Hello,
I posted a message here a while ago about how my 1990 4Runner SR5 V6 (~160k) had been stalling out on me regardless of whether the engine was hot or cold, but never really got any definitive replies, so I'm going to try again with what's currently happening to it.
Originally, the problem began after I had the valve cover gaskets replaced. In the process, they had to replace other parts that were associated with the removal of the intake manifold, which many 4Runner owners know has to be removed just to get at the passenger side valve cover gasket. You can hardly even see it. No problem with that, as I had expected that some of the parts wouldn't survive being removed due to their age and condition. One part that comes to mind was the EGR valve. In any event, the vehicle seemed better afterwards until I started experiencing the stalling out problem. Regardless of the engine temperature, the engine would stall and then be difficult to restart for several minutes. We're talking 3, 4, or perhaps 5 minutes here. Maybe even more in some instances.
I brought the vehicle back to the original mechanic, who had replaced the valve cover gaskets, to have him "check it out" for several days, only to tell me that it only happened to him once and that I should bring it back if it happened again. I could see that I wasn't going to get anywhere with him.
The vehicle sat for a while until I found another mechanic, by word of mouth, who was supposed to be good at diagnosing these types of problems. I made the mistake of giving him plenty of time to "diagnose" the problem. That allowed him to treat it as a non-priority repair, so he didn't do much. He said that he pulled a couple of codes that really didn't mean anything, but that my real problem was that the vehicle was getting old. I guess that nowadays some "mechanics" can only repair new vehicles. To make matters worse, he mentioned that my brakes were low and that they hadn't done anything in regard to them, even though they were fine when I brought the vehicle there. By the time I got down the block, I had no brakes. It turns out that I had lost one of the steel brake lines. Totally unconscionable! Anyone in their right mind would point that out and tell you that it had to be fixed before you could take the vehicle back. So, I added him to by ever-growing list.
After some more time had passed, I got yet another referral from an acquaintance of mine, who happens to be very meticulous. I figured why not go with his guy, after all, if the guy fixes his vehicles and he's so particular then the guy must be good. I had the vehicle towed to his shop and there it sat. Seeing as how I was getting nowhere, I had the vehicle towed back to my house. Later on I discovered that all I got for my trouble was a broken tail light in the deal. My guess is that when the vehicle was at the shop someone must have hit it. Unfortunately, too much time had gone by since I had it towed back from his shop and it would have been my word against his.
By this time the vehicle that I had been using as a replacement was starting to have its own problems, so I had a pressing need to get the 4Runner repaired. I had it towed to the guy who had replaced the valve cover gaskets. He replaced 2 steel brake lines and the master cylinder. No problems there.
I still expected to have the stalling out problem though and I was right. The only difference now was that I was getting a "check engine" light on the dash. With that, I decided to bring it to the local Toyota dealer. They had it for almost a week and replaced the spark plugs and cleaned out the carbon somewhere. At that point, they told me that they weren't getting the "check engine" light any longer, but that it still wasn't quite right and that they felt that they should replace the wires, cap, air filter etc. It couldn't hurt, so I figured why not. I realize that it was probably just a bit of up sell, but at that point I didn't care as long as I got it back repaired. When I got the vehicle back it did seem to be okay. That was until I had to drive it for a long period of time. After about 15 minutes of driving in the snow on one of the local highways, I got stuck right in a lane of traffic while slowing down. It took long enough to get it started that I had visions of being stuck with a dead battery. Contrary to my understanding of fuel injected engines, I held the pedal to the floor and eventually got the engine started again. All totaled, the engine stalled 5 times on my drive. The next day it only stalled once though.
Back to the dealer's last Monday and they haven't been able to have it happen or find out anything. Today makes it one week. I do appreciate the fact that, in spite of the round about tune up, they aren't just throwing parts at it at my expense. The down side is that no one can figure out what's happening and that I don't feel safe driving it. What if it fails while pulling out across a lane of traffic?
So, to sum it up, it appears that the vehicle stalls upon deceleration and is hard to start afterwards. Does anyone in the group have any ideas or suggestions? I apologize for the long winded post. Thanks in advance to those who post a reply. If I learn of anything I'll post it here just in case anyone else has a similar problem.
Peter.