Very Little Power and Popping Sound from engine compartment

[cmacias24]

Hi Guys,
I am new to this website and I was hoping you guys can help me out with this mysterious problem our 2000 v6 4runner is having. The truck runs fine, but randomly, when on a complete stop the truck will begin to vibrate a little, and when it's time to go, we loose horse power and hear a popping sound from under the hood. It seems like there is misfire, lack of gas, etc... We then have to pull over, turn off the car, and restart, then we'll be okay. There is no check engine light, we've changed several sensors, including the MAF twice. Has this happend to anyone else? Could it be the fuel pump?

Thanks!

 

[T4RFool]

Check your fuel filter, if that doesn't it, it could very well be the fuel pump. they dont throw a CEL code and could have the same symptoms as ignition related problems. when it pops or sprutters have someone or yourself check to see what the exhaust looks like, if it looks normal its lack of fuel. if it puffs out black exhaust it ignition related.

if its ignitions, thats a whole list of other things to look for. could be spark plugs, plug wires, coil packs... worst case would be injector but thats least likely of them all.

how many miles on it?

 

[cmacias24]

Thanks!

Thanks for the great info. I just drove the truck this morning and I checked to see if it blew some sort of smoke and there was nothing. Our mechanic has already changed the spark plugs, wires, and fuel filter. I'm going to drop the tank this weekend and swap out the fuel pump. About 2 yrs ago we had the engine rebuilt due to a blown head gasket. The odometer reads 250k. Also, I changed the fuel pump about 3 yrs ago with a autozone brand one. Do you recommend I just buy a Toyota brand instead?

 

[Kenjan]

Water in the tank and prob a soaked fuel filter

It should get worse as the tank nears empty

 

[T4RFool]

OEM parts are always the best way to go, if you cant find an OEM parts i would recommend denso. i made the mistake of buying an autozone fuel pump a few years back and while it worked well it didnt last long. I buy a lot of my parts from rockauto.com. they carry a denso fuel pump. one way to make sure your fuel pump last longer is to be sure that you dont run the tank down past 1/4 very often, it makes the pump work harder and eventually causes it to fail.

 

[jsukey]

Sounds like the same problem I was experiencing several months ago. It was backfiring in the intake and had a loss of power. Changed the plugs and wires and that solved the problem!

 

[T4RFool]

unfortunately a bad fuel pump or filter will show the same symptoms as an ignition related problem. best way to tell the difference is to look at the smoke coming out the exaust and check for pending codes. no codes no smoke, thats lack of fuel. smoke and pending code, most likely ignition

 

[jsukey]

I never had any smoke coming from mine. I actually thought my transmission was slipping. Took it to a buddy and he thought that my catalytic converter was stopped up. He took it to a buddy of his that checked the CC and discovered that wasn't the culprit either. I actually hadn't heard it backfiring because I hadn't driven it much. The tranny guy told me about that. I just put it all together when I picked it back up. Just thankful that they didn't charge me. Stopped and got new plugs and wires on the way home. Running like a champ later that night! How many miles do you have on your current plugs and wires? It never hurts to change them if its been awhile. Just make sure that you get the double ground strap spark plugs. Autozone will tell you that you don't really need them, but you really do for our particular engine.

 

[Kenjan]

The CC part above reminds me of when the inside (honey cone) broke and clogged my exhaust up---
Ran like crap

Pulled it apart--took cans of pb to get it loose
Gutted
Runs great