Rev Limiter

Hello Fellow Tacoma owners! I was hoping to get some advice, the other week I was on my way to work when I had to step on the gas to quickly pass another vehicle. To my surprise the engine made a few horrible noises and quickly cut power at just above 4000rpm. A mechanic friend of mine told me that this was the rev limiter but it has never kicked in that early before and seems rather unusual. The noise has not gotten any worse and still kicks in at 4000rpm but it is starting to bug me.

The truck is an 03 3.4L with 198,000km, auto. All maintence is up to date, with a recent synthetic oil change, new spark plugs, fluids, air filter, timing belt & water pump. The only thing that I can think of is that the spark plug wires need to be changed, maybe there is a short somewhere there? My mechanic friend insists it is a computer issue though.

Has this ever happened to anyone else before or has anyone ever heard of a rev limiter kicking in earlier then what is typical?

Thanks TacomaWorld!

 

No check engine light, but I haven't checked for codes. I will put that on the too do list. Thanks for the response!

 

Sorry to answer your question with a question, but at what RPM does the second cam take over in the 3.4?

 

Mine will definitely rev higher than 4k. I was towing a trailer up a few mountain passes the other day and had to keep it at 4200 rpm for a minute or two to keep up any sort of speed up one pass.

 

Maybe it wasn't the rev limiter...
but simply a dirty/clogged fuel filter ?

Could be more problematic during hard acceleration.

just sayin'

 

I had thought about the fuel filter, but it seems like it is way to consistent to be a clogged filter. It happens everytime that the truck passes 4000rpm. But it is probably time that I change that too, just in case anyways.

 

Are you sure that its the rev limiter? Or it just hesitates to do anything after 4k? Does it sound like waahhpaapaapahpah and flames shoot out the exhaust? Just kidding about the flames but yeahh..

 

Yeah, I wasn't sure on that. Thanks.

 

I'm guessing the rev limiter is set to 5500+rpm? Sounds like something is up with your engine.

 

check you mass air flow sensor

 

It sorta does sound like waahhpaapaapahpah lol, but also kind of a ticking noise mixed in there too.

Any thoughts on the mass air flow sensor like the above guy mentioned? I haven't really thought about that. My goal is to try to get this sorted out on the weekend.

Thanks for the responses everyone!

 

higher then that..trust me

think fuel cut is like 6ish and ignition is around 6300


Gotta be a code somewhere. Possibly a bad cat or O2 sensor.

 

Hahahah this made my night okay all joking aside but yeah just go to autozone and have them pull the codes for free?

 

Could be crossfiring/mixing cylinders because of a plug wire short.

I can honestly say I have never bounced it off the rev limiter myself but I have heard it before on my friends truck. It happens to him sometimes in 4lo, 1st gear in snow or mud. Pretty sure it is well over 5K rpm when this happens. No popping noises tho.

 

Mine has a Harf Miss exactly at 3500 RPMs.. Exact same thing. Have in the toyota shop. THey are telling me the water pump is failing and leaking fluid on the timing belt, which caused it to jump a kog or jump out of time by one notch and therefore when it hits a certain rpm the engine begins to miss-fire.

Anyone ever seen this before? Maybe this could be the issue for you to. Any up date on what fixed yours?

 

Yeah I do have an update, and it sounds very similar to what you mentioned. Apparently when the timing belt had been replaced, they had done something incorrect that caused it to eventually jump out of time. I contacted the mechanic that did the work and he said he would replace the belt free of charge, if it was his error. It's in the shop this weekend. I am pretty frustrated by this whole thing, but I do understand mistakes happen so hopefully it's not the end of the world. I will keep this thread updated now that things are finally getting fixed. Thanks for all the help everyone!