Apparently I have a gremlin. This Gremlin causes my 4runner's engine to cut out and die hard for approximately one second or less - so if I'm riding down the road the inertia of the engine will get it to start again - if I'm sitting at a stop light I will have to hit the starter. It is completely random - hot, cold, moving, stopped, beginning of the day, end of a long trip, day, night, turning, going straight, Tuesdays - I really can't make any sense of when or why. It is not all that often - but it really bugs me that it happens.

I can find nothing visibly wrong. I did do a tear down for the head gaskets about 5k miles ago.

I really don't like chasing issues that I can't replicate or issues that are not consistent.

I'm not looking to throw parts at the problem - I'm hoping someone else has chased this gremlin too.

Any thoughts? I'd rather find this gremlin before he causes more trouble than he already has...

 

Check the electric connector to your fuel pump, I have heard of a prob like that before

 

Wouldn't the fuel pump cutting out cause more of a sputter while it runs out of fuel in the line? It is acting as if someone is turning the key off and turning it back on really fast.

 

bad ground or bad ignition switch.

 

After my HG's I swapped out my stock ground wire and added a few new ones too. But I know it does not loose connectivity completely because the idiot lights on the dash are on...

Would a bad ignition switch cause intermittent issues once a week or so - not related to starting?

 

Check your grounds and all fuses...im thinking loose wire thats grounding out on body or frame....
If not, sorta sounds like a TPS problem...
Maybe unhook it...And run it, see if it runs better..
Let us know...

 

If it is a ground or loose wire in theory I should be able to wiggle it and kill the engine....

 

well yeah, but youd have ta find that wire first...

Did you check the tps yet ?

 

Hard to check from my desk at work Perhaps at lunch...

 

Lolz...Whats work..?

Only W's in my Vocab are Wheelin...And College..?

hah, Your baws doesnt care your on YotaTech..?

 

Guily - YTWW - Yota Tech'n While Working...

At least I can multitask.

 

check all connections to the distributor and coil also. The more I think about it I would suspect a firing issue.

 

i had this EXACT issue with my runner...
just as you described it... idiot lights and all...

im not sure exactly what made it go away because i did several things at once, but i havent had a problem since...

replaced a stuck exhaust valve on the #4 cylinder...
new cap and rotor...
new bosch platinum +4's...
new toyota wires...

my dad and i also did a fix that he used on his old gremlin for its stalling problem...
get some electrical connection cleaner and clean every connector in the engine bay...


i havent had a problem in 8 months...

 

So his gremlin had gremlins?

 

hah, I was thinking the same thing...

 

I had this exact same problem after I installed a new starter. I did not get the ground from the starter tight enough to the block. The engine would die and then start back randomly. I would bet you have a ground somewhere that is lose. Good luck finding where that would be.

 

I'd check the AFM. Sounds like it's dropping out on it's signal. Motor inertia = air velocity. Possibly.

 

not necessarily.

I had a gremlin similar to that in my bmw and I chased it for six months. Only after I replaced every ground in the car with quality stereo wire and connectors did I remedy the problem. One bad ground on one of your sensors could send a weird signal to the ecu and it starts going squirrely. The cheapest thing to try and the most beneficial is to change all your grounds....even if it turns out to not be the problem it never hurts to have them new