2003 Toyota Tacoma V6 hesitation

I been having the same problem. Over the last year I have had this problem but it went away for a while. Then recently it started doing it again. I did not want anyone to drive my Toy either. When crusing on the highway you would feel the vehicle just slow down and when you push on the pedal the RPM's would just stay at about 2000 even though you are pressing on the gas pedal.
I thought it was the fuel filter, but the vehicle was not starving for fuel. Then I thought it was the fuel Pump, but it still did not seem to be starving for fuel. It seem to be like the gas pedal lost the signal and you took your foot off the gas pedal, but fuel was still allowing the engine to run fine, just not to increase speed or maintain the present speed.
I have never had the engine ever die when this happens. I would let off on the gas pedal and press it again and then it would respond. Then I also notice my brake lights would sometimes come on after I turn the vehicle off. No keys in the ignition. I would come out of a store after checking them before I left and they would be on.
So every time the vehicle would hesitate I would lift up the brake pedal with my left foot and the vehicle would recover from the hesitation. I did this for 2 days.

I went to my local Toyota Parts department and bought a $27.00 brake switch that I put on in 2 minutes. Drove the vehicle for 2 hours and no hesitation problems so far and my brake lights are not coming on after I remove the keys like before.

I tried the Maf Cleaning and Throttle Body cleaning and injector cleaning nothing worked. The braking switch is a safety switch to allow you to shift out of park also. I do not have the circuit diagram, but I would think it ties into the Throttle Position sensor. Oh I notice the connector wiring would also be a little warm. I think the switch had a intermittent short causing the wiring to get warm from switching on and off when it was not suppose to be on and causing the signal problem to the TPS or CPU. It is like the stop switch is sending a signal telling the throttle to shut off.
I hope this may help someone else. Maybe a Toyota Tech or someone with a wiring diagram could confirm that they may be tied together. I have view several Tacoma threads with this problem. Drove the vehicle all day today and not more hesitation problems and no more brake lights staying on. Part Number ( 84340-09070) It actually felt the gas pedal respond better today then the last 9 months. Something that is strange is the recall on the stop switch that came out on the other models today.

 

im having all the same symptoms as toytaco just described but i dont see the brake light thing. This is on my 1997 2.7 , its not as bad on higher rpms but still has no power at all, ive replaced my fuel filter, plugs, seafoam multiple times and nothing. i replaced my tps a while back and didnt help, i pulled all my plugs last week and the tips were whitish with a slight brown tint to them. not enough fuel it seems but my cables and stops are all adjusted since the rpms were so low at idle it would start shaking and die, but they are all basically back to where they were now. its driving me sooo crazy, i drive alot of highways to school every day and the hills are so bad, i feel bad for the motor driving around floored everywhere. i have to drive 80+ up a hill in order for it to not drop below 70 up a hill in 5th but if its long enough it will.

 

Okay here's the deal with the TPS. So I went to napa, bought one and brought it to my local shop to have them install it. They took off the current TPS and the new one was smaller and only had 3-pins compared to the 4-pins the current one has. They called napa to have them bring the correct part over. Napa showed up with the exact same TPS that didn't fit. SO... we called up Toyota and they will only sell the entire throttle body assembly for $1600. My guess is they found a problem with the TPS and redisgned the throttle body to support a new TPS (which is what NAPA thought was the correct part.) After they took the TPS off my truck and reinstalled it I haven't hesitated once and the truck feels like it's running a lot better. (maybe it just needed a readjustment?)

All in all.. DO NOT PURCHASE A TPS... it will be the wrong size.
The correct part# is 89452-35030

 

if you have the same tps as me even tho i have the 4cyl which has the 4 pin i got one from autozone and it was the right one. but maybe i didnt get 4 pins on mine. i have to check now

 

I'm going to mess with the tps this weekend and see whats up with that. Thanks for the info so far.

