So I've had my truck for 6 months or so and it's been completely reliable. Then here's what happened a couple days ago: The only warning before it died was the last time I started it before it "died". When I started it that time, it started fine but the idle was lower than normal...not that low though...


So then I was going to leave my friends house (truck was still warm) and it wouldn't start, was cranking but just wouldn't quite turn over. I was quite surprised, but finally had to call AAA and get towed home. It's also relevant to mention that the truck had been sitting for 6 weeks and I've been driving it for a week since then. When it wouldn't start, I popped the hood and there was a live mouse in there. I couldn't see any signs of damage from it though, and it seems possible it wasn't living in there for the 6 weeks, and then riding around for a week when I was driving the truck...

Anyway, I get towed home, and shortly after go out and get the truck started on the first try, but BARELY...it almost died right away but I gave it gas and got it idling normally...drove it around my neighborhood for a few minutes, came home, turned it off, waited a minute, and then started it again and it started normally. It's basically been fine since then, the only thing thats not totally normal is that after I've been driving around for a while and put it into park from drive, it idles higher than it would normally in that situation, maybe up to 1500, but it's not erratic.

I'm thinking it has to be fuel related...it's starting to seem like a fluke, but I want to prepare for it to happen again. Could it possibly be the fuel pump or anything like that? Or maybe it was just "bad fuel"? Does that even really happen with regular unleaded gasoline? Thanks for any insights.

 

well thats not good that there was a rat in there but first thing i would do is drop the oil pan and see if anythings in it i had a rat move in mine! lol then check the exaust rats love to live in there to but as far as mechanically could be fuel pump or injectors ect. and yes bad gas does that if its bad enough water will make it put around ive seen it when i got gas here before

 

Try running it with the fuel pump test jumper installed:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...shtml#FuelPump

 

Well I figured out why the RPMS are jumping up when I put it in park...it turns out the throttle cable is sticking a little, not returning all the way to closed when I take my foot of the gas. So the idle is a little higher than it should be in drive, and then since it goes up a little normally when put into park, its going up even more so because of the cable. I was able to verify this by popping the hood and manually turning the throttle all the way down. Does this just need to be lubricated or something?

 

Pull the throttle body off and give it a good cleaning, its probably sticking because its dirty on the inside. I would also recommend that you change the fuel filter.

 

If I were a rat, i'd live in the air cleaner Hows your filter look? Not all chewed up and flowing into your intake I hope?

 

No, the air filter is fine, thankfully...I think it wasn't enough time for mice to really get established or anything...I'm going to try lubricating/cleaning the throttle parts, and probably replace the fuel filter.

 

maybe a mouse crawled into the gas tank and your fuel filter is full of mouse turds? hahah J/K, hope ya get it all sorted out man.

 

Thats funny you say that. I am fairly certain that during the point the previous owner of my FJ40 had rats/mice crawl down the gas filler neck and live in there. The first few weeks I had the truck, I would have to change the fuel filter because it kept getting clogged with debris that only resembled rat turd. !!

 

How could they get in the filler neck in the first place?

 

rats and mice are chewers as their teeth grow constantly they chew on whatevers available. Yes wires are on the menu. Have seen it in residentual wiring. Search for their nest and inspect wires around it. Might have a simple intermitten short if problems continue. Intermitten shorts are a challenge to find.

 

maybe a mouse got sucked into the engine when you started it,boy will that be fun to clean out.