Engine shut off on steep incline

It's happened a few times most recent was on a trail in Tennessee called thrash rock. Truck was in 4lo over 30° uphill angle. Made it halfway before the Trans temp light came on and low oil pressure I had to stop to position for a climb over a rock truck immediately shut off breaks got stiff and started sliding luckily support rope caught me. No where to trun around it took a gladiator strapped to a tree winched to a rubicon strapped to me to pull me level once level I let the truck stand by for 10 minuets started right up no smoke no engine noises and finished the trail. Anyone experienced this. Seems dangerous if your in a spot to use breaks and can't because the piston pressure.

 

Do it a few more times and you’ll send a rod through the block. These are offroad* trucks.

 

I have heard about this but it’s never happened to me. I installed a J&L oil separator to relieve pressure on the crankcase and prevent flooding the intake manifold. I’ve been on some steep inclines and even stopped to look back and wait for buddies to catch up and never once had an issue.

 

The old Land Cruisers would do 46% according to specs and I've been there a few times in the past. 30% and troubles is pretty poor.

 

Couple questions- Does the outlet line from the J&L oil separator return back to the intake manifold, or where does it go? Also, how full has the container been after climbing your steepest hills? And have you needed to use the larger sized catch can?

 

Oil starvation at 30 degrees? My driveway is probably 30, as well as the top of my street where I wait at a stop sign. Seems odd…

 

Were you sitting at the high angle for awhile stationary before everything went fubar?

 

Yes it was probably a 10-15 minute climb after waiting my turn and being spotted

 

Any other Tacoma's in your group or on the same trail with the same issue?

I don’t think that angle would be considered extreme.

 

Check for air leaks, cracked rubber couplers, and looseness around the intake. Usually this is easily diagnosed with a smoke machine. When the engine is heavily loaded, it flexes the engine mounts and pulls on the intake tube. Because the airbox is body-mounted, this can cause temporary gaps, and the engine shuts off from the massive vacuum leak. Do you have an aftermarket intake? They are more prone to this.

When the engine stalls, the trans temp warning and oil pressure light will always come on.

30° uphill isn't much to cause oil starvation or oil burning issues. The stock truck can handle 30° side tilt without lifting tires.

 

The truck has a snorkel but factory air box but it didn't have it at the time and only had around 30k miles also the lights came on before the engine shut down

 

Yes I'm assuming 30 it was at a pretty steep incline enough when it shut off I hit the breaks they went stiff and it slid till the security rope caught me

 

I ran over a stone at a Taco Bell drive thru, once.

 

Hope they gave your money back!

 

the brakes will not be vacuum assisted (or boosted) when the engine dies, on the non OR and Pro models anyways, so the brake pedal will be stiff.

 

It’s best not to stay on a 20+ degree slope (either axis) with the engine idling for a long period of time. The engine can suffer from oil starvation.

 

Just my opinion but it seems like any vehicle sold as or touted as “off road” should have measures in place to deal with the engine running at grade. This seems like a 911 GT2 being sold without a dry sump and then hearing that you should just go a little easier in the corners. We’re talking 20-30 degrees which isn’t much different from a steep hill in SF. This truck should be able to handle this.

 

I appreciate the sentiment, but I think you might be underestimating a 30 degree incline or perhaps confusing it with a 30% incline.

 

Yeah I suppose it’s pretty steep. Maybe instead of “off road” it should be called “can be carefully taken off pavement sometime”

 

I think the key here is idling. Don’t do it on steep slopes. The climb to La rinconada in Peru if you come up the east side of the mountain that’s not paved far exceeds 30 degrees in places. And I can verify the truck will handle that and a plus 30 sideways lean without shutting off.