Intermittent Loss of Throttle/Engine on 22RE
 

Hi everybody. I have a 22RE that has an intermittent/undiagnosed problem going on for probably 2 months.

Here are my symptoms:
-Battery/Brake light come on for a few seconds then go off while running.
-Lose throttle/power steering but electronics still on.
-Engine will randomly die at idle or running, not start for 5 minutes afterward.
-Will start sputtering/jerking then die, only to start up 5-10 minutes later.
-The exhaust has a slight rich/backfire sound sometimes.

Here's what I've done:
-Checked alternator.
-Checked battery.
-Swapped out fuel pump.

Try fuel filter next?

My truck is not reliable right now and I really need it to be. My truck has died on me in the middle of traffic and then I sit there for 5 minutes until it finally starts only to sputter out again and go through the same thing. The engine runs great when I have all my power.

Thanks for any suggestions.

i had some similar symptoms on my truck
-Lose of throttle
-Engine will randomly die at idle or running, not start for 5 minutes afterward.
-Will start sputtering/jerking then die, only to start up 5-10 minutes late

but when my truck would die all electronics would go with it, ie. headlights, would not crank, but would work again in a few minutes. it turned out to be bad grounds and it was an intermittent problem but when i put new ground wires on( i only had one measly ground, the other ones had broken) and all has been good since. im not sure this is your problem but is something to check

Thanks. How many ground wires do I have to check? I'm going to replace the fuel filter anyways and see what happens.

X2 on the grounds.

i have one from the battery to the fender, one from the valve cover to the firewall and one on the driver side on the block going into a wiring harness- i never followed it past that, but those are the 3 that i have

Does your service engine light turn on? Me

The only time the check engine light has come on is when the truck loses all power.

Probably because the key is still in the on position when the truck dies. I still have radio, gauge cluster and headlights when it happens.

Have you checked for any stored codes? TPS , O2 sensor?

No codes stored. I have my Toy in the shop now being checked for bad grounds. I'll be sure to post back with my solution, hopefully sooner than later. Thanks for the replies everybody!

Gerry

All my grounds have been checked. The MAF Sensor tested bad but it's not throwing any codes. I'm going to replace it with a remanned MAF sensor from O'Reilly's and have it checked again. Odd how it tests bad but doesn't make the check engine light come on.

I had a similar problem. It traced down to some airflow sensor wires that had rubbed off and against the EGR components, as the previous owner did not route the wires correctly. I taped mine up, and have had no problems since. So check for broken wires.

Still stalling on me randomly. I've replaced the MAF. I just heard this could possibly be caused by a clogged catalytic converter? How hard is it to see if this is causing the problem? Can it be cleaned and put back? I'm running a Borla exhaust system which I had put on probably 5 years ago.

the only way a cat can be intermittent is when pieces of catalyst are loose inside the cat housing. Hit it with a rubber hammer and listen for rattles. I don't think that is your problem. Have you checked for spark when it dies completly? The igniter is the best source for spark problems

distributer sensor wires to igniter rubbin the PS belt?

Disconnect your cat and drive it around the block and see what happens.

I still think its a bad ground.

So here's where I'm at now. My truck is in storage during the week and I drive it on the weekends. The last few times I went to start it the battery was dead. The battery and alternator check out fine but my 10 year old aftermarket Sony radio is causing all the draw that drains the battery when it's shut off for the week. I've had problems with this radio for a few years, one example is that it will quit working and I have to reset it by unplugging it and plugging it back in from behind. Also sometimes I may press the volume up button and instead it changes a track on the CD. Do you think that a pos radio could cause my truck to stall? I'm going to unhook the stereo and see what happens but I'm going to replace the stereo setup asap.

Did all of these problems start at the same time? Or was it the progressive little bits here and there sort of thing?

The radio problem started first with it shutting off so I would have to take the dash out to get behind it. Then I started getting the batt/brake light coming on randomly for a few seconds when I was driving but didn't notice a difference in performance. No more batt/brake light code but the truck just stalls now randomly. Within the last month when I went to start it on weekends it has to be jumped, except this last time it started right up. Although last winter I had to jump it once or twice but I figured it was from sitting in cold weather.

my 86 did similar things we changed coil and it got better then got worse and changed ignitor and oriellys gave me one that didnt work so i just stuck it out with the old one till i sold it

Well, it would help if you had an altometer wouldn't it? Then you could monitor the battery drain a bit better. That's what I'd fix first. It may be the cause of your weird radio issue. Check the ECU. It can cause weird, intermittent and seemingly unrelated problems. Is there any way for moisture to get in there?