Problems with 1996 tacoma

I have a 1996 Tacoma that will start and run great then after a few minutes of driving the engine light comes on. I have tried to connect it to the computer and it read link failure. The port has worked in the past so I know its not the problem I have read codes before and replaced parts. The fuse is good. The computer stops communicating with the truck. If the AC is on when the ECM fails the compressor also stops running and the engine has poor performance, (air flow/ gas mixture) so this lets me know that the ECM looses total communication. I have went use other scanners and have has the same outcome. When reading some of the forums some issues are caused by a loss of ground. So before i go purchase a ECM I wanted to see if anyone has had this same problem before.

Thanks In Advance

 

I have had the same issue with my 1996 Tacoma 2.4L AT.
The only codes that came up were misfire cylinders 2, 3 and 4 and multiple misfire.
The truck would run perfect to the store and then when I start it again it would run the same as you described.

I opened the EMC and found that 2 capacitors were blown.
One pin was in tack while the other pin was burn away off the board.
One capacitor was 10v 100uF and the other was 35v 33uF.
I desoldered the old ones and resoldered new Panasonic ones from Amazon.

One thing I also noticed is that when my truck was is good running condition if the MAF was disconnected the truck will turn off.
When it was running bad as described the MAF would be disconnected, and the truck would still run.
When the truck was running bad I also had my AC system stop working, it would stall at stop lights and run with alot of misfire and no power.
The OBD scanner would also not work and state communication error when it is running bad.
When it was running good I could scan the truck no issue.

Here are some pictures of my ECM.
Kind of an old thread but I hope that this helps someone with the same issue.
I have driven the truck so far three times locally with no issues, I will continue driving it longer to see if the issue has been resolved.
I can also scan the truck and have not had any codes appear yet.

 

I had the same issue and it was the computer