Rough idle and blackish smoke on cold start

You could pull a spark plug to see what it looks like, but if you aren’t getting a misfire you can leave them alone

next step is to probably look at afr/o2 sensors to see what they’re reading so might be best to just let a local shop diagnose it if you don’t have a scanner

 

Ok thanks brother

 

It could indicate multiple things but would be a clue. Oil that smells like gas could mean it’s got a misfire that isn’t frequent enough to trip a CEL but is allowing gas to get past the rings. It could also mean it’s running super rich and not able to efficiently burn all the fuel…

 

Black smoke is fuel

 

Well. Got it back from Toyota. According to them it is in fact a flex fuel and the issue is the fuel pump. They want $1700 to replace it. I can drop the tank myself and install a new fuel pump. My questions are 1.shoukd I get a more inexpensive pump that’s not OEM and 2. They told me that there is some computer magic that has to be done after replacing the pump. Ecu relearn and alcohol %. I didn’t hear everything he said. Is that necessary? I’m thinking of saving A LOT of money and doing this myself. Also what brand brake pads, rotors and calipers do you guys recommend other than OEM

 

yikes, I can’t speak on the relearn of the flex fuel problems but I have read on the forum of people having the relearn done without changing the pump (not sure if it helped)

also I don’t see why you can’t change the fuel pump yourself and then get the dealer to do the relearn (just get a quality pump so you don’t have to drop the tank again)

as far as pads and rotors go, brake best/import direct from O’Reillys is good, power stop is also good (those are the main two brands we use on customers cars)

I wouldn’t change the calipers unless one is bad, is one giving you trouble?

 

Thanks. I just talked to a very reputable local shop. They would drop the tank for $150. Not worth me doing myself. But he doesn’t think it’s the fuel pump from what I described. Anyways going to take it to him to have a 2nd opinion. Yeah calipers are froze.

 

We just started looking at Napa brake parts at the shop, I put a rear one of theirs on my truck and it’s actually pretty nice, it’s coated so no rust and so far so good

yeah a second opinion is always good, I know the flex fuels can be a royal pita so a third opinion might even be worth it

 

Good move with indy looking into the problem. Couldn't figure how a fuel pump could be causing rich condition. Could see where
a faulty fuel pressure regulator could cause the problem. Is the regulator built into the pump?

 

I’d give it a 99% chance of running just fine if you just reset the alcohol density setting.

We’ve had people get a new fuel pump and have the exact same issue because it’s the ECU causing the problem by sending too much fuel.

 

What do I win?

 

The way I understand it, the pump is part of the E85 detection process. When the truck thinks it running on E85, it changes the fuel mapping to add more fuel as E85 does not have as much energy as gas does. That creates a rich running condition. The ethanol value gets stored in the computer and never goes down, even if you run normal gas. Many report only running normal gas and still ending up with a computer that thinks it’s running at 80% or more ethanol. The fix is to reset the computer to 0% ethanol so the truck will run correctly on regular gas. You need a bidirectional scanner to do it. Toyota says that a new fuel pump (with a different or new sensor) and a reprogram will fix it. But some have reported the fuel pump did not fix it for them. Everyone reports resetting the ethanol % as being a fix. It may need to be occasionally reset though.

 

Shit you can buy a bidirectional scanner for about $200 with an actual screen, or carista for like $30 a month; I would just do that and you get a scanner to use down the road

 

Dealer never does anything for "just a $100"!