My girlfriend has a 2010 Tacoma with the 4L V6, and she told me that she had an issue with it starting (cold), and I didn't know what to say until I experienced it with her one day. Truck has about 15k miles on it, and it's almost a year old. It has happened 4 or 5 times now, and today was one of them. It's very cold here today. Right now, 7 degrees. When I experienced it, it was probably 30-40 degrees out.

The problem:
Engine turns over strong (definitely not battery), but just does not fire up. After several tries, and waiting, it will start up, then it sputters and hesitates for a few seconds, and starts running normally.

This is so strange because it's a problem that I've had in my car (2008 Mitsu Lancer Evo), and it happened to me ONE time in my Tacoma, like 6 years ago. I came out, turned over, just would not start, then finally got it to kick over, it sputtered then ran fine. Never happened again. It did it to me just a couple weeks ago in my car. I thought I was going to have to push it out of the way and take the Tacoma to work

Any ideas what this could be? It baffles me.

 

it is under warranty...have your GF take it to the dealership..

 

Great advice... How should I have those geniuses over there duplicate the problem? That's the FIRST thing they always ask.

Maybe it's not a problem with the truck itself. Maybe it's something we have in common, like the same gas station.

I wouldn't be posting the thread if it were as simple as "take it to the dealer, because it's under warranty"

 

It may be as simple as taking it to the dealer because it's under warranty. Even if they can't duplicate the symptoms, they may can attach their test equipment to it and find the cause.

Since it's too new for a tune up, the only other suggestion I would have is to try a strong dose of fuel treatment/injector cleaner. Many people like Sea Foam. I prefer Berryman B12 Chemtool. It's considerably cheaper than Sea Foam (less than half the price, have seen it 1/3 the price) and I think it's every bit as effective if not more so. Looking at the label, it has more ingredients than Sea Foam.

When I use any fuel treatment/injector cleaner, I prefer to use at least 2 cans (preferably 3) to a full tank. I figure the stronger of a mixture the better. Then make sure she runs it until the low fuel light comes on (to ensure as much of the strong mixture is burned as is possible).

I had an issue with stalling on my Yamaha streetbike. One can (in a 6.6 gallon tank) almost totally eliminated the stalling.

I think it's a good policy to use a good fuel treatment/injector cleaner every so often anyway, just to help prevent future problems.

If that doesn't do it, then by all means, let the dealer deal with it. It will very likely be covered under warranty, since whatever is causing the stalling is very likely caused by an electrical/electronics part, a fuel system part, or an emissions part.

 

Definitely take it to the dealership. As a former technician for a toyota dealership, I can say that even if they don't find the problem now, it will be documented in the vehicle's history for that shop. That way, if the problem occurs again, they will have a better idea on where to start.

What part of denver are you in?

 

Bad gas maybe, water in the gas?