engine dies when i come to a stop

when my alternator in my 98 tacoma was on its way out. It would start my truck for the first few days and start dieing and then kicking in again then one day it completely died.

 

Okay, just so we're all clear. Your having TWO different issues?

1) You're not idling properly

2) Your having intermittent power loss

Correct?

 

Idling is fine, its just randomly shutting off.

 

So random power loss. Start checking all your wires for damage, clean all your grounds, voltage test the battery and alternator.

 

I checked all grounds and cleaned them. Is there a ground on the wire harness?

 

There has been alot of advice given to you. There seems to be more people telling you to get your alternator checked. Take it down to AUTOZONE and let them check it for you it's normally free can't hurt nothing to have it checked out.

 

My sons Lexus started dying when it came to a stop. I took it in to have the tires rotated and the service guy noticed it when he pulled it up on the rack and suggested using seafoam. It worked. If your problem is electrical, obviously this is not the cure but it's a cheap way to see if it's a dirty fuel system.

http://www.seafoamsales.com/gasoline-engine-faqs.html

 

I just had the altenator tested at advance auto. They said it was fine. My friend said the altenator could be coming and going and the test didnt take long enough to see it act up.

 

As someone who does participates in quality control on all forms of motors and generators. I can tell you I've never heard of that in my life. If it's on it's way out then it's on its way out. Never heard of them intermittently failing. Usually thats solenoids.

 

im about to jump it into a river.

 

This sounds entirely electrical and a bad ground will cause it. There is no way to tell if your cables are good or bad. Battery acid will leak from the terminals and migrate down the wires underneath the plastic sheathing. Once the acid gets into the ground wire, it's shot. Replace the black battery ground and then clean all the extra ground wires including the ones inside the cab on the ECM. When the grounds are bad it's like pushing water through a pinched hose. No matter how good the battery and alternator are you won't keep it running.

You can sometimes clean and neutralize the acid in the wires with a water and baking soda mix but I prefer the optima red top battery because it doesn't leak.

Do you have a multimeter? Check the voltage between the positive and negative posts on the battery and then the positive post and a ground point on the engine block or frame. Compare the results to see if the ground wire is faulty. The computer needs a good ground to read the sensors which rely on a voltage changes. A bad ground will screw it up and misread the data.

Also check the crankshaft position sensor for failure. It's down at 2 o'clock on the crankshaft. If its not reading the proper timing off the sprocket, it will cut power. It will kill the engine but it won't dim the lights.

 

Best reply yet. Thanks ill replace the wires and go from there. Thanks for your input.