engine died while driving

longeeMAC

longeeMAC

New member
I was on an inclined road, yielding traffic, waiting to turn into a parking lot. When I saw the chance, I pressed the accelerator pedal, and nothing happen. (I have an automatic 97 4runner limited) My first reaction was to brake it so I stop rolling backwards. I look down and see my A/T and battery icons lit. I start up the engine just fine and proceed.

I checked my A/T fluids and it was good. Red color and correct level. And I just got a new battery 6 months ago!

So what happend?? Can it happen again? Please advice!

Thanks in advance.
 
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Gas... well on a street with no incline, the needle would be at 1/4 of its range.

I got a new battery cause the 4runner use to be powered by a smaller battery designed for car. I got the 4runner used.
 
Maybe, I'm not sure but if this is the only time this has happened then maybe all the 1/4 tank of gas went to the back of the tank and you got air in the line and when you press the peddle that was all it needed to stall out. unless it does it again I would not worry about it.
 
With my 4runner the needle goes up when I am going up an incline and down when going down.

This situation happened to me about two-three months after I got my 4runner. I was in traffic and was stopped at a red light and was going up an incline. Out of nowhere it cuts off. It was very strange. The difference in your situation is that my lights didn't go off light yours did.
 
Same problem happened to me once!my truck shut off and then I started it up after a few seconds later. the problem with mine was a faulty mass air flow meter. the MFA was worn and dirty so it could not give the engine the the correct info there for my truck started running very lean. this caused a lot of carbon build up and there for more problems and cleaning and replacing of parts. the engines computer shut down the car before any further damage would happen (smart thing) ya except it shut my truck down while i was driving on the highway going up a hill to a stop light. (not so smart). anyway dealer also said the MAF could have gone bad because of oil from the drop in K&N filter! K&N said this is not true and that MAF could go bad over time. They said that the MFA is like a filiment and gets worn down. that is true but they can also get dirty with OILS and DIRT and there for not work properly. I didn't have the MFA to somehow check to see if there was oil on it but I will never put a oiled filter in any vehicle of mine ever! Also my truck only had 56000 miles on it so I doubt it was worn out! Now it could have been that the MFA was old and had oil on it, but cant tell fore sure. Also the MFA had been running screwy for awhile (ever since I put the K&N in ) so if you are noticing any loss in power have it check out! (my truck is a 2000 4X4 V6 auto) let us know what it might be :confused:
 
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410toy said:
Same problem happened to me once!my truck shut off and then I started it up after a few seconds later. the problem with mine was a faulty mass air flow meter. the MFA was worn and dirty so it could not give the engine the the correct info there for my truck started running very lean. this caused a lot of carbon build up and there for more problems and cleaning and replacing of parts. the engines computer shut down the car before any further damage would happen (smart thing) ya except it shut my truck down while i was driving on the highway going up a hill to a stop light. (not so smart). anyway dealer also said the MAF could have gone bad because of oil from the drop in K&N filter! K&N said this is not true and that MAF could go bad over time. They said that the MFA is like a filiment and gets worn down. that is true but they can also get dirty with OILS and DIRT and there for not work properly. I didn't have the MFA to somehow check to see if there was oil on it but I will never put a oiled filter in any vehicle of mine ever! Also my truck only had 56000 miles on it so I doubt it was worn out! Now it could have been that the MFA was old and had oil on it, but cant tell fore sure. Also the MFA had been running screwy for awhile (ever since I put the K&N in ) so if you are noticing any loss in power have it check out! (my truck is a 2000 4X4 V6 auto) let us know what it might be :confused:
Click to expand...

You bring up an interesting topic for me. The K&N filter. I think, not positive, that this happened a few weeks after I put my K& N in. I haven't had it happend since though, knock on wood.
 
OK have to respond to some of the things said here. IF you are getting oil off of your K&N into your airbox and all the way to your MAF then you put to much oil on it in the first place. Next thing is I had this happen with a different vehicle and found it was a bad connector on the TPS (throttle position sensor). Just something else to check
 
Hmm... i just had a K&N cold air intake installed about 2 months ago. The filter came pre-oiled. Which leads me to believe it's not the MAF sensor or K&N oil.

I just checked the TPS, it is securely plugged in.

Seems like it is the fuel level on an incline that cause the 4runner to cut its engine.
 
I bought my K&N filter new it came oiled, I never oiled it, came out of the box and into my truck. if you want to replace your filter go with AFE part number 31-10026. this is a direct replacement for the factory paper filter except better no oil and flows better. they also make cone filters to replace anyone else s filters you might have. K&N have had a lot of claim's against them with there oiled filters. ever sence manufactures started using MFA' mid 90's to present. MY second vehicle is a 2007 mazda speed 6. I have been upgrading that too; on all the forms everyone say's to stay away from K&N and anything else that is oiled specifically for the reason I stated above in my first post. K&N has the NAME , that being they were one of the first to make after market filters , time's have changed and they have not. the new way is dry flow synthetic filters! That being said Volant power core is the best, flows the best, cleans the best and is impervious to water (great for anyone who goes off road) second AFE ,CPE and injen. Also, the cold air intake filter that comes from the factory on my mazda speed 6 is dry flow! also all 4runners come from the factory dry flow (paper filter)
 
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similar failure

I was driving my 98 4runner yesterday at about 45 when I stepped on the gas aggressively to merge and the engine died completely and suddenly. All lights came on and I was able to coast to a safe stop with very stiff steering and brakes. The car started right back up and I was able to rev the engine in park with no issues. To be safe (bay area traffic - stop and go with stiff brakes and steering = dangerous) I had it towed to a shop and today I was informed that the alternator and fuel pump are fine and that there were no error codes.