 

Bseant, I went to auto zone and found the same nonsense. Called Toyota with the part number you provided and they tell me it doesn't exist. They also gave me the same story that they don't sell the TPS separately. This is ridiculous. I'm wondering if maybe there is a different connector for the new TPS we can also replace to fit the 3 prong sensor. I mean, the friggin Toyota part failed, so I can't imagine an aftermarket part would make it run any worse...haha! If you find anything out, let me know because I'm about to pull the rest of my hair out if I have to put up the money for a new throttle body...

 

I'd suggest a junkyard or find someone parting our their Taco. That would be the cheapest route.

 

the credit for the part number has to go to Rpain. LOL

 

Whoops! Sorry RPain...I will try a junk yard. Probably $300 instead of $1200.

 

Dropped mine off at Toyota last night so their "master mechanic" could take a look at it. Called back at noon today and the service writer said that my complaint was contradictory and that couldn't find any problem with the truck. It had been setting there for a couple of hours and no one bothered to call. I wrote out a whole paper about what was wrong with the truck and what I have done to attempt to fix. She stated that since I said it had trouble accelerating away from a stop, pulling hills, and passing on the highway I must be really confused cause that doesn't make any sense. Is it a slow speed thing or fast? My attempts to explain "mid range" and engine rpms fell on deaf ears. She said it was the probably the supercharger because she knew a guy with a turbo that had the same problem. She understands my problem though, she drives a WRX! WTF? My attempt to tell her that I had already talked to magnusson and them telling the supercharger is fine also didn't get thru. Picked up truck and paperwork stated " could not replicate customers problem" as I drove off with my truck hesitating and running rough.

So short story, DO NO TAKE YOUR TRUCK TO THE TOYOTA DEALERSHIP!

 

Yeah, the dealership gave me the same nonsense and told me to drop it off when it's hesitating. By the time I get there and they finally get around to looking at it though, it will be running fine again because it's so intermittent. They tried spraying the engine down with a Hose, but couldn't replicate the problem. It isn't your supercharger...I can't imagine this happens to all or even most Tacoma owners, so I'm guessing a junkyard throttle body with a new gasket will fix it.

 

Ya, they didn't look at the truck because the tech said it was fine. 24 hrs they have it and don't think they opened the hood. Funny thing was that it ran crappy when I dropped it off and it ran crappy when I picked it up! They are just idiots! The service write even tried to convince me that the "S/C doesn't add much horsepower at all on the 3.4L and in fact I might not be able to tell the difference" despite me telling her that I had the truck supercharged before this problem and it ran like a raped ape. It is sad that Toyota can't help us.

Side note, switched coils with a co-worker this morning. No change. Ruled that out.

 

Okay, I don't know if it is coincidental or not, but I thought about what SAToytaco2007 had said about the brake. I had driven my truck this past week and actually pulled UP on the pedal with my brake foot...thinking if there was some form of sensor there, lifting on the pedal might just release the pressure on it. Well, after that time (two or three times pulling up on it), it has not once done the hesitation. I've purposely put it into the rpm range where it was doing it (which would cause it to do it about 50% of the time before) and wouldn't. So, I don't know if this lends any more validity to that, but if it's a cheap part and easy to replace, I might just be doing that.

 

I am wondering if it is linked to the ECU along with the TPS????
Keep us posted..
Have not done any research into the wiring--it does seem that there would be some type of link w/the TPS and ECU.

 

In my old Tacoma the cruise didn't work. After driving to Colorado without it I kept screwing with it on the way back. Lifted the clutch pedal and viola, it worked! The clutch pedal was sitting too close to the close disengage switch and would not let the cruise set. Didn't need to replace it. Just adjusted it out further. Problem fixed. This may work for your brake switch also.

 

Or does it exist?

 

Where did you get that

 

Beuller? Bueller?

You can't post something like that and just disappear.

 

Yeah, how did you get that?

 

I actually found that picture on craigslist. Some guy is selling it for $125. See link below. Maybe it can help someone out. So for Toyota to say that it does not exist, that's clear proof that it does and sold separately. As far as where to buy it, that's the hard part.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/pts/3275432422.html