I can see that you are regretting buying this truck but you have to expect these kinds of things from a 30+ year old vehicle. An 85 Toyota 4x4 is arguably one of the best trucks Toyota sold here.
I go through rounds of regretting ever having touched this thing, and then I remind myself that this is a 32 year old vehicle, and, by the way, 85 xtra-cab Hiluxes don't come around every day. Right now, I am currently in the reminding phase of this cycle.
Ok, you said plugs and wires were installed by previous owner, the guy that didn't change the oil, put screws in lightbulb sockets and used a zerk for a brake bleeder, I doubt he used the right plugs.
The previous owner was not this sadly un-skilled mechanic -- He was the 3rd owner and I am the 4th. The previous owner had this truck for about 2 months and hadn't got much done beyond the ignition system. He bought it from a freind of the original owner, and I don't think this freind did much with it. Thus, I assume that the original owner, who had the truck for maybe 31.5??? years was responsible for much of the ill-done maintenance.
I would start there, get H8PVMNTs recommended plugs or get the Toyota recommended plugs and wires (OEM) with correct gapage. As I recall there was a Toyota carb guru you could send your carb to for rebuild if he is still around.
good luck, keep the truck, and keep us posted
That said, new plugs wouldn't hurt anything except my wallet. And then I'd KNOW what was in there.
There's no way I'm going to sell this truck now, even if I have to rebuild the engine. A solid axle, 4x4, manual transmission Hilux is just about the best possible vehicle for me and anything I bought to replace it with would likely have at least as many problems as this one does. Given that I've already started fixing this one, jumping into something completely new seems downright foolish, even if I could find one. Thus, I will definitely have more questions as time goes on!
Lewis
