Low Fuel Pressure

Sorry, was responding to your original issue. It sounds like you had a tank that had been empty, thus condensation and water in the system, causing your low fuel pressure and lean condition. If it was gas you "had around" it may be old. Gas does go old if untreated. It sounded to me like you were probably are getting the errors because you have water in the system. I've had the same issue with the same errors on my '09 AC when I let it sit around with an empty tank too long. I also had it when my local gas station had a leak in their tank (much worse. It happened twice there).

 

I tried to syphon my tank on the 2006 Taco and was not able to get the hose into the gas..... I even tried a 3/8" hose...NO GO. Seemed like a screen down there....!

I bet the new ones are the same, but I'm not sure.

 

Finally got a chance to check the temperature of the HPFP today as it got up to a balmy 35 degrees. After a quick 25 minute drive and about 5 minutes after I shut the truck off it measured 92 degrees. Hope that is of some help, sure it would probably register a higher temp in warmer weather.

 

Okay, thanks for that data point.

 

No problem. Hopefully you can get a couple other data points from guys in warmer areas which should probably give you a pretty good idea of what it should be.

 

Okay, so I have my Truck back now. What was found after a lot of diagnostic stuff, new fuel rail/pressure sensor, swapping in another fuel computer etc was debris in the gas tank. This consisted of a fair sized bolt, and stuff like cotton gauze clumps, etc.



The fuel pump was replaced, as it was felt that stuff was getting tangled in it, and/or it had been struggling enough to pull fuel thru that it could be damaged and lead to an early failure. While part of me wanted that to not be the issue, even though they've had my truck a month now, a big part of me wanted it to be fixed so I could have it back--it looks better in my driveway, than languishing on their lot or service bay. They gave it a robust 25+ mile road test, and it did not stall. It had stalled on them a total of 3 times on their road tests following various diagnostic/interventional measures. As this would be recognized as vandalism rather than a manufacturing defect, I paid for the repair work.

Have I encountered similar issues before? Sure. Rust flakes from metal tank choking an in-line fuel filter, but after finding low fuel pressure with a simple fuel rail gauge tester, then going to the fuel filter and finding it clogged, no worries. But an '04 Frontier is rigged up differently fuel-wise than a '16 Tacoma, and you can't do simple tests such as this without specialized electronic gadgets. Indeed, it took Toyota with Corporate tech support a month to figure this one out. I'm just glad to have it back.

The question will remain as to how this got in there, but it's quite likely some scurrilous shitweasel shoved this stuff in. This truck was on another Island for 5900 miles with the first owner, and only on my Island with me for 1400 miles. Someone put this in there on purpose, and hopefully it was put in there by someone who was not a big fan of the previous owner rather than someone who doesn't particularly care for me. Certainly must be the former, as I'm such a nice guy that's never annoyed anyone. Ever......

I suppose now, you'll understand why I asked the question yesterday concerning whether or not one can syphon gas from these trucks, meaning--is there some sort of restrictive screen at the bottom of the fill pipe that would prevent something like this being introduced into the tank. At this point, the answer is "I guess not."

Temperature via my IR/Laser of the HPFP after 8 mile trip home, 149.5 degrees F. I suppose my fingers were fairly well calibrated as this was close to my estimate. At this point, I don't know if this is an issue or not, so we shall see as we accumulate further experience with the new Gen 3 Tacomas together.

 

Was the tank completely emptied out first then they fished out the cotton balls and bolt?

I agree, the bolt looks like it was just shoved in there. Unless it came from a gas pump somehow....

 

Glad you got her fixed...but holy shit... someone put that crap in yer tank..??

I'll have to look at the drawings to se if there is a screen in the fill tube... as I said earlier, I could NOT get a hose in there..!

Start packin' a .45....just in case this WAS intended for you..!!

