1990 Toyota pickup from AAZ to AHU MTDI

It dont think its a cracked breather tube because when the truck is running its drips every couple of seconds or so.Hopefully ill have the time to check it out today before it gets too dark out .If not then tommorow..

Found the oil leak, its coming from the oil pressure sensor so not a big deal.

Made a temporary downpipe to evacuate the gasses out of the engine bay/cabin .

Started the truck and same old smoke spewing out of it. Really burns the eyes!(see video #2)

In the second video you will hear a sort of misfiring sound. I have to say that I am not 100% how well timed the motor is since I eye balled tdc on the pump without any tools.

Another thing is , I find that it doesn't sound like your typical tdi and I cant hear any turbo "whistle'' sound at idle. I know that on my old k03 on the aaz you could definitely hear it.

So I don't really know what to do next...any ideas? I feel like its running really bad and unresponsive almost lagging when I blip the throttle.

Click to see videos

oil smoke or fuel smoke ? how are you controlling the vnt ?

vnt isn't being controlled right now its just opened. I wanted to get it running before working on the mechanical control.

I thought it was oil smoke because the turbo and dp have a black coat of oil. I just went out for a drive down the street and theres a load of smoke when I punch the throttle (somewhat white smoke, definitely not black).

djtc said:

vnt isn't being controlled right now its just opened. I wanted to get it running before working on the mechanical control.

I thought it was oil smoke because the turbo and dp have a black coat of oil. I just went out for a drive down the street and theres a load of smoke when I punch the throttle (somewhat white smoke, definitely not black).

Click to expand...

well does it smell like burnt oil or does it smell like diesel? .... the truck will continue to be sluggish until you can control the vnt...it may build boost at high rpm but will be very laggy with no power down low....you have to close the vanes to get boost off the bottom...

Im aware about the boost issue however I feel like the engine itself isn't responsive and tends to misfire (you can hear it in the second video at the beginning).

I'll have to smell the smoke again.

Just got back from outside: I didn't start it up but I smelled the engine bay and I could definitely smell diesel but oil as well.

could be an injector issue... diesel fuel vapor tends to burn the eyes and smells distinctly like diesel fuel it can also be whitish... oil smoke smells like a valve cover gasket leaking on hot manifold.... start the engine and hold a piece of clean cardboard about an inch from the exhaust and see if it gets splattered with oil ....unburned diesel will just be vapor and won't leave a trace

I'll give these cardboard trick a try tomorrow.

What about timing?
I set the pump so that the keyway points to delivery valve #1 and I pushed the pump to the furthest advance setting (slotted pump holes). Maybe I should try to ajust the pump.

Hi djtc,

Shout out from Ottawa

Thanks for the post. This is very interesting/discouraging. I believe I know where you purchased the truck from (Shane @ Toy Works?). I'm pretty disapointed since I have a 97 Golf with the AAZ motor, which I thought would be a perfect candidate for a swap into my 93 4Runner. I recently noticed that Toy Works is now offering an all inclusive "kit" to swap the 3.slow in my 4Runner with the AAZ motor. I really thought this would be the answer to my infatuation with installing a simple diesel engine in my rig, at a reasonable cost, to acheive some low end torque . Considering your experience I'm now pretty sceptical.

Shoddy workmanship aside, I'm curious about your experience with the AAZ in your rig. I'm wondering if I should abandon hope of using the AAZ at my disposal because I certainly want to avoid the money involved with a swap that leaves me no better off. Was it completely gutless? I am running 33's right now (not yet re-geared) and may go up to 35's in the future.

I saw this video posted on youtube and the AAZ seemed to pull pretty well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD1I6oSwLto

Did your AAZ have any performance upgrades? I wonder if that would make a difference?

Any insight you can offer would be greatly appreciated!!! Good luck with your build I will be following

Cheers

thai86 .... i hope dj doesn't mind me chiming in here ... i would avoid the aaz for a toy swap ... getting ready to ditch the aaz in my 82 westy for a 1z tdi due to efficiency and heat buildup issues ... i think they are fine for light duty apps but when pushed they don't seem too happy to me ... btw my current van setup is a low miles aaz "industrial" engine non intercooled with all new cooling system, it was installed brand new out of the crate less than 50k miles ago ... i'm sure if i intercooled it could be a bit better but 26mpg is the most i've squeezed out of it and it tends to heat if pushed hard even though my van has been upgraded to the largest rad and the newest coolant pipes...

Re did the timing belt and advanced ot by 1 tooth, BAM no smoke!
Theres just a little puffing from the breather but thats about it. Now ita sounds much more like a diesel and the engine response is way better.

Thai86. If you dont mind being slow then the aaz is fine. Mine was 100% bone stock 4.56 gears and 31" tires. if you want it to crawl then the aaz should do just fine. My truck would idle over rocks in 4lo with the aaz. I would do the ahu or even better the alh.


