Engine Stalled on The Highway

I have a 2001 Tacoma with 200,000+ miles on it. I was going down the highway a couple of days ago with the cruise control set at about 80 MPH. I was coming up on a vehicle going slower than I was, and when I reached over to disengage the cruise control, the engine died. When I pulled off on the side of the road, after a couple of attempts, the engine would turn over and start but would only run for about 30 seconds before dying again. After sitting on the side of the road for about 1/2 hour, the engine fired right up, and I continued on my way with no additional problems.

The battery is less than a year old, a new fuel pump was installed last Nov, and it has a new EGR and MAF sensor, and it's definitely not an issue with the Catalytic Converter.

Could this have been somehow connected with the cruise control?
Could it be a problem with the Idle Air Control Valve?

 

did it pop up any codes?

as with most problems, once isn't diagnosable. it needs to be a pattern.

could be a lot of things, given the age, mileage and even how often you use the truck.

if no codes, i would make a mental note about it, and move on for the time being. if it does another few times repeatedly under similar deceleration conditions, then there's a consistent enough pattern to figure out if it's actual parts or just a little bad/old fuel.

 

Is the CEL on? Are there any codes on the ECU? Try using an OBD scan tool.

 

I haven't had a diagnostic done on it. I'm supposed to go on a long-distance drive across West Texas shortly, but now my fear is that it will stall in the middle of nowhere and I won't be able to get it restarted. I'm trying to decide if I want to risk it.

 

I'm not really sure what that is

 

Check Engine Light

 

Before you go on the trip, you should attempt to recreate the same situation and see if you can get the truck to die again. If it does, don't go to West Texas where gas stations are few and far between, and repair shops are even further.

 

Ah. The Check Engine Light has been on the entire 10 years I've owned the truck. When I took it to Toyota for an almost complete overhaul, they said it was probably a bad sensor and wouldn't affect the performance of the truck if I didn't bother to replace it, so it was left as it was.

 

What sensor did they say was "probably bad" ?
You should still get the codes read, you can get them read for free at most auto parts stores like Autozone, Oreillys, etc. Then google the codes to find out what they mean or post them here.

 

10years?! Having the CEL on would drive me nuts

 

I will do that very thing tomorrow.

 

electrical tape solves that issue real quick!

though most of my vehicles that had a light, it was from something i specifically did to it...

 

Lol, after driving it to work every day in Honolulu for 3 years, from LA to El Paso, around El Paso to work every day, El Paso to MS, MS to New York and around New York to work everyday, New York to New Mexico and around New Mexico to work every day, and from New Mexico to LA multiple times, I don't even notice it anymore.

 

In that case, just send it.

 

the CEL reports back a myriad of issues. say it comes on for a fuel cap issue. can you drive it forever like that? yea...probably. but the light is on, and if anything more nefarious creeps up and needs to light up the CEL, you won't know and simply be driving around not knowing something needs to be fixed. the results could be say..like driving down I-10 passed The Fountains shopping center with cruise control, and then simply flaming out when you disengage cruise. you just don't know. we sure as off won't know. sounds like an ignition issue.

 

This makes no sense

 

Is the battery cable terminal tight and not loose?

 

Any signs of rodent activity?

 

What you're saying makes sense and is good advice, however, at the time, it came down to financial priorities. It ran perfectly for another 5 years before I started to have problems with it. When I did have problems with it, it shut off while I was in the middle lane of I-25 in heavy traffic just outside Denver. When I took it in they ran a diagnostic and it came back as a bad EGR, which I paid them $300 to replace. When I was driving home 4 days later, it did the same thing again, so it clearly was not a bad EGR. That truck has a new fuel pump, new EGR, new MAF, and alternator and battery are both less than a year old, but none of that cleared the check engine light.

 

All I know is what the dealership told me......