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  1. #1
    Administrator JDM VANMAN's Avatar
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    Acceleration issue

    So the other day I was driving to work and was getting on the express lanes, as I shifted thru the gears and was driving in 4th gear at 40mph I noticed the van wasn't speeding up?? I thought I was in the wrong gear but when I checked I was indeed in 4th gear, I proceeded to shift into 5th only for the van continue to lose speed so I pulled over onto the shoulder.

    As I took it out of gear and coasted over to the shoulder safely I noticed that the idle was at a steady 750-800rpm, no trembling, shimmying or hesitation, the needle was solid. I checked the vitals, temperature and oil seemed normal. I sat there for a few minutes to see if the idle would change but it was good. While in neutral I started to push down on the accelerator about half way but the engine would only rev up to 1900-2100 rpms and no more. It was just bouncing in that range vroom...vroom... vroom... And then I let off and it would go back to normal idle.

    I sat for 10 minutes repeating this and then it did start to go up to 4300 rpms but it struggled to get there, it only did this a couple of time before going back to the original problem. So I called AAA and they towed me to the shop. They finally came 3 hours later after I called them and chewed them out for leaving me stranded on the express lanes and the State Trooper told me kindly to move my dusty bucket off the freeway before they switched directions.

    I did take a video so I could show it to the guys at the shop cause I know from the past experience the van will act up with me but when I take it to the shop then all is fine and dandy!! They looked at the video and said as long as it's still acting up they'll be able to diagnose the issue. And of course they've had it for a week and it's running just fine.

    They've left the Van running for hours and took it on test drives between working on other cars and still nothing?? But there are 3 possible things they said could be the problem-
    1) air flow meter
    2) fuel filter
    3) fuel pump

    I asked them if it could be a vacuum leak, broken air intake tube, or bad TPS and they said more then likely not, but if it'll act up then they'll know for sure.

    Has anyone else experienced the same problem and what was the final resolution? Thank you for your time, knowledge and inputs in advance

  2. #2
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    Re: Acceleration issue

    Quote Originally Posted by JDM VANMAN View Post
    They've left the Van running for hours and took it on test drives between working on other cars and still nothing?? But there are 3 possible things they said could be the problem-
    1) air flow meter
    2) fuel filter
    3) fuel pump
    If you haven't already, I would IMMEDIATELY replace the Fuel Pulsation Damper, or at the very least verify that it isn't leaking. Flounder has a write up on it -http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...lsation-damper

    I went on a road trip on my van awhile back, and a couple miles from the house my van started to sputter around 2k-2.5k RPM's. It went away after warming up completely so I thought little of it, and babied it the rest of the way. Spent 2 days in Payson and on the way back the stumbling and jerking at freeway speeds was frightening. I pulled over at an Orielly's still 15 miles from home and immediately smelled GAS. I placed my hand under the FPD and it was SPEWING gas out of the weep hole at the bottom. It's a miracle that I'm not dead/my van isn't burned to the ground. I spent a good 5-6 hours in that parking lot trying to figure out a way home. I ended up screwing a machine screw with a hex head and a copper washer into the hole, and jb qwik welded it to make sure nothing leaked. It held up well enough to get me home. (I WOULD NOT ADVISE THIS REPAIR; BUY THE PART OEM/EQUIVALENT OR BE SORRY).

    I ordered an Airtex/Wells unit and it has held up fine.

    Also check your injector connectors. During my initial head gasket replacement/necromancing of my van, I was impatient and broke the brittle 30 year old injector connectors. They don't lock down any more, but they function well enough. Occasionally (once a month or so) my van will have NO power and sound like a lawn mower, often out of nowhere. I have to pop the seat up and push the #1/#2 injector connector back into place and it solves the problem.

    Good luck!

  3. #3
    Administrator JDM VANMAN's Avatar
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    Re: Acceleration issue

    Megadysart,

    thanks for the reply, but it didn't turn out to be what suggested. The Van seems to be running fine with no issues found at this time or I should say unable to duplicate the problem. I think I'll be picking up sometime this week not unless it miraculously acts up again.
    Last edited by JDM VANMAN; 11-17-2015 at 08:02 AM.

  4. #4
    Administrator timsrv's Avatar
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    Re: Acceleration issue

    I had this problem once but before I could diagnose it stopped on it's own. It only happened once and it was years ago. I suspected the air flow meter was hanging up, but who really knows. I seriously doubt it could be a fuel filter or a fuel pump. I would suspect a fuel filter if the problem persisted, but filters don't "magically" unplug themselves. If it were a fuel pump it would likely stop altogether and the van would stall. There's also a small chance it could be a glitch with the ECU or something else electronic like the coil or igniter.........but all these things are "shots it the dark" and can never be proven (unless the problem can be duplicated for testing). Hopefully it was just a fluke and it will not return. If it does return, hopefully it will remain until the issue can be properly diagnosed. Tim

  5. #5
    Administrator JDM VANMAN's Avatar
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    Re: Acceleration issue

    Thanks Tim,

    yeah I'm hoping it's not serious, when stalled on the freeway I couldn't get it to go above the 1900-2100 rpm range and when it did, it was struggling. The shop said they fired it right up and started driving it around and it drove pretty nice for an "old girl"

    They've been busy this week and I haven't gone in to check with them but I'll stop in today to get an update and take it home.

  6. #6
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    Re: Acceleration issue - hesitation

    Not sure should put this in a different thread but I had a similar problem recently with hesitation and my neighbor who's a long time mechanic asked if I used cheap gas recently and I started thinking(uh oh!) Yes I had and my other car(Volvo 240) has been running pretty crappy too. I went to a more standard gas station than the Space Age and put in the Plus and a bottle of that fuel cleaner(name?) and haven't had hesitation since! Woohoo gotta love easy solutions!
    Moral of my story-I won't be buying cheap gas again.

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