98 Runner. Why is it doing this?

[Del34]

I have a 98 sr5 v6 automatic transmission. I have been having two problems with my truck and I'm not really sure what the problem is.

Sometimes when I go to start my truck, when I turn the key to the ignition. Nothing will happened. Not even an attempt to start. If I try a second time, it'll usually start up, but occasionally it'll just be a repeat of what happened the first attempt to start. But either way, the truck will eventually start after a couple tries.

My other problem is stalling. This has been happenening to my truck for a while and it's really random when it does it. Many times when I come to a stop at stoplight/intersection/stop sign, after I sit and wait for my chance to go when I go to accelerate again my truck either stalls/or attempts to stall. By attempting to stall, I mean you can feel the rpms drop almost to the point where the car cuts off, however if I give it enough gas before it can cut off, she'll keep going. Also, two times now when I've been driving it's happened. I think both times I was accelerating quite fast though. However, it's quite scary considering I lose power steering and what not.

My truck is well maintained. The oil is fresh. I recently(not even a month ago) took my truck to Toyota and had them perform them their 150,000 mile service. I even wrote down what it was doing, but apparently they didn't find anything or do anything, not really sure which.

Looking for some help. I've tried searching but no one really has a definite answer.

 

[vaneck34]

I'm not sure if you got this problem fixed or not, I didn't see a date of when the post came through, but If not I would check 2 simple things first. Check and see if theres any corrosion on the battery terminals or if there loose. That would be a start issue. As fas as the stalling issue, that can be one of three things, 1st, fuel filter is clogged, or your TPS (troattle position sensor) is going bad, or the last but worse would be your fuel pump. Do you let your gas go almost to empty before putting more gas in? allot of people do that and it clogs your filters and fuel pumps up.

Hope this helps

 

[Del34]

Re: Re: 98 Runner. Why is it doing this?

I'm not sure if you got this problem fixed or not, I didn't see a date of when the post came through, but If not I would check 2 simple things first. Check and see if theres any corrosion on the battery terminals or if there loose. That would be a start issue. As fas as the stalling issue, that can be one of three things, 1st, fuel filter is clogged, or your TPS (troattle position sensor) is going bad, or the last but worse would be your fuel pump. Do you let your gas go almost to empty before putting more gas in? allot of people do that and it clogs your filters and fuel pumps up.

Hope this helps

Well, when I went to get my oil changed a couple weeks ago, I had them remove the corrosion on the battery terminals, so I don't think that's it.

However, you may be on to something about the stalling. I do let my gas tank pretty much get empty before I fill it up again. How big of a fix is replacing the filter or pump? Any idea how much I'd have to dish out for that?

 

[1fast_e]

I dont know about the stalling problem.
But, My truck did the same thing when trying to start it. My issue was the starter connectors were worn down. $20 part and easy to enough to take the starter apart and rebuild.

 

[p nut]

Definately check the starter for the first issue.

As far as the second problem--if it's the filter, it's not too hard to replace. But if it's the fuel pump, it will be a PITA.

 

[broncosi]

yea the starting issue is your starter contacts are going bad and like he said its only about $20 to replace.

the stalling happed to me when i first got my 4runner, i was flying down a city street and came to a stop and my RPMs just dropped to 0 and it shut off, it took about 1-2 minutes of calming down to restart it. Before yours stalled were you redlining it or accelerating abnormally fast?

 

[gapboi210]

I would guess the 2 are related. Sounds like it may be an ignition problem.

 

[Ill4Runner]

Aren't these symptoms of a bad alternator also?

 

[gapboi210]

Not really. If you had a bad alternator you would know it. Once it gets to the point of the car dying it doesn't suddenly come back to life.

 

[Darrin530]

I dont know about the starting issue, but the stalling issu could be your gas cap not letting air out.

 

[Missi's Ltd '98]

I have been having the random starting issue with my 98 Limited V6 4x4 for almost 2 years. It seems to have gotten worse, I had it towed home on Saturday and have not tried starting it yet. I will check the starter connectors and replace them.

Does anyone have any advice as to how I can get to the starter connectors? I believe my starter is under the motor???

 

[creatix]

Definately check the starter for the first issue.

As far as the second problem--if it's the filter, it's not too hard to replace. But if it's the fuel pump, it will be a PITA.

I second the above. 4Rs are known to "act up" when the starter circuit has a bad connection. In my case replacing the starter fixed this.