Stalls while driving, a curious conundrum

[PhillyB77]

So my 2016 Tundra keeps stalling, it has gotten worse and worse. My thoughts are, a critter has chewed a wire loose somewhere but I know I need to take it to the shop.

Details. This weekend took it up to Lost Park, did some trails and some reasonable dirt trails and no prob. Woke up next day to drive it to a trailhead, stalled like 20 times but mostly when idle got low (downhill). Next day, stalled about 6 times getting back to 285 whereupon…not a single stall getting back to Bailey.

Being the astute mechanic that I am, I promptly cleaned the air filter, MAF, and replaced the battery (truck went dead a few times this winter).

Today, hop in the truck assured of success and made It 1/4 of a mile and then no throttle response, stalled. I should note the truck immediately fires back up every time after a stall. Anyways I drove it back to the house and proceeded to inspect. All the wires, looking for something chewed through. Nothing amiss.

It’s very strange.
- never stalls on pavement, only bumpy roads
- always fires right back up
- has always started hot or cold in the morning
- mostly at low idle but has stalled a couple times with foot on the gas, and sometimes A lag in throttle response

I did have some rodents chew through some wiring that caused all sorts of drama with the truck before, hence my initial thoughts .
Anyways…will take to the shop soon.

 

[fjc man]

Do you have a key ring with like 20 keys on it, bouncing around on those bumpy roads ahem.. in the ignition? I’ve seen it be the culprit before.

 

[Burt88]

Do you have a key ring with like 20 keys on it, bouncing around on those bumpy roads ahem.. in the ignition? I’ve seen it be the culprit before.

Are you thinking something to do with the theft deterrent system? I have had a similar issue with a Nissan. Lady had lots of weight on the key ring.

 

[Romer]

Do your dash lights blink when this happens. I had a loose ground wire to the block on my 80 that did that. It also had a lot of crud on it that I cleaned off.

 

[kurtnkegger]

My suspicion would lean towards a wire (probably a sensor wire) rubbing and shorting out somewhere, losing your 5V reference. Happens so fast that a check engine light cant come on...Once the ref is lost- she's dead.

 

[adamsfly]

I had a throttle position sensor that acted a little like that on a 4runner. Replaced it and all the problems went away.

 

[gungriffin]

Are you losing all power to the truck when this happens? Do all the dash lights and electronics go dead or is the engine stalling and the dash lights stay lit up?

 

[PhillyB77]

Dash lights stay lit up. I’m going to try to troubleshoot more this week for sure.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I don't see if you've mentioned it but do you have an alarm in this truck? Even a dealer-installed one.

 

[PhillyB77]

I have a Viper system

 

[DaveInDenver]

I have a Viper system

I'd consider that suspect one. I had a dealer-installed system on my truck, might have been a Viper even. I'd occasionally get a fail to start due to it. In my case it was in the relay they used, which required cutting a wire under the dash to interrupt the starter solenoid. I was able to bypass it until I got the time to tear it out. Looking at the number of wires on the back of the main fuse panel they had put those 3M wire taps on I could easily see it causing all sorts of headaches in the future.

 

[PhillyB77]

Ok ok ok 😒

Thanks to all of you for the input, today I resolved my problem and the Truck works fine. What I’m about to share is somewhat embarrassing but also: basics basics.

What the problem actually was: dirty / loose positive battery terminal. Truck hits bumps, truck dies. Immediately restarts.

Before you roast me, allow me to explain. I did get a new battery a week ago in an attempt to fix this stalling problem. The new battery terminals were clean, and I sort of half assed cleaned the connection on the truck itself and yet the problem persisted.

Today I pulled the battery and was digging around inspecting wiring harnesses and ground connections. When I put the battery back in and reconnected it: dead truck. Impossible, this is a new battery. Waaaaaaait a minute. Went to the engine bay, wiggled the positive connection, truck comes to life.

Idiot.

Turns out not only was the connection still in need of more vigorous cleaning, it (even when tightened all the way) was still not far enough down on the post to establish a firm connection. I tapped it down a bit with a screwdriver, then retightened. Problem solved.

Don’t be like me.

 

[Burt88]

It's usually the simple things that are easy to overlook when diagnosing problems. Took me a year and many parts to figure out a cold idle issue was a MAF sensor. But now I have a bunch of new stuff on my fuel system.

 

[gungriffin]

Ok ok ok 😒

Thanks to all of you for the input, today I resolved my problem and the Truck works fine. What I’m about to share is somewhat embarrassing but also: basics basics.

What the problem actually was: dirty / loose positive battery terminal. Truck hits bumps, truck dies. Immediately restarts.

Before you roast me, allow me to explain. I did get a new battery a week ago in an attempt to fix this stalling problem. The new battery terminals were clean, and I sort of half assed cleaned the connection on the truck itself and yet the problem persisted.

Today I pulled the battery and was digging around inspecting wiring harnesses and ground connections. When I put the battery back in and reconnected it: dead truck. Impossible, this is a new battery. Waaaaaaait a minute. Went to the engine bay, wiggled the positive connection, truck comes to life.

Idiot.

Turns out not only was the connection still in need of more vigorous cleaning, it (even when tightened all the way) was still not far enough down on the post to establish a firm connection. I tapped it down a bit with a screwdriver, then retightened. Problem solved.

Don’t be like me.

I did something like this before. In my situation, the terminal at the battery was tight, but the bolt for the terminal to the cable was loose! Oh well, at least it turned out be an easy fix.

 

[damon]

I know quite a few Tundras had recalls for stalling due to a faulty fuel pump. Maybe that is what is going on here?

Edit: saw the lose battery terminal comment. Carry on!