I have a 2004 Tacoma 4cyl. I was driving down the road the other day and outta no where my truck starts to spit and sputter real rough and the check engine light is flashing. Fortunately I was only a couple blocks from home so I was able to make it. I started it the following morning and it runs fine at idle for the first min or two but as soon as I put it in drive and go it starts doing it again and it's not drivable at all like that. No recent service work besides changing the thermostat a couple hundred miles ago. Please help! Thanks

 

Get the stored code that the Check Engine Light (CEL) produced and post the code in here. Often your local auto parts store has a code reader you can borrow.

 

How many miles on yours? At 199K miles mine acted up similarly, and it was burned exhaust valves on cyl 3 and 4 as well as cracks in the head. Rebuilt head put it back on the road and 16K miles later it still runs like new.

As the Moderator said, get your stored code(s) read and post here. Mine was P0303, misfire cylinder 3. I troubleshot for bad plugs, swapped the ignition coils around, and fuel injectors around...the misfire stayed on cylinder 3. Compression test finally told the story, cylinder 3 was only making ~85psig compression and cyl 4 was at 120psig.

 

yup, see what the codes are