'95 3vze auto 4runner.

Came to work this morning everything is fine. Go out to go to lunch, started right up then sputtered dead. I restarted, sputtered dead. Restarted sputtered dead. looked under hood nothing seemed to be loose. all vacuum lines apear intact and hooked up. Where do I look next?

Help please.

 

1st thing is to verify that it has spark, if so, make sure that the fuel pump is turning on, that at least will give you some direction to go with. Does it crank over much faster than it usually does?

 

Well it does start so I assumed that it had spark. It gets some fuel because it starts. It may be immediately starving for fuel but sure fires up quickly after dieing.

 

I don't remember what the part is called but it caused the same thing to happen to me. There's a valve on your air box with a wire coming out of it. Check that and check to makes sure the intake tubes are all conected completely. I had a leak and it made my truck stall on the freeway.

 

That valve is called a Mass Air Flow meter. When cranking, the Circuit Opening Relay is closed by the key. But once the meter opens from airflow, ground to the COR is supplied by the MAF meter.



Jump Pin 8 and Pin 2 (White w/red & Solid Blue) in your diagnostic connector under the hood. Use a paper clip or short piece of wire. I believe they're marked B and FP... but my truck's not with me right now so I can't be sure. Attempt to start the truck. If it stays runnning, 95% says you've got a bad MAF meter, and it's not supplying ground when it's suppose to.

 

Thanks if i ever get a free minute I'll try that.

 

noltz is correct, its fp and b+. When u jump it, it bypasses the fuel pump switch in the a/f meter .

 

You guys amaze me. "Fix" a car with a paper clip. Sure enough that did it. Now to find another AFM. Unless you have another fix. Chewing gum maybe?

 

and how far? I need to get home and would rather look for a less expensive AFM than the $200 its going to cost me at OReilly's.

 

Now this is strange. I went out to drive home and started up. So I decided to see what happens if I pull the paper clip out. Nothing. She runs fine. thats good I guess. Anyway I'll carry a few paper clips with me all of the time incase this happens again.

 

check the wiring harness plug to the afm and the afm terminals where the plug connects for any corrosion. it can happen if things under the hood get wet.

also, could've been some corrosion on the contacts in the AFM (VAFM) itself. if you're brave enough, you can pop the top on the AFM and check the stainless steel arms with switch contacts on them. a little emery cloth rub down to remove any oxidation or corrosion may help.

 

Now that you mention it in the process of all that, I disconnected the wiring harness and looked at it. Maybe when I did that I knocked some corrosion off of the pins. Anyway its running good now.