Hi Guys,
Am new to the forum. I recently purchased a 99 Hilux with the 2.7l petrol engine. The car has over 300K kilometers, but is in surprisingly great condition. The guy I bought if off said the engine was replaced around 120k's prior to selling it to me and had recently had a head gasket replaced. Anyway, the car has been running perfectly up until recently.
I started to notice a bit of a whining noise coming from the engine bay, which sounded like a pulley bearing or the like. It would come and go, get loud and then stop and then come again. I tried to find it amongst the drive belts and idler wheels etc. but had no luck. Then, the car started to would intermitently increase revs at idle up to around 1,400RPM then sometimes drop back down to normal, or to somewhere in between. Also, under acceleration, again intermitently, it would ping heavily and then mid gear stop pinging and you'd feel it pick up power, like some switch had been activated, sometimes, while other times it would continue to ping all through the gears.
At times, when you turned the engine off and then started it again, it would fire right up, other times, it would just turn over and over and I'd have to clutch start it. It seems like something is causing the timing to shift up or down, then back to normal again. Has anyone had this type of thing before and could it be a timing chain, or coil pack or something else. I'd be grateful for any advice.
Thanks
Darren