zach@sparkplugs.com

Don't let em tell you're too young! The second you get your vehicle (or before) you're plenty old.

Is there any chance next time this happens that you can pull one of your plug wires and see if you're getting spark or does it happen too quickly?

Are you getting a check engine light before or after it shuts off on you? You will obvioiusly get one when it dies, but that's just because the truck is off

alil2cul4u

It happens way too fast! Itll happen and be back on within seconds of me even realising it happened! I can try to set my phone and record a video of my tachs and dash so you guys can see what its doing. Im not sure the quality it will be in though...

zach@sparkplugs.com

Don't worry about that, I know what that looks like!

Try starting your truck and jiggling your ignition connectors, the igniter connection especially. Once I didn't plug my igniter connection in properly and my truck did what yours is doing, I knew right away what it was though since I had just messed with it.

alil2cul4u

What ignition wires? I have done a tune up, I replaced the spark plugs and spark plug wires. Those are all tight! Where would I find the ignitor? Im going to take my ignition Coil in today after school to have that checked! Do you know if there is a way to check the ignition module? That is the think with the coil correct?

zach@sparkplugs.com

The igniter is the same thing as the ignition module, sits on top of the coil. The connector(s) coming off of that ignition module could be faulty, jiggle it around and see if you can get it to die. The only way to check the ignition module is to swap it out with another one. Also check the wires that go from the igniter to the coil.

One other thing worth checking is to make sure that the igniter is getting a good ground. The igniter itself (the case) needs to be grounded otherwise it will not function. Again, jiggle it around. Perhaps try taking the coil, igniter, etc off the truck, cleaning the ground points, cleaning the connectors and putting it all back together.

When I said wires I actually didn't mean your spark plug wires, those should be fine. Only a really bad wire going from the coil to the distributor could cause your truck to shut off.

alil2cul4u

Hey, thanks zach(?!?) for all your help! I took the coil in after school and that tested out fine, after thinking about it I think I found the problem, Back in august of last year I had my alternator tested because my battery died from who know what, and I had a bad alternator. and after talking to a fellow toyota owner he is having the same problem and that was the only thing our toyotas had in common. (he drives a toyota celica or supra) and so I think that may be the culprit!

zach@sparkplugs.com

No problem man, glad I can help

Hate to say this, but your problem can't lie with your alternator. An alternator provides current to charge your battery and run your electrical system. If your alternator fails, your truck will still run because it's getting enough juice from the battery. That is until your battery runs out of juice because it isn't being charged.

Your charge light would come on if your alternator wasn't providing power, and after some driving and starting your truck you would notice your lights have dimmed and the starter is sluggish.

alil2cul4u

Ok, that makes sense. Cuz I remember losing the alternator on a 1994 Geo Tracker. So do you think it could be the ignition module (ignitor)? Or still the MAF?

zach@sparkplugs.com

There's a possibility that it's the ignition module itself, but I'm still banking on a bad connection.

There's a possibility that it's the MAF. Part of the MAF's job is to tell the fuel pump when to turn on. As long as the ignition is on and there is air flowing through the MAF the fuel pump will be on. If the MAF has gone bad it could intermittently be causing the fuel pump to turn off and on.

Of course it could also be a bad fuel pump. It's unfortunately just a very hard problem to troubleshoot. Just don't get caught on any train tracks!

alil2cul4u

I replaced the fuel pump without any success. That didnt change anything. I have the MAF in front of me about to test it!

alil2cul4u

Ok, so I did the test according to this MAF Test and They all checked out fine with the exception of VS-E2 I only got a 150 on that one... Is this my problem?

zach@sparkplugs.com

I just pulled out my manual and it says that it should be between 20 and 400 ohms so I think you're okay there.

Try jumpering your fuel pump with a constant 12 volts and ground so that it is on no matter what. You may for whatever reason be getting a random interruption of power to the pump.

There are two sets of wires that go to your fuel tank. One is the sender for the fuel gauge and the other is the power for the pump. Can't remember where the pump wires are since I don't have a regular tank on mine (fuel cell). Just unplug one and you'll know right away.

lonewolf379

just my 2 cents but it sounds like you might be a loose ignition fuse or lose wires on or in the key switch if its shuting off and turning back on like your saying so if you have the power outage it sounds like it shuts off and turns on again if im understanding when it does it try moving your key switch around alittle as soon as it does it it may just shut down on you so watch out also see if the fuse panel is losing ground on the drivers side left by your feet im a big guy and when i would stretch it would flick the dash lites and such than i fount that the whole panel was lose in there and i was causing it to loose conection when i would hit it just rt

zach@sparkplugs.com

If he had a loose ignition switch though I don't think the charge light, check engine light, etc would come on when the truck shuts off, everything would just go black.

Worth checking the grounds by the fuse panel though . . .

lonewolf379

it would just be like shuting the key off and turning it back on if the ignition is loose or a wire just like restarting the car when you start it up the lights come on to show they are working everytime you start the car they come on just something to check sounds like he has changed out everthing else

dubweiser

wow....my 93 pickup started doing the exact same thing today.....totally messed up

TOE-B

mine too any new outcomes?

alil2cul4u

Nope haven't found anything it could be.. but I keep forgetting to check the ecm plug

TOE-B

mines been doing this to. ive checked everything you checked and and i still cant come up with anything it could be. we need the yota gurus to chime in on this one and help us out. it seems atleast a few more members are having this same issue. some one said something about the ignition switch. i had a mazda that did the same thing and it was the ign switch but i dont want to just keep throwing $$$ at this thing and it not fix the problem.

SOMEBODY HELP US OUT PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!1

alil2cul4u

Ok, so I havent had a check engine light but I decided to see if it would throw any codes anyway. It threw a 41 and a 51, the 41 is TPS: THROTTLE POSITION SENSOR SIGNAL--OPEN OR SHORT IN TPS SIGNAL
--TPS SENSOR

--TPS SIGNAL/CIRCUIT

--ECU

the 51 being SWITCH SIGNALS
IDL (tps) CONTACTS OFF, NEUTRAL START SWITCH OFF, A/C SWITCH "ON" SIGNAL TO ECU

WITH DIAGNOSTIC CHECK CONNECTOR SHORTED

--A/C SWITCH/CIRCUIT

--A/C AMPLIFIER

--TPS/CIRCUIT

--NEUTRAL START SWITCH/CIRCUIT

--ECU

Does anyone know what those mean? I recently replaced the TPS with an OEM replacement...