Randomly Stalls when pressing pedal Options

[zeros]

I know this is a 6th gen forum, but I have a 5th gen and I know a lot of people here are experienced with the 3s-gte

This is an ST185 with a JDM engine in it. All stock.

A few days ago, my car just randomly shut off on the freeway. I was merging lanes and was accelerating. I was able to start it while it was coasting but then it did it again at an intersection a few minutes later. The engine was idling fine, then soon as I hit the gas the RPM's dropped and the engine died. Also, there was a bit of white smoke that came out of the hood scoop. I could not get the car to start again, I let it sit for a few minutes and tried it again, then the car started. The car seemed to run fine for a while after that.

Then today it started happening again. I was waiting for the light to change and I shifted and hit the gas to go, but the engine just died. I could not get it to start after that. Starter would turn but the engine would not start up. I let it sit for about 5 minutes then the car started up again.

Whenever I was stopped at an intersection, the car would run fine in idle.

When I pressed the gas a little, the RPM's would drop till the car was about to stall. If it stalled, I could not start it again untill I let it sit for a while.

I let up on the gas and it would idle again. I held down the clutch pedal and hit the gas pedal a couple more times and it kept happening, RPM would drop. If I did'nt let up on the gas when the RPM's dropped the car would stall.

Once I turned the car OFF with the key while it was in idle because pressing the gas made the rpms drop. Turned the car back on and it worked fine.

I pulled into a gas station and opened the hood while it was still running. I saw a little bit of smoke around the front passengerside area of the engine. Checked my fluids and they all seemed fine. Gas tank was half full so I put some gas into it.

The car died a couple more times after that while it was still rolling. I did'nt have as much trouble getting it started up again while the car was still rolling. I parked at a shopping center and had my GF pick me up.

This is not a constant problem either, most of the time the car works fine when I press the gas, it's just randomly I would get no acceleration when I hit the gas pedal and the RPM's would drop and the car would die.

I am not a mechanic by any means. I take my car to a special shop that is good with the all-trac, but it's an hour and a half away. I can do some work on the car but I do not know a lot of the termonology or where things are located.


I tried doing the paper clip thing in the diagnostic port, but I could'nt get any check engine light to blink or anything.

I figured out how to check the spark plugs, I don't have a gap tool but heres some pictures of them, should they be all black like that?

[Smaay]

celicatech.com and alltrac.net are also good sources for information. i cant see your pics from work so i m going to guess that they are black which means you are running rich, which cancells my first theory. I was going to suggest that your fuel pump is taking a crap. in the diagnostic box, stick a clip between B+ and FP and see if you can hear the fuel pump kick on.

[zeros]

thanks, I already posted to alltrac.net I posted to celicatech.com
I'll try that test for the fuel pump when I get home from work

[rave2n]

I recently had the same problem, I went through everything. It ended up being my distributor, not saying that is your problem, but it couldn't hurt to check it. Cause it took me 3 months to find that problem being I was to ignorant to check simple things.

[Smaay]

i saw you posted on celicatech also. since i cant see the pics but it sounds like they are pretty worn out. and also replace the cap and rotor in the distributor. I know on my 3S-GTE the pins in the cap were almost gone.

[Artega]

keep us updated with what you found out.
My car is doing that right now too, except not as bad. But when I push the gas sometime the RPM will drop and stall. I also have a hard time starting the car on cold mornings.

I plan to replace the spark plugs this weekend. so hopefully that solves the problem.