1KZ-TE Fuel Starvation / Spill Control Valve

[MSJW]

Hi all

I recently acquired a Toyota Granvia which has the 1KZTE 3.0 Diesel engine fitted. The Gravnia seems to be the love child of the Hilux engine with a Hiace type body. I bought this to turn into a camper while having Toyota reliability.

Upon driving it last week the engine loss all power, all warning lights came on and it coasted to a stop. I had a look under the bonnet and everything looked ok (battery connected etc.). The car started back up, drove 10 miles and the same thing happened.

I’ve been troubleshooting the car over the last week and believe that the spill control valve may need replacing. It feels like fuel isn’t being delivered into the engine. The engine doesn’t cough or splutter when this happens. It just cuts out as if there’s an immediate cut off to the fuel.

I’ve bought a new SPV which I’m due to fit but have also acquired a secondhand 2.4 fuel pump (with SPV) which is apparently in working order. Does anyone know whether the 2.4 SPV is interchangeable with the 3.0 pump?

I’m hoping to change the SPV without removing the pump. This does seem possible, although fiddly and I’ve bought a flat 32mm fan spanner to help.

If this doesn’t cure it I was thinking of sending off the ECU to be looked at. I’ve also read there’s a Spill Control Relay which is under the dash, however I can’t find any new ones available online. Does anyone know where these can be acquired?

Welcome any thoughts on this one.

Thanks
Mike

 

[Beau]

I had the exact symptom as you and it was indeed the Spill control valve. I'd be cruising on the motorway and the engine would just cut off but start back up at the side of the road. Eventually it just wouldn't start back.

The 2.4 spill control valves will not work, Tried it already. Clean out the filter under the valve whilst you're at it.

The spill control valve thing is a bit of a myth in my opinion. I've looked and never seen a dedicated relay for the spill control valve. The electric diagram for these motors show the ECU is what sends the negative signal to complete the circuit on the valve, which pulses very quickly.

 

[MSJW]

Cheers Beau, that does give me hope that a straight replacement of the new 3.0 SPV will cure it. The filter under the valve is just a metal circular grate I believe. I’ll try to get it out with a magnet as I’ll be attempting to remove it with the pump still fitted.

There are a number of wiring looms in the way - I can tell this is going to be a right pain to do despite on the surface being a straight forward task

 

[StarCruiser]

Just keep everything around it scrupulously clean. Don’t let a spec of dirt in. A cover made from clear clean polythene may help.

 

[Beau]

Yup, it's a circular grate like filter. It actually opens up and you can clean all three, maybe 4 layers of the metal filters. But some compressed air through it should do the trick.

And as above, keep things clean!

 

[MSJW]

Today I replaced the SPV with a new unit. Changed the filters and oil while I was at it. Have just taken the car for a drive and after 20 mins of driving it cut out again!

Does anyone know what the likely causes could be?

I’m thinking I’ll need to send off the ECU to be looked at as the next step?

Really disappointing as I’ve only owned this vehicle a few weeks and have already spent good money getting the new part.

 

[Shayne]

It's got to be electrical and i have a vague recollection of somebody eventually finding a similar fault by looking at the back of the interior fuse box ?

Could it be that the ecu is remembering a fault with the spv and shutting it down regardless of the fault has been fixed and disconnecting the battery overnight might clear it ?

 

[MSJW]

Cheers Shane. I’ll have a look. The battery has been disconnected a lot today.

When you turn the key it tries to crank several times but will then make a whirring noise. I had changed the contact points on the starter last week as they were worn out. When the car was behaving earlier it started on the first turn of the key..

Is the ECU inside the cab, under the dash? There’s a number of relays and small fuses between the pedals and firewall.

 

[StarCruiser]

Ok, annoying though it is, I’ve seen many a post that tested the suction control valve as being within spec only to find by replacing it that it was indeed faulty and the problem was cured. It is therefore one of the few times I will advocate changing a component without proving it wrong. Add to this that intermittent faults are difficult to trace. Add a moving vehicle and the problem becomes even more difficult. This is probably the reason the car was sold on. One good thing is that we now know the SCV is not the culprit. So what is?

I don’t believe there would be a relay as the SCV pulses too quickly for a relay to survive for very long. This sounds electrical (no, really I hear you cry) and could be in the ECU. Equally it could be at a pin connection in a connector, at the fuse box feeding the ECU, under the dash where water may have got in after a screen has been changed or in the ignition switch.

I would go for some (very) basic troubleshooting first. Start and run it and start wiggling wires and connectors. Try if possible to isolate your wiggling so you wiggle one thing at a time as much as is possible. If you get it to stop then your getting close to the problem. Separate connectors and check for corrosion. You may wiggle a whole loom and have it cut out, you can then be more focussed in that area. I’ve read somewhere of some capacitors going bad inside the ECU. You could remove the ECU, disconnect the battery first mind, and carefully open it up. Have a look for anything that looks amiss inside. Burned contacts, corrosion, dry joints especially around plug pins. RE solder with a good size iron and make sure the whole terminal gets hot if need be. Dry joints may not be obvious at first. Also check for burning on the contact pins.

