Died and Limped Home - 2023 TRD OR 4x4 w 15k ODO

But it was all downhill with a tailwind!!!!!

 

Lots of reading here but i have to ask (maybe I missed it), is your poor gas mileage actually calculated by you? Fill the tank, drive the roughly 340-360 miles we get on a tank, fill it again and then calculate your real gas mileage? Or are you reading it off of the dash?

 

My trucks got fuse taps out the wahzoo, spaghetti wires front to back, side to side, top to bottom and an auxbeam fuse panel under the hood. Everything works fine.

 

Exactly also easy to diagnose. Take tap out, problem stay or go?

 

Good Day Sir! I say to you GOOOD DAY!
He sure got his panties in a wad quick. And no I wasn't getting it until he spelled it out. But now I have more questions... Like he kept talking about a 5v power source for the ECU - or was I reading that wrong. The Fuse Panel is 12v, no? Probably something else I'm not getting too. I genuinely appreciated his participation and input. But if this thread is causing him that much pain, maybe best he goes.

That's been my point back to Toyota all along.
A. The tap was put in at around 200ish miles. The fuel economy started falling off after the first oil change around 5,000 miles. So what happened for the roughly 4,800 miles between them?
B. The engine malfunction that cause it to die in traffic happened at 15,000 miles so why did the fuse tap wait 14,800 miles to cause that?
C. The engine hasn't failed since, why hasn't the fuse tap caused more dying to occur?
D. The fuse tap has been out since I picked it up (except for putting it back to take the last set of pics above and then removed again, so why hasn't my mileage returned.
F. It has been a short sample period admittedly, however fuel economy is still in the toilet. I did just gas it up for the first time in a month though. I wanted to run all of the tank out and see if a completely fresh tank helped. We'll see.
G. To @MGMDesertTaco s point, there are hoards of Taco's rolling around with taps. If it was a problem, we'd know about it. True, most are on 35" tires and lifted suspension with racks and lights and gear so it's hard to know what drives their MPG down but still many of them are getting better MPG with the extra weight and air drag than I get as a near stock Tacoma with a glove box organizer installed.

Today's To Do's are to call back my local shop. I can't find the electrical shop they referred me to. I keep getting an electrical supply shop. Either they cosmically misunderstood me or coincidentally there is an Automotive Electric shop and an Electrical Construction shop with the same name. Or I wrote it down wrong.

Of interesting note - I have seen two other threads on TW discussing a 3rdG that had the same or very similar issues since I started this. They don't mention anything about fuse taps in their threads.

 

Maybe a diode on your power circuit would isolate your radio?

 

I'm puzzled....where was the 5 volt circuit? I thought the radio was tapped into a 12 volt circuit? I have a transmission cooler fan tapped into my fusebox, and that draws a helluva lot more than a radio, plus, as an electric motor, it has a fair inductive loading that gets dumped back into the circuit when it shuts off, and nobody mentioned any need for decoupling caps or flyback diodes. Jeebus H Christmas, it's a frickin' truck, not a NASA mainframe. That ECU has a bunch of circuitry incorporated to smooth and condition the internal power rails. It would have to, as any vehicle's electrical system is loaded with enough spikes, sags, ripples and noise to sink a battleship.

 

Pretty good idea. I'll have to ask in the Ham Circles on what is the best diode for that and how best to put it in line. Just had a little experience with that because I had a Meshtastic Node get fried due to incorrect polarization when I hooked up the battery (end user error). For 12cents Rak Wireless could have saved me the heartache.

Me too - I'm not sure about the 5v circuit either. Was kinda hoping he'd stick around and continue the discussion. I always value another source of input. Sounds like your extra fuse panel is under the hood though?

I just got off the phone with the shop that diagnoses Electrical Issues. He says Toyota is full of it but he's happy to prove them wrong. Now I just need to drop it off and that's going to be a bit because the wife is back into a wheel chair until her ankle surgery and that thing doesn't fit in her car.

 

Well now! This gets good! The Toyota page that shows my vehicle service history is up!


There is NO RECORD of either trip to Bell Road Toyota recently for this warranty issue.

Yet we got proof here in this chat because I have the chats with Toyota and the E-Mail from Todd. Now I'm even more worried than before. Da hell are they hiding?

 

You might contact AZ wire Pros. I've never used them, but they were recommended to me by a performance shop a couple of years ago. They're off W Happy Valley and N 19th Ave, which is pretty close to you. They specialize in side x side wiring.

https://azwirepro.com/

 

Good question to ask the Toyota rep that's been helping you.

 

GT GALLOP
January 27, 2025 at 01:22 PM
Jennifer - In my last conversation with you, you had mentioned getting my service history off of the Toyota web site. I DID! Super cool tool and thank you for showing me that.

However, now I have a second issue that I'm hoping you can help with.

• My trip in December, after the Failure is not documented on the Service History.
• My second trip in to have the vehicle re-looked at in January is also not documented in the Service History.
• I still do not have the picture that Todd promised me.

How is this possible? You and I both know these trips happened and they were documented in some way.

I find the lack of documentation disturbing. I prefer to see the positive in a situation but I'm becoming weary that these trips have been removed for less than honorable circumstances. At the very least gross negligence and ineptitude. How does a shop miss something like this?

1 file attached

• No Evidence

 

OP, can you copy and paste actual emails between you and Jennifer instead of typing them out each time? You can block out any personal information.

 

OP what's you gas mileage? Go to another dealer!

 

I'm just copying the words after I hit submit in the portal. That way it's searchable text.
Here's a screen shot of the portal

 

13 to 17 MPG
Rough Idle Error
Misfire in two cylinders
Died in traffic. Limp mode engaged.

 

I apologize in advance if I missed it somewhere but has the dealership done a compression leak down test on the two misfiring cylinders?

 

That would have been one of my first tests, but it doesn't look like they've done anything except give him the royal run-around. Incompetence, blame-shifting, and finger-pointing are the new corporate norms, it seems. I see it everywhere.

 

I did just get the missing reports from Toyota. They still don't show up in the Toyota Owners section but I had Toyota Corporate send them.
Haven't had a chance to look in detail (it's a lot of pages grided off and I've been at work) but the 4 things that stand out to me are:
1. Cleared codes
2. Inspected floor mat
3. Drove Truck
4. Blamed Ham Radio

No mention of even opening the hood that I have read YET. Again this was a cursory scan through the print real quick to see if something popped out. I'll post up the docs when I can.

 

Do we know a copy of the codes thrown?