Topic: no power after 3000 rpm 87 turbo.

[ImSlow]

Ok i just bought a 1987 turbo on the cheap (yeah).  Sad part.  it runs like crap. (booo).  Mostly i bought it for parts but i would like to get it running again and don't know crap about turbo engines.  It seems to run pretty good up to 2800 to 3000 rpm then it cuts out and won't build any more rpms.  While it is not under load it will not rev past 3000 rpms either.   Has anyone ever had this problem with a turbo truck?  Oh it has a new fuel pump and fuel filter.  Has plenty of fuel pressure to the intake.

[Cheesemaker]

2800 to 3000 rpms is when the turbo is supposed to be spooling up.  Have you checked for any codes?  Timing? 


I bought a 87 22RTE truck, and I took out the motor and dropped in a 22RE.  For simplicity and reliability. 

Go to http://www.22rte-trucks.com/simplemachinesforum/ and see if you can find your issue.  These guys have a crapload of money in their motors alone!!


With it bogging down at those RPM's, I would say the turbo is shot.  The CT20 turbo was a weak turbo to begin with. 

[ImSlow [OP]]

Yep it is a crappy turbo.  It is sucking oil and and don't spin so good.  Should be an easyish fix.  I will try a garrett or something like that when i pull it out of the truck.  Mostly i bought it for the transmission and transfercase.  If i can get the engine running i will take it too.  might try a 2.7 conversion I like that idea too.

[Cheesemaker]

That was the reason I bought mine.  I had people offering me more money than I paid for it, before I got it home.  The Trans/Tcase was worth the $1200.   I was hoping the motor would run.  But it wouldn't fire.  I probably could have gotten it running if I checked for spark, but I bought it with the knowing fact that I was gonna pull the motor anyway.  Come to find out when I went through the harness, the wires going to the coil, ran over the exhaust/turbo, and even with a heat sleeve, still fried the wires. 

All the 22re's have the coil wire running over the exhaust.  So, I picked up a spare harness, and found the needed wires, and lengthened mine to run from the intake harness, to the firewall, along the firewall to the fender, and the coil.  The way Toyota should have done it in the beginning. 

In my signature there is a link to my rig.  And my research on doing a 22re swap. 

[lone walker]

I leaning towards your issue being a bad MAF, just dont put in a 22re mass air flow in hopes of a quickly solution to solve your issue, that may damage your ecu/engine. Readings from 22re to 22ret are different even tho the car will still start up and idles perfectly fine. I wouldn't jump the gun to say your turbo is toasted.

Can you described it more in detail of what is going on? At or about 3k rpm, engine buck hard/stalls, loss of power and no longer able to gain rpm/pick up speed?