I had this exact thing with the Cursed Smart Car. Brand New ECU, straight out the stealership and died. Started back up, drove 20 miles, turned out of a car park and it died again. Turned out to be loss of power going to the ECU due to a poor contact at the intelligent fusebox. .

 

[MSJW]

Thanks for the lengthy drop of knowledge. I’ve just had the car towed back and will see if it starts up tomorrow. At the weekend (only chance I’ll get) I’ll do the wiring wiggle test. There is a look of cables under the steering column and a few selenoids which I’ll have a look through after disconnecting the battery.

If I can’t find any obvious culprits I’ll try to remove the ECU and send that off to be inspected.

Cheers

 

[Shayne]

I can't in truth remember where the ECU is , i've seen it so i'm inclined to think its behind the glove box .

Whatever is happening with your truck is not typical so following on from Starcruiser's wiggle test it can do no harm to unbolt both fuse boxes to see what they might hide .

There's also a fuel cut-off built into this engine though i've never paid any attention to it , maybe a chaffed wire is activating it ?

Personally because i hate vehicle electrics the first thing i would do is turn up the fuel a bit even if i've turned my fuel screw full down and the truck still ran albeit down on power .

 

[StarCruiser]

As Shayne says, check for any chafed wires too. Looms near service items can succumb to tools suddenly moving or being pinched so look for anything that looks damaged or even repaired. The other thing to look out for is any alarm system that may have an immobiliser. Or if there isn’t one, maybe there was one and the bypass of the immobiliser has been botched.

 

[MSJW]

Thanks guys.

There is what looks to be an aftermarket alarm which doesn’t seem to work anymore. It could be that this has been a botch job. I’ll trace back the wires and try to make sense of it.

I’ll search up on the fuel cut off and see if I can find any more info. The engine pulls fine when it’s running which is a good thing I guess!

 

[goodoldboy]

It's got to be electrical and i have a vague recollection of somebody eventually finding a similar fault by looking at the back of the interior fuse box ?

Yes Shayne that was me. The pcb behind the fuse box had some components with dry joints that a mate 're soldered but the problem was related to temperature & only occurred when the mercury was below 0 .Having said that this shouldn't be discounted as some Kiwi (sorry can't remember your name) confirmed the dry joint problem saying that the sparks who fixed his said it was fairly common.warning lights coming on? What were they exactly ? Was it the full dash lighting up? If the scv operates it shouldn't cause warning lights ???

 

[goodoldboy]

I managed to fix my fuse box/pcb problem temporarily after diagnosis by jamming a piece of wood behind it so maybe vibration cou cause the problem?

 

[MSJW]

I’ll be driving at a steady pace and all of a sudden the car will just turn off. The engine stops running immediately and all warning lights on the dash light up. Power steering etc turns off and I have to coast / brake to a stop. The car won’t start up for usually 15 mins or so but today (after changing SPV) it wasn’t firing up after an hour.

It doesn’t feel like the engine is being starved of fuel gradually but suddenly (if at all).

I’ve been searching the forums tonight and it could be the ECU is playing up once the engine is warm/ up to temp. The temperature gauge gets to about half way (or just under). It doesn’t go over half way.

Does anyone know what the part numbers are for an ECU? Looking to get a quote for someone in the U.K. to inspect and if necessary repair. Any recommendations?

Cheers

 

[Shayne]

I’ll be driving at a steady pace and all of a sudden the car will just turn off. The engine stops running immediately and all warning lights on the dash light up. Power steering etc turns off and I have to coast / brake to a stop. The car won’t start up for usually 15 mins or so but today (after changing SPV) it wasn’t firing up after an hour.

That instantly brought the ignition switch/barrel/electrics to my mind - like you turned the key off

 

[StarCruiser]

Exactly Shayne. This is why it’s necessary to check for bad connections. Well remembered on the fusebox problem GoB.
I’ve used ECU doctor in the past. You can have the ECU tested before they proceed. If no fault they send it back by datapost.
I’d be looking at that fusebox and immobiliser wiring as points one and two.

 

[MSJW]

Thanks guys. I’ve got a PDF copy of the 1KZ TE manual which I’ll flick through. There’s a section on the starter process which might help...

The cars just started up and cut out when the drivers door was slammed shut. I won’t have chance to look until the weekend but maybe it is wiring related rather than the ECU. Thanks again for the advice

 

[StarCruiser]

One method often employed to find an intermittent fault is to leave it until it becomes a permanent fault. The wiggle test is one advantage of having the fault intermittent as you can often find by getting it to run then wiggling it ‘til it stops.