 

I think there’s a one- way valve in there that lets fluids in but stops hoses as I was able to siphon mine out with a 3/8” hose that had its end cut off into a sharp tip. After I was done, the hose was hard to pull back out unless I twisted it a lot while gently tugging it. The reason why I was siphoning it? Some nice person 1st tried drilling a hole in my locking gas cap and failed to open it, so they drilled a hole in the side of the tank instead. I didn’t notice it until I filled the tank (dummy me didn't see the hole in the gas cap either!) and gas started pouring out of the hole in the tank. So I plugged the leak with some bar soap (a great field fix for holes in gas tanks) and siphoned out the rest of the gas. No more locking caps for me, I also considered leaving a $20 under the fuel door with a note pleading gas thieves to help themselves to the $20 to go away instead of drilling my tank

 

Well, the sequence of diagnostic maneuvers and interventions performed are somewhat clouded by me not being there or doing them myself, but at a final point in the series, Tech support recommended removal and replacement of the fuel pump. When they dropped the tank and opened it/removed the pump/sender unit, they noticed the rag/cloth/fiber debris floating around in the gas. They had pulled a gas sample early on in the process, but had not sucked out any fibers on that test, and the gas tested out fine. Then they dumped everything out, and washed out any further debris so the tank was clean.

I know at the top of the fuel fill spout, there is a flap valve thingy, but the Dealership assures me there are no other impediments to stuff going in the tank, and fuel can be siphoned from these tanks. I am a bit apprehensive about putting on an aftermarket locking cap, as these are not known to seal well, and I suppose I'll end up with a CEL and codes for major evaporative leak, etc. The dealership did tell me that only this week a new Tacoma came back w 146 miles on it, someone had drilled a hole in the tank to steal gas. I suppose I didn't really realize this was a thing. I firmly believe people who do this should be tied to a pole, upside down, after being force-fed industrial strength Ex lax. We could only guess that the bolt's purpose was to provide weight to the rag(s) to help drag it down the fill pipe.

 

I don't think that Flap Valve piece exists anymore, pretty sure they did away with those a few years ago. That's some serious Shit that someone did that to your truck, guess they used that bolt as a weight to get that to fall all the way into the tank.

 

Just out of curiosity I went out and took my gas cap off and that Trap Door Flap Valve has definitely been eliminated, it's just an open filler neck, there must be some sort of Check Valve further down.

 

Well, soon as I find a few suitable hoses, I'm going to dip the wick myself........ May have to sacrifice some of my homebrewing hoses, but they're currently in use on 12 gallons of hard ciders.

 

Well, first there was the sand in the gas tank post. now gauze and bolts in the gas tank. wow

 

Well the sand in the tank was sensational due to a dent in the Auto trans pan? Right? Something ladat. @AFMurse2014 as OP or something?

 

If its the story I am thinking of, it was Twilight Zone bizarre, I think everytime he washed it then it would quit running from sand.

 

More on the syphoning, @over60 has already responded, but it's mentioned again in other threads.

If it's so hard to get a small caliber hose in there, how did that big bolt make it down? And all that rag? Hmmmmmmm.

 

I used a piece of aquarium air line hose with the end cut off diagonally to be pointy from true value hardware- you have to fiddle with it by twisting it as you push it into the tank, then do the same to get it out - just like snaking a drain line.

I agree about the bolt... hmmmm

 

Hmmm. Yes, have done that, on some other car that was going on the MATSON boat to ship back to the mainland, buddy said his wife had just filled it and they won't accept it unless it is 1/4 tank or less. Managed to get a tiny aquarium air hose in there, took a long time to suck out that way. Not a Tacoma, Not a Toyota though, some kind of soccer mommy van.

I do have a really neat flexible video bore scope, but I really don't think it would be safe to thread it into gasoline; that's all I need, set myself and Truck on fire peering down the filler pipe.......doing a colonoscopy on my Tacoma. Tacoma fights back.....

 

Yeah, save the video snake for a diesel Tacoma- much higher flashpoint!

I got the idea of a pointed tube after seeing a siphon kit at the local auto parts store - but they wanted way too much for it.