Scott Baxla

I've got an 06 tacoma 4.0 & having an odd fuel issue. I can be driving down the highway, everything normal, and the truck will "die". I'll take my foot of the gas and reapply it and its back to normal. (These events are typically months apart.) It seems like there is some sort of electrical signal that disappears and says there is no fuel and then it re-engages when I re-apply the accelerator. In Dec of 21, while traveling in Florida it did this and did not come back on, and I had to get towed into a shop on Dec 23... The shop diagnosed fuel pump, and charged me $1,150 for the repair w/ new Delphi fuel pump. The truck was back to normal - for a while. The tank was clean - no debris when he cleaned it out. The tank was also empty when he pulled it (the truck ran out of gas?) although the gauge registered over 1/8 tank, and no low fuel light - my experience with the gauge at this position was that it should have had some fuel. Running out of gas killed the pump? So regardless, back to normal for a while... And the fuel gauge seems to be working better. Then one day the fuel glitch happened again and I was able to reset it with the gas pedal again. It made me again question if the fuel pump was even the problem when I broke down. The truck broke down again 6 months after the fuel pump was installed in NC(near home). I had it towed to my local mechanic and he diagnosed fuel pump - he banged on the fuel tank and the pump started working again - which he said indicated that the fuel pump was faulty. The fuel pump was replaced again. This time the exact same repair with my local mechanic was $650 w/ OEM Toyota fuel pump. After a month or so the glitch has happened a few times and I've been able to reset it with the gas pedal. Again, I'm concerned that I've had the fuel pump replaced 2x now and it may be some sort of electrical connection issue instead, or relay or something. Sometimes the truck smells like gas after I park it too - wondering if things were reconnected properly. Any ideas?

Scott Baxla

Update 1/30/22

Recently I had major trouble starting the truck - acted like it was not getting fuel. I kept cranking and eventually it caught and then ran fine all the way home. A few days later at home - the very next time I tried to start the truck there was major difficulty starting it again, and again seemed like a no fuel issue. Eventually it cranked. I drove it to the mechanic to get the inspection for tag renewal and asked him about the starting issue. (Same mechanic that last replaced the fuel pump.) He said he can't diagnose anything unless its actually doing the problem. It has also occurred to me that the previous owner had the frame of the truck replaced on a toyota frame recall. Possibly they screwed something up (pinched?) with the wiring? It sure seems like an electrical issue to me - it doesn't work, then it does (potentially the cranking the engine over and over eventually jiggles something back to "connection". The fact that on the previous fuel pump replacement the mechanic diagnosed it by tapping on the fuel tank and getting it to work suggests the issue is a connection on the fuel tank to me. This time the mechanic said that electrical components are crap these days and it could very well be the fuel pump again. I'm doubtful. A new delphi pump then a new OEM Toyota pump, and not bad again?

Scott Baxla

The previous update was on 1/30/ 2023