I have this truck as a daily driver (130,000 miles, 2-wheel drive,
KA24E, 2.4 L) and just recently on my way home from work the rocker
arms or lifters, I couldn't tell which, started knocking extremely
loud when I was in fifth. I made it home and took a look at the truck
everything seemed to be in order. It had done this in the past for the
previous owner a.k.a. my brother, but it seemed to be because the
rockers were not getting enough oil and the oil pump was replaced. I
went to the library to get the repair manual and on my way home I put
it in second and went to give it gas and the engine bogged down like
it wasn't getting enough fuel. It did this also in first which made
driving on the main roads a hassle. I looked it over again at home and
found nothing wrong. It was getting spark, fuel and air and on top of
everything else there were no CHECK ENGINE lights on the dash. When I
got to the fuel filter it was pretty dirty so I changed that out and
checked fuel pressure and it seemed good. I gapped and cleaned the
plugs and now I can't get the engine to start at all. I thought that
it may be the O2 sensor but the O2 sensor only affects the E.C.U.
during WARM or CLOSED LOOP operating conditions but it would not have
any effect on the engine when starting from a COLD or OPEN LOOP
operating condition. The next thing I will check is the camshaft
position sensor I have heard that this sensor can cause some of the
symptoms. If anyone else has had a similar problem please, by all
means respond to this posting I really would like to know why this is
happening. I am unsure of the relation between the rocker arm noise
and the bogging down of the engine but I will keep at it!