Hey all, so here's the deal:
While taking my '93 3.0L auto tranny pickup wheeling, I recently encountered an issue where I will be in 4Low-low, and climbing up a steep, loose grade. When i begin to lose traction and start to spin wheels, and wrap up the RPMs (id say at least 4 grand) for a bit, my engine stalled. Like I said, I was gassing it pretty good, but couldn't get any more forward progress (lockers would be nice!) and it just cut out on me. I would roll down the hill and would be able to start it up just fine again. Once again, it only happened on rather steep, loose grades (twice on this last trip). Any ideas?

 

steep grades: how full was your gas tank? maybe fuel pick up out of the gas. just a thought...

4 Low Low-you have dual cases behind your auto v-6? cool

 

nah the tank was 3/4 full...and it was just 1st gear on the tranny (marked low) and then 4 low...maybe its a fuel filter that needs to be changed?

 

Knocking out engines like that are usually either fuel or ignition problems. check the pressure at the rail if you can. If you get a more smooth loss of power the harder you rev the engine, its probably a fuel starving issue. The filters are meant for hundreds of thousands of miles and there was a TSB saying DO NOT change the filters regularly, but its as easy as a single bad tank of gas to toast one. Only replace the filter if you have to. Ignition issues would feel more like a sharp immediate shut off or harsh miss. If you're losing it at higher RPM under load, it would be possible that its an ignition sensor sending a bad signal. Plug wires could be shot arcing through the casing to the engine... start looking and let us all know what you find.

 

hmm thanks man. i will look into it. i can tell u i recently replaced the plug wires with toyota issued wires last december...so they're relatively new. Also, i rebuilt the engine at the end of '08...but the rest of the truck still has 260,000 miles on it. So idk if that's toward the end of the life of the filter or not. but from what i remember it was more of an abrupt and sudden cut out. So possibly ignition? I mean, i havent really encountered this issue before...ive done this hill several times and this was the first trip where it started acting up...i'll keep looking into it. any further ideas or advice would be appreciated! thanks.