2003 Toyota Tacoma: engine stalls while driving

Filed Aug 16, 2023 · MD

The DARCARS Toyota dealership in Rckville, MD has refused to repair an outstanding safety recall issue for my 2003 Toyota PreRunner truck. I had received a recall notice from Toyota for my 2003 Toyota PreRunner. On July 21, 2023, I arrived for my 7:30 a.m. appt at DARCARS to get the spare tire lift carrier repaired. Although it was still within the eligible recall period, a very annoyed service manager told me that DARCARS would not repair it. Although I had made the appt 1+ weeks earlier, he told me no repair parts had been ordered in preparation for repairing the hazard. After I insisted the safety recall issue created a dangerous hazard for me and other drivers since the spare tire located underneath the truck might fall down onto the roadway while driving, he became angry and said the spare tire lift carriage must first be inspected (a 5-10 min inspection) to determine if corrosion on the lift was present. Since I had expected the dangerous part was going to be replaced, I agreed to the inspection. A Toyota service rep drove the truck to the service bays for an inspection. Although my appt was scheduled as the first day of the day, I waited over an hour with no response from the manager or the service rep. During this hour wait, I asked on at two occasions if the inspection was completed and was told "No" with no details provided. I finally walked outside to the back of the DARCARS dealership and discovered my truck had been sitting in a parking lot. No no one had bothered to inspect it. Due to the attitude of the DARCARS service manager, service rep, lack of communication, and the failure to have ordered any parts to repair the safety hazard, it became obvious that DARCARS had no intention of correcting the safety hazard. They intended to stall and make receiving the recall repairs as difficult as possible -- and requiring a second service visit. (Afterward, a non-Toyota mechanic performed a inspection and confirmed the lift carrier are severely corroded.)

Filed May 24, 2018 · 280,000 miles · CA

Issue with etcs throttle body. Got code "p2112 throttle actuator 'a' stuck closed" after replacing the air/fuel ratio oxygen sensor (sensor 1 bank 1) and cleaning throttle body bore. Replaced new oxygen sensor with old sensor and low idle/stalling issue was not corrected.

Filed Aug 5, 2011 · Acceleration · 45 miles · VA

I bought this truck brand new in march 2003 and have had many problems, but nothing you don't expect with vehicles today or anything toyota did not eventually fix, until now. About a year ago while driving down the road at about 45 the truck just lost power and stalled on me. I was almost not able to get it off the road and of course the person behind me almost rear ended me and was highly agitated I had stopped in the middle of traffic and appeared to be driving like a teenager learing to drive a manual shift transmission. When I took it to the dealer I was told it was a bad maf sensor which was replaced along with other items which cost $400. This did not fix it and after much trial and error and research I have found it was the throttle body and one of it's sensors that can't be replaced. When I mentioned this to toyota, they disagreed and said this was impossible. It is funny how many complaints are here and how many more are having this issue who don't even know to file a complaint here. My local toyota specialist (not the dealership), who I trust and has spent a week with my truck driving it and testing it and still only charged me $80, has also confirmed the problem, a bad sensor and the only fix is to completely replace the throttle body assembly at a cost of about $1,000 or so depending on availablity of parts. This is an obvious problem with the 2003 and 2004 models only and have heard claims from toyota mechanics "off the record" that toyota knows about the problem and refuses to acknowledge it. It has come to the point that I don't let anyone in my family drive this truck but me, it is too dangerous. My kids don't ride in it with me either because it could stall as I am trying to cross traffic and the results could be deadly. Please, please do something about this, I am going to have to spend the money because I can't wait to fix this, but maybe, just maybe you can save others the money and possibly their familes lives!

Filed Dec 29, 2006 · Electrical, Engine · 42,500 miles · NC

I purchased my 2003 toyota tacoma 4x4 in may of 2003 in which as of this date of 12.29.06 my truck has 43k miles on it and is in excellant condition. Over the course of the past 6 months I have had to spend thousands of dollars on this truck and still can not drive it. I have had to put a brandnew crankshaft kit in my truck due to the keyway on the crankshaft shearing off resulting in my truck shutting down. After inspecting my truck by a certified mechanic the key was not there after it had sheared off in which parts had moved forward and ground into the metal. After the crankshaft replacement I continued to have more and more problems with the truck. I have replaced the crankshaft, harmonic balancer, new fan, oil pump because the truck will not hold oil pressure, mass air flow sensor, crank sensor, cam sensor's, re-setting of the computer and labor cost. I picked my truck up on a friday after it came back from huntersville, nc at lake norman toyota in which the truck was hooked up and was given a clean bill of health but, the truck left me stranded once again on sunday night at 7:00 pm in which I had to have a roll back pick it up for the fourth time. The oil light came on when the engine would idle less than 1k rpms in which it then finally had to be shut off as soon as I heard this due to the sounds of metal rubbing metal. The truck is now located at leatherman auto located in newton, nc (828.465.5269) in which the owner, scott has not made any repairs to this truck yet. The check engine light has came on in all four instances as well as the oil light and other lights and I then loose control of my truck due to it shutting down. I was on I-40 traveling at 65-70 MPH when my truck started jerking again and then I lost my power steering again and had to fight with the truck to get it off the road. The truck is stalling out in which I am in fear of either myself or one of my family members becoming injured or possibly killed because of this instance.

Filed Nov 1, 2005 · Engine · 15,500 miles · ME

Dt: the contact states that after suddenly braking on level ground the vehicle stalled. On three other occasions it stalled while trying to increase speed on an incline. One of these occasions while driving between 40-45 MPH the vehicle would restart after being completely turned off. The dealership could not duplicate the problem. *ak updated 11/29/2005 -

Filed Mar 11, 2005 · Brakes · 44,000 miles · LA

While braking 70 MPH brake pedal went to the floor. Vehicle stalled , and the consumer had the vehicle towed. The dealership repaired the problem.