4 runner died while driving

I'm surprised by all this timing belt talk. What does the timing belt have to do with the starter cranking at the flywheel? The OP has stated it won't turn over/crank.

I'd say either starter, battery or bad connections.
 
I'm surprised by all this timing belt talk. What does the timing belt have to do with the starter cranking at the flywheel? The OP has stated it won't turn over/crank.

I'd say either starter, battery or bad connections.

i think people are just reading that "it just died while i was driving it" and nothing else...
 
I'd diagnose the no start first rather than speculate on why it died... See if you can turn over the engine manually... Verify the starter is on fact getting a signal and that the b+ supply is sufficient at the starter. Do you by chance have an alarm installed? Maybe faulty module?
 
Mine did this last week. I changed the brushes on my alt a few weeks ago. It had been running fine since then. Last Wednesday, I noticed the idle got low at times when I came to a stop, and the voltage dropped pretty fast. If I gave a little gas, it went back up.
I was on the interstate coming home Friday and traffic built up, so I had to stop rather quickly...damn thing died on me! I put it in park, and it started right up. Its not my alternator, as it continues to charge my battery...I never have a problem starting.
It hasn't died on me since, but the idle and voltage still drops on me. I'm going to check the MAF sensor when I get home tonight...hopefully that just needs cleaned.

You may want to check your IAC valve as well...
 
You may want to check your IAC valve as well...

Ya, I went through and cleaned a bunch of stuff. Took the intake off and cleaned the throttle body, although it was pretty clean. Sprayed some cleaner down the little holes towards the IAC and started it a few times. Cleaned the MAF and checked all vaccum lines.
I also reset the ECU by pulling the EFI fuse for 30 minutes. Its run fine since, just idles around 550-650 when stopped, but hasn't died again. Not sure what the deal was.
 
Well at least instead of trying to argue about the superiority of Chevy over Ford (used to be a Z71 guy) and then how Dodge is just subpar to both... we can now all agree that 'Yotas are the way to go. I mean, they needed bailouts for a reason lol.

Anyway, back to OP, is the fuel pump coming on when you try and crank it? Fuel filiter dirty/clogged? Exhaust in good order? My previous t4r, a 2nd gen 3.0L, had a part of the muffler rust and come apart internally and it would occasionally lodge against the exit for the muffler, strangling the engine (funny, aircraft mufflers have guards built in them to prevent this) and the truck would just die, and it took forever to figure it out. And then it died on me one day, after a huge fuel pump/lines/filter replacement job, it just died going down the road. 2 Cylinders full of coolant were probably the culprit... damn headgasket.
 
Having the same issue. Was leaving work, driving up a hill not 200 yards from the shop when the engine died. WILL NOT CRANK. I figured ECU, ordered a flashed one but no luck (hoping i programmed the keys correctly-i've done it before but not when it was 105 outside). 1999 limited with only suspension mods. No aftermarket security.
I'm at a loss.

A bad starter shouldn't cause it to die while driving.

Still gets plenty of strong power to dash, lights, locks, etc. so it shouldn't be alternator or battery.

Gonna start wiggling connections and see where that gets me.

Would a bad crank position sensor keep the engine from turning over? I would think it would still crank.
 
I'm also trying to diagnose the same issue. 2001 LTD

Hit a bump (small pothole) and the engine died, wouldn't crank again. 1st shop said that the main relay was blowing and check all the usual suspect, but came back with nothing. Dealership is drawing a blank as well. Mechanics already checked crank position sensor and neutral switch

Looking for any ideas.
 
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I'm also trying to diagnose the same issue. 2001 LTD

Hit a bump (small pothole) and the engine died, wouldn't crank again. 1st shop said that the main relay was blowing and check all the usual suspect, but came back with nothing. Dealership is drawing a blank as well. Mechanics already checked crank position sensor and neutral switch

Looking for any ideas.

I hope they checked the battery, alternator starter, fuel pump. you said they checked the cps sensors. There is no power to the starter they have to get that fixed first so at least it cranks again even if it doesn't start.
 
Go back to basics. The key principle that any old mechanic or even if you go though a tech school like I did back in the day will be fuel, fire, air.

You have to determine which part of those three things you’re missing. Does the motor physically turn over or not? If the motor just physically turnover, is it actually turning the valve train or is it just whizzing into oblivion with a broken timing belt. If the rotating assembly is working properly and building compression, does it have fuel or spark?

Don’t go just tear and stuff off or cleaning random things without properly diagnosing it.

If you’re serious about doing repairs yourself, I would strongly encourage getting a scan tool of some kind, even a cheap one. The blue driver is great and it only cost 100 bucks. No money, there’s even ones that are way less money than that, but it’s still a tool that you need to properly diagnose a modern 96+ vehicle.

And just go buy the $20 Haynes manual, it’s well worth the information you can get in those little books.
 
Most certainly a bad/loose connection somewhere that came apart momentarily, which can also explain why someone would have a hard time finding it. Loosen your battery cables recently? Sometimes it's so obvious you don't think about it
 

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