I just got off the phone with them now and they were being extremely general, very suspicious the car ever died, "were you out of gas" etc.. They had no further recommendations and were trying to talk me out of doing any more work, also repeatedly stating that if it happened to them, then they could figure it out. When I asked what they would learn they said the error codes could be caught before they were reset. In a few minutes research it would appear the error codes have to be cleared, they don't reset on power cycle. They didn't suggest any other causes, just generally said it could be a lot of stuff and there's nothing they can do without the car dying on their hands. They stated they've gone 4 miles without a failure on it. I don't get a good feeling about them.

I'm a reasonably smart guy and engineer but have no expertise in deep dives into all of the sensors, electrical, etc.. that could have caused this. Seems like I can either (1) take my chances out in stop and go traffic (2) find another shop (3) throw more money at this shop

Right now I'm leaning toward doing research and driving surface streets in the mean time. What do you guys think?
 
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flyzguy said:
I was driving my 98 4runner yesterday at about 45 when I stepped on the gas aggressively to merge and the engine died completely and suddenly. All lights came on and I was able to coast to a safe stop with very stiff steering and brakes. The car started right back up and I was able to rev the engine in park with no issues. To be safe (bay area traffic - stop and go with stiff brakes and steering = dangerous) I had it towed to a shop and today I was informed that the alternator and fuel pump are fine and that there were no error codes.

I just got off the phone with them now and they were being extremely general, very suspicious the car ever died, "were you out of gas" etc.. They had no further recommendations and were trying to talk me out of doing any more work, also repeatedly stating that if it happened to them, then they could figure it out. When I asked what they would learn they said the error codes could be caught before they were reset. In a few minutes research it would appear the error codes have to be cleared, they don't reset on power cycle. They didn't suggest any other causes, just generally said it could be a lot of stuff and there's nothing they can do without the car dying on their hands. They stated they've gone 4 miles without a failure on it. I don't get a good feeling about them.

I'm a reasonably smart guy and engineer but have no expertise in deep dives into all of the sensors, electrical, etc.. that could have caused this. Seems like I can either (1) take my chances out in stop and go traffic (2) find another shop (3) throw more money at this shop

Right now I'm leaning toward doing research and driving surface streets in the mean time. What do you guys think?
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Man, I have to say, they don't sound like they are dicking you around. They aren't trying to sell you on a problem because they simply don't know what the problem is. Reading this thread from above, it is clear to me that he stalled due to lack of gas on an incline, if for any reason you might have been low in the tank, I would fill her up and keep an eye on it.

As for the codes, did it actually throw a code or did all the dash lights turn on simply due to being stalled? I lean towards the latter and bet there wasn't a code, hence it didn't have to be reset (but some codes will auto reset so they weren't feeding you a line there either).

Also, your stiff steering and brakes were due to the car being stalled and not providing power to the power steering or brake booster, no issue to be concerned about there at all.
 
tystaco said:
Reading this thread from above, it is clear to me that he stalled due to lack of gas on an incline, if for any reason you might have been low in the tank, I would fill her up and keep an eye on it.
Click to expand...

I'm leaning towards this as well...I just got back from a 2K mile trip and half way thru decided to stay at a cabin that happened to be atop a steep hill. Close to the top I stopped briefly to check GPS to make sure it was the right address, then proceeded to climb to the top and it felt like I was gonna stall for a sec but never did; soon as I turned into the level driveway truck was fine. I had less than 1/4 tank of gas when this happened. I filled up the next day and did the same maneuver a few times and the truck reacted normally each time.
 
Thanks tystaco. Flat ground, 3/4 tank of gas. I don't think it was a stall. I think its more likely something reset electrically - wire harness is going bad, computer maybe - again I'm not an expert which is why I took it in.
 
Problem for me is I used it on 4wd roads for hang gliding. Now with the possibility of a random shut down on a steep gravel descent with no gaurd rails and huge mountain drop offs, I pretty much can't use the car for it's intended purpose. Just not worth the risk.
 
I've been watching Torque Pro for a while and questioning a few readings. Then Friday pulled up to a stop light and it was the kind of stop where you go from throttle to brake to stop all at once. Engine shut down. Started up with no issues.....

This weekend I was under the hood for other reasons and decided to pull the MAF and it was nasty! Cleaned it and got all my work finished.

Just returned from a test drive of about 25 miles. I'm liking what Torque Pro is telling me so much better. Is it all tied together??? Have no idea. But it's a strong first step.

Don't throw away a vehicle for something that's trivial.
 
Happened to me this weekend (97 SR5) too, was backing up from a parking lot and all of a sudden, the engine died. Managed to put it in park and restart the engine with no issues. Fuel was halfway, battery was good and I wasn't on an incline. Checked for fault codes with an OBD scanner at home and nothing was found, been driving it around for now and still no issues. It's weird.
 
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