Driving to work & engine just shut off while doing about 30mph. Disengaged the clutch & was able to restart before slowing to a stop. Same thing happened again on the way home, but truck came to a stop & it took longer to restart. The next day it started up fine, got to the end of the driveway & it died again. This time though, it will not start.

Engine turns over as normal.
Fuel is getting to the carb.
Rotor is turning.
Replaced Distributor Cap, rotor & spark plugs (just because).

Got cold & dark outside, so I'll pull out the ohm meter tomorrow & go over the ignition coil & plug wires.

Any ideas of what else it could be? It seems very odd that it would just shut off with no warning like that while driving.

Thanks in advance.

 

ignitor going bad ??

 

Make Sure Coil Wire Is All The Way In The Coil-distrib Or Other Lose Conections

 

if you don't have spark, before replacing igniter check the pickup coil inside of the distributor ($30) and make sure the gap is correct.

 

I had same symptoms, and it was the fuel pump. U say ur still getting fuel to it though. id still check it. if u have the manual it has a part on how to check the pump.

 

Just an fyi in case someone else has this problem & looks at this thread...

It turned out to be the ignition coil. The coil was only showing 3.5 ohms. It's supposed to be 8.5-11.5 according to the Haynes manual.

 

Shorted primary windings are rare in Toyotas, But I have seen that. Be aware that this condition can also damage the ignitor and it might not show up right away.

So keep this in mind if you lose spark again.

 

Naturally, a few days later the same thing happened, it just died again & wouldn't start. Went over everything again & calling it names didn't seem to help. Replaced the igniter with a used one & it fired up on the 2nd try. It's been running for a couple weeks without any problems.

 

Sounds exactly like what just happened to me. Glad I wasn't on the freeway or something. I had my boys in the back...

When I fix mine, I'll confirm what the issue was and post results. I hope it's one of these prob's described and I can get mine rollin' again soon....It doesn't sound to difficult to fix.