613-697-2826 shoot me a text if you want to see the truck or have any questions

Thank you both for the insight!!! Considering my experience with the AAZ in my golf I just couldn't see how it would be powerful enough to move along my toy on the highway and even consider passing at those speeds.

djtc, I would love the opportunity to check out your rig!!! It would help me to decide if it's the direction that I would like to go. I will certainly shoot you a text sometime.

My truck with the aaz pulled a chopped up 944 turbo shell no problem on the highway doing 110km/h.

Does this sound too advanced??

Not to my ear, but it is hard to tell on video.

Never really worked on these type of motors so im notnsure what type of sound im looking for.

So I have been driving the trucks for the past 2 weeks or so and its great! I have a few things to finish such as the vnt control and other cosmetic things.

The fuel mileage looks to be better than the aaz I had in it before. However with 4.56 gears and 33" tires this things revs way too high on the highway.Even doing 60mph is unbearable.

I dont know if any of you toyota guys could help me with this but when I take off with the truck , there is a loud groaning/vibrating noise/feeling in the truck (feels like its either from the rear or the center). It also does it if im going really slow in 2nd and accelerate from that slow speed. I notice that If I have it in 2Low or 4 low , the vibration and groaning do not happen from take off.

Nothing has changed in the driveline other than the new clutch flywheel.

If you have some down time, I can make that coolant hose as a one piece assy in silicone, thats the weakest part I see...

There may be a market for this assys in other swaps ?

GB

Fixed the vibes/groans.

Gee-Bee , my coolant is running through stainless pipe with two couplers I think its fine.

Another Issue is the lack of heat with the tdi! I had no problems with the aaz but this thing barely produces any heat.

how she sits now

Took her out to Vermont for some Wheeling and camping all went well other than some electrical problems with some accessories.





Cranked up the fuel on the pump the other day and it cruiser effortlessly at 70mph now but the gearing is still a little high.

So.. I was away for a week and today I jumped in the truck, started fine without gp's at -5c but after a 10 min drive while turning a corner the truck looses power and stalls. So i pulled over and thought a bit what it could be . I tried starting it again and it would only start with a bit of throttle input and it would only stay alive if I had my foot on the skinny pedal. I also noticed that it would not rev smoothly at times jumping up and down while maintaining the same position on the pedal. After a couple of minutes of reving the motor, all came back to normal. I continued my drive stopped at a parts store , came back started fine without issues then 10min later on the highway the same thing happened again. I know its fuel related , maybe gelled fuel?air? I did not do anything with the truck recently so nothing has changed.

Very much sounds like fuel starvation... When did you fill up last?

2-3 weeks ago. Still has 1/4 of a tank left . It started at -30deg this morningand idled fine after a few rough seconds (but thats normal at such a cold temp)

I've definitely had an experience like that once upon a time during cold weather with gelled fuel. I was playing around with paraffin additives and got hit with some very cold weather.

USUALLY any fuel you buy at this time of year is treated appropriately so it won't gel up. The reason I was asking when you'd filled last was to rule out a tank of old summer fuel or something like that.

Fuel filter swap would be the first troubleshooting step I'd do regardless. Do you have clear lines in your engine bay? Check for bubbles if it happens again.

No clear lines. Fuel filter has about 3000km on it. I added some power service winter additive last night. Ill take the truck later to see if it got any better.

Hey DJ,
My wifes car had the same symptoms last year in the same weather, (continued -20 or below with the car living outside due to a project ocupying the garage) and it kept getting worse till the car stopped completely.
I changed the fuel filter - what a pain in -30. Had to use a propane torch to get the rubber lines to soften up enough to seal. (anyone whe thinks a open flame torch on a fuel filter is silly is correct, but try to start anything on fire at -30 and you'll see the risk is pretty low)

The new fillter made no difference, I couldn't get fuel to the pump.

I opened the tank and removed the fuel pickup and it was coated in ice. It just took a little water but when it froze into crystals eventualy they all got caught by the pickup screen and sealed it off.
I cleaned it mechanicaly and dipped it in de-icer (15% ethanol gas ) and re-installed - then all was good.

Now I make sure each car gets at least one night a week in the warm garage to melt any water crystals and the problem is non existant.

I always marvel how snow flakes can fall into diesel / gas below freezing and you see them swimming around as frozen flakes.

HTH

Ryan

I just got back from a test run. Started up fine in -20 and idled for about 15min. Drove down the road with great throttle repsonse and power . About 1km later the symptoms started again. The truck died , started ,died ..did this about 5 times which got me about 50ft down the road. The 6th time it started with the help of the skinny pedal, i kept the revs up and dropped it in 1st gear and drove down the street for about 100ft till the stop sign where it ran well again . Made the rest of the trip home (2km) working perfectly fine.Very weird issue.

You're going to need to get some clear sections in your fuel lines to and from the pump to be able to tell if you are sucking air or what. Do you have the thermostatic tee on your fuel filter? Is your fuel filter located somewhere that has a lot of cold air blowing over it when you drive?

Filter does have the plastic tee. Its located on the turbo side sheltered behind the intake setup so I dont think thats the case. I have not seen any local supplier for clear lines in the diameter I need. Any recommendations online?