Applications Toyota 1GR-FE
Draft. Trigger offset has not been confirmed on a running Race Core install. Pins marked TBD are unknown — do not guess them. A wrong decoder or firing order can destroy the engine.
Toyota 1GR-FE
4.0 L 60° V6 in Hilux, Prado, FJ Cruiser, 4Runner and Tacoma. Dual overhead cam, intake VVT-i, and dual VVT-i on later engines. Coil-on-plug. High-impedance port injectors. Count the crank wheel before you trust a 36-2 selection — that is the usual Toyota VVT-i pattern of this era, and it is not the early JZ 12-tooth.
Recommended: Race Core F7. Six sequential injectors and six logic coils. V4 has six coil channels, but its pin map is TBD and its H-bridges are TBD, so a DBW Hilux stays on F7. Micro Core is four-cylinder only.
Status: draft. Trigger offset has not been confirmed on a running Race Core install.
- Cylinders: 6
- Displacement: 3956 cc
- Firing order: 1-2-3-4-5-6
- Orientation: Firing order 1-2-3-4-5-6. Coils are wired in cylinder-number order; the firing order is software. Confirm which bank Toyota calls cylinders 1-3-5 before you pin the loom. Do not use an LS or UZ firing order.
Variants
| Variant | Years | Trigger | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1GR-FE single VVT-i | 2002–2009 class | Count the crank. Usual pattern 36-2 + cam | Cable or early DBW depending on market. Intake VVT-i. Hilux / Prado / FJ. |
| 1GR-FE Dual VVT-i | 2009– | 36-2 class crank + two cams | Intake and exhaust phasers. DBW on many. Still port injection. |
Recommended pin assignment (Race Core F7)
Pins below are the library default Race Core F7 map — the same AMPSEAL landings as the verified 1UZ-FE, 2JZ-GTE and LS1 notes. Core EFI V4 and Micro Core cavity numbers are TBD. If a pin is not in this table, it is TBD. Do not guess a spare.
| Pin | TunerStudio | Function |
|---|---|---|
| B5 / B13 | VR 1+ / VR 1− | Crank, if the sensor is 2-wire VR |
| B10 | Digital 1 | Crank, if the sensor is 3-wire Hall |
| B4 / B12 | VR 2+ / VR 2− | Cam VR |
| B1 | Digital 2 | Cam Hall |
| A3 | Lowside 1 | Injector cylinder 1 |
| A15 | Lowside 2 | Injector cylinder 2 |
| A4 | Lowside 3 | Injector cylinder 3 |
| A16 | Lowside 4 | Injector cylinder 4 |
| A5 | Lowside 5 | Injector cylinder 5 |
| A6 | Lowside 6 | Injector cylinder 6 |
| A35 | Ign 1 | Cyl 1 logic coil |
| A34 | Ign 2 | Cyl 2 logic coil |
| A22 | Ign 3 | Cyl 3 logic coil |
| A33 | Ign 4 | Cyl 4 logic coil |
| A32 | Ign 5 | Cyl 5 logic coil |
| A31 | Ign 6 | Cyl 6 logic coil |
| A2 | Highside 1 | Cam oil-control valve (PWM) |
| A1 | Highside 2 | Second oil-control or lift solenoid |
| B7/B6 + B15/B8 | ETB 1 ± / ETB 2 ± | DBW motor. Not a stepper as well. Pedal and TPS tracks: follow the APP and ETB notes |
| C20 | Analog Temp 3 | CLT |
| C30 | Analog Temp 2 | IAT |
| C13 | Analog Volt 1 | MAP 0–5 V |
| C24 | Analog Volt 2 | TPS 1 |
| C34 / C35 | Knock 1 / Knock 2 | Knock, one per bank |
| A20 | Lowside 10 | Fuel-pump relay coil |
| A21 | Lowside 12 | Main-relay coil |
| A12 | Lowside 15 | Radiator-fan relay coil |
| B17 / B16 | CAN 1 H / L | Dash / wideband |
| B18 | Battery Sense | Ignition-switched 12 V (5 A fuse) |
| B23 | +12 V MR | Main-relay 12 V into ECU |
| A17 A18 A24 B14 B19 B20 | Power GND | Engine block → battery − |
| C9 / C21 / C32 | 5 V Sens 1 | MAP, TPS, pedal 1 |
| C1–C8, C29, C31 | Sensor GND | 0–5 V and thermistor returns |
Trigger
Do not copy the 2JZ page. 1GR is not a 12-tooth crank. The working assumption is a 36-2 VR crank, because that is the Toyota VVT-i crank of the 1ZZ/2ZZ training sheet and the usual GR wheel, but you count the teeth on this reluctor before selecting 36-2.
Crank
| Expected | 36-2. VR on B5/B13, or Hall on Digital 1 if the sensor in your hand is 3-wire. |
| If the count is not 34 teeth | Stop. The decoder is wrong. |
Cam
| Intake | One cam sensor minimum for sequential and VVT. Digital 2 or VR 2. |
| Second cam | Exhaust or the other bank. The input pin is TBD. The VQ37 draft uses Digital 6 (B11); do not crimp that until the firmware build lists the channel. |
TunerStudio
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Trigger / wheel type | 36-2 only after the tooth count matches. Cam mode from the log, not from the 2JZ 3-tooth label |
| Use only rising edge | VR: typically yes on MAX992x. Hall: as logged |
| Invert primary | No — swap VR wires first |
| Firing order | 1-2-3-4-5-6 |
Offset: Light on cylinder 1 after the cylinder numbers are confirmed. A mirrored bank is an engine you will bend.
Injection
High-Z port injectors, six sequential. Later Dual VVT-i engines in this family are still port on the FE suffix. An FSE suffix is direct injection and is a different note — do not land GDI injectors on these low-sides.
| Impedance | Meter. Saturated drivers only. |
Ignition
Six logic COP, Ign 1–6 in cylinder-number order. Dwell 2.0–2.5 ms. Toyota coil-on-plug of this era is usually an igniter in the coil. If the coil is 2-wire, it is dumb and this output cannot drive it.
| Order | Software firing order 1-2-3-4-5-6. Harness order is cylinder number. |
Idle
DBW cars use the F7 H-bridges and the APP / ETB notes. Cable cars use an idle valve whose driver pin is TBD. You cannot run a bipolar stepper and DBW together.
First start
- Load the matching variant configuration in TunerStudio before the harness is live — injectors and coils stay disconnected until the decoder is confirmed.
- Fuel pump fuse out. Coils unplugged or spark outputs disabled. Crank. Open Diagnostics → composite / high-speed logger.
- Confirm crank teeth are even, the missing-tooth (or named pattern) is a single clean gap, and cam is one pulse per two crank revolutions for sequential four-stroke.
- RPM during cranking should sit in the 150–350 rpm band. 0 rpm or 12,000 rpm means the decoder is lost — polarity or wheel type, not offset.
- Lock timing to a fixed 10° (idle control off). Timing light on cylinder 1. Change trigger offset until the damper agrees with 10°.
- Recheck at ~3,000 rpm. If timing walks with RPM, it is VR polarity, a delayed Hall, or the wrong decoder — not offset.
- Enable spark. Confirm a healthy burn (timing light or plug colour) with fuel still disabled.
- Enable fuel. Prime, then crank. Catch the first idle on a rich-safe VE, then lean toward stoich at idle.
- Only then enable closed-loop idle, VVT, boost and traction. A base map is a starting point, not a dyno tune.
A base map is a starting point, not a dyno tune.