1997 Toyota 4 runner, it is buried under half the engine which has to be totally removed just to get near the fuel injector. It looks more complicated than it is though and I'll guide you through the process, including pictures.

A little background info on the symptoms: I first noticed the 4 runner was having a rough idle and thought maybe I got some bad gasoline. After that didn't pan out, I replaced the spark plugs and wires but still no luck. I drove it to Autozone and had them run it on one of those diagnostic machines. The code that came up said there was a misfire in cylinder 2. So I replaced the spark plug once again but no luck. The only other option was a bad coil pack or a bad fuel injector. So I took it to the Toyota dealership to see what they said. I think it cost about $90 for them to tell you what the problem is. Sure enough it came back as a bad fuel injector. And the dealership wanted $450 to replace it!!! I dont think so... So here is how easy it is. It took me about 3 hours total and I'm not even much of a mechanic. The vehicle is a 1997 Toyota 4runner 2wheel drive. The Engine is a 6 Cylinder N 3.4L EFI DOHC, in the engine compartment is says 3400 4 CAM 24. All that said, I'm sure there are many similarities to other Toyota engines as well.

The first thing you will need is some very simple tools:

A screwdriver, pair of pliers and needlenose pliers might help, a 10mm and 17mm wrench, a socket wrench, 10, 12, and 14mm sockets, and an extension bar. Believe it or not, those are the only tools I needed for this whole project.

First you will disconnect the negative battery terminal:


Take off the gas cap to relieve some fuel pressure


I may not know the proper names for all these things so dont make fun. But next you will need to remove the air intake hose. As you are removing things take note how thay are attached. Also, I cant mention every hose and connection, but there are a lot of hoses that will need to be removed to take these parts off. The good thing is that they are pretty easy to figure out where they go later on when putting everything back together. Just make sure to leave on side of a hose connected.


Next we will remove the throttle body:


First disconnect the cables by rotating up and out:


Now undo the bolts on top and bottom with 12mm socket:


now it will slip right off:


Next we will work on removing the top half of the air intake plenum, or this thing:




Make sure to keep all of your bolts on a jar or someplace safe:


Remove the cables and pull them up out of the way:


Take off the hoses:


And pull it straight up and out:


Now put those bolts aside so as not to mix them with the next set of bolts:


Now start removing the bottom section:


Dont forget this little doodad:


These are all the bolts you should have before it will lift off. Be carefull here because there are some hidden bolts on the back and right side that are easy to miss:


You will also need to take off this guy who is hiding:


And this bolt too:


Make sure the hoses are disconnected and lift straight up:


We are getting close. this is your fuel rail and will need to come off next:


Undo the fuel injector clips by squeezing and pulling up:


Use the 17mm wrench to remove the gas line, fuel is going to spill out so be VERY careful:


Undo 2 bolts and then lift the fuel rail Straight up:


Here is that fancy little fuel injector that cost me $200.00, it must be made of hardtoobtainium! I just needed to replace one but THIS IS IMPORTANT... Make sure to replace the o-rings on any fuel injector that you have pulled out. I made the mistake of trying to use the old o-rings and had to do all of this twice!


Put all of the injectors along with new o-rings back onto the fuel rail first. Then, lower the rail into place, DONT tighten the fuel rail down yet:


Make sure you do it in this order. Put this bolt back in place. Remember the washers:


Just snug it up for now:


Not clip the clips back on:


Next, tighten the rail up, then make sure to tighten that other bolt from snug to tight:


Everything else is pretty much just reverse of what we did earlier but here are pics anyway. Connect that little bolt before you put the bottom of the air intake plenum back on:


Now set it down and tighten bolts and put hoses back on:


Now attach the top plenum:


And the throttle body, remember the cables:


Here is what it should look like:


Now attach the air intake:


Put the gas cap back on:

And the battery terminal:


You should now be set to start it up. MAKE SURE to check for leaks before you hit the road!
Read More......

How to repair your apple power supply cord, A Step by Step Guide:

About a year ago my apple power supply cord started acting up on me. Sometime it just wouldn't charge my laptop. So I would have to wiggle the wires around to make it work. Then it got so bad that I had to stand on my head while holding the power supply thingy upside down and sideways while tapping my head and rubbing my belly at the same time. And if you think that was bad the other day sparks just started flying out of the thing right near the white box thingy. I had had enough! I said to myself "I am going to tear this thing apart", my intent was to (a) fix it, or (b) have as much fun destroying it as possible. It turned out that I somehow managed to do option A.

Now I know that I'm not the only one who has had this problem so I figured I'll tell you how I fixed it. It turns out that what happened was I wrapped it and unwrapped the cord so many times that the wires broke inside the white cord. That would normally be no problem to fix except that the wires were broken right there where the cord comes out of the power supply. And I'm sure that is what happens to all of them.

Keep in mind that I have the older version power supply so I'm not sure if apple fixed the weak cord issue with the newer magnetic versions. Anyhow, for legal reasons, this should NOT be tried by anyone except me:)

I don't have any photos of me tearing the thing apart as I wasn't for sure that this would work. But what you want to do (cough, cough, I mean what I want to do) is break the casing apart somehow. I used a pair of wire cutter and a flat head screwdriver. It is very apparent apple didn't want anyone to open this thing up as it took a lot of effort to pry it open.

Once you get it open you will now (just barely) have enough room to strip the wires back away from the break to make a new connection. This wire was very odd in that it didn't have two separate wires but two layers (you will see what I'm talking about) Separate the first layer of metal wiring then use a pair of wire strippers to carefully expose the metal on the inner wire. Do the same on the cord side and then match the two sides up and twist the wires together.

This is what you should have now. (and this is where I knew it was going to work and started taking pictures. DOH!)




Now wrap that inner wire with electrical tape making sure no wire is left exposed.


Next wrap the outer wires together and then wrap the whole shebang together with the tape:


Next you'll notice that the wire will need to come out a different way:


So cut this part off with your wire cutters:


Push the taped part inside and bring the wire out the side:


Now tape it up with electrical tape. It is starting to look real good by this point:)


Here I taped the end for what I call "extra bendability security":


And voila, Good as new! Even looks better than the original too:


But remember, This should not be attempted by anyone but a certified electrician and even then maybe not!

Enjoy,

-Matt
Read More......