Intermittent Engine Light accompanied by sudden Stall - NO CODE!!

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

Yes my question also where is the oil coming from?

Have you installed a K&N type filter?

What do you mean by when you changed the air intake?

Where does the PVC hose and crankase breather on your model
connect to?

Also as mentioned by mjrandom, if it only happens after the car has been
driven for a while might be worth looking at the tank cap breather.

If it was a faulty sensor that is intermittant then I would expect the car to stumble
the check light to light, then when it comes good the light would go out and the motor
recover. Do you actually have to turn the ignition off to restart the car or will cranking get it started again?

When you write stall, do you mean your cruising along happily and the the engine just
dies with no reponse to the accelerator pedal, no power etc?

[Orlando.M Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Orlando.M]

Not intentionally running a finer filter just bought a standard air filter one from Auto One in south Hedland, just to be clear this is not the MAF sensor normally on the air intake box, this it the Air Intake Temperature sensor that goes into the side of the inter-cooler. Please see pic.

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

If yours is similar to the later model 120, it is normal to get an oily dirty film
in the intercooler, the oil is from the PVC and breather, the black dirty deposit
is from gas from the EGR system mixing with the oil. This should not cause an
issue as every other Prado similar to yours would have the same problem.

[Orlando.M Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Orlando.M]

I'm not intentionally using a finer filter I just bought a standard one from Auto One, it's only about 2 weeks old, I'm concerned that it was so dirty before I replaced it that maybe the build up in the hoses (on the engine side of the filter) is causing the rapid build up on the sensor - Just to be clear I'm talking about the Intake Air Temperature sensor. I'll post a pic below

[Orlando.M Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Orlando.M]

[Orlando.M Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Orlando.M]

If yours is similar to the later model 120, it is normal to get an oily dirty film
in the intercooler, the oil is from the PVC and breather, the black dirty deposit
is from gas from the EGR system mixing with the oil. This should not cause an
issue as every other Prado similar to yours would have the same problem.

Ah ok, thank you very much LeighW. What else electronic sensor can gather build up over time? Also is it possible that there is something wrong with the alternator and it is overcharging?

[Orlando.M Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Orlando.M]

Yes my question also where is the oil coming from? I think you answered this below.
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Have you installed a K&N type filter? No just a stock filter.

What do you mean by when you changed the air intake? I just changed the air intake filter.

Where does the PVC hose and crankase breather on your model
connect to? Not entirely sure but there is a bit of hose with a metal cap coming up in the space between the battery and the engine block. Does this have the potential to cut power to the car?

Also as mentioned by mjrandom, if it only happens after the car has been
driven for a while might be worth looking at the tank cap breather. The first time it happened was about 2 mins after opening the tank cap so I don't think it is this.

If it was a faulty sensor that is intermittant then I would expect the car to stumble
the check light to light, then when it comes good the light would go out and the motor
recover. Do you actually have to turn the ignition off to restart the car or will cranking get it started again? I'm pretty sure I have to actually turn it off it won't just start.

When you write stall, do you mean your cruising along happily and the the engine just
dies with no reponse to the accelerator pedal, no power etc?

Yes, engine cuts off, instant loss of power other electrics stay on e.g radio, but i lose power steering and there is no response from pedal as the engine is off.

[Orlando.M Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Orlando.M]

Okay, we do have a code P1225 (spill control valve) in the fuel pump, but the mechanic says it will not cause my specific problem when faulty, instead it is getting a signal to shut fuel off from something else. He thinks this signal could be sent from the ECU, with the ECU getting an incorrect input signal from another component or an intermittent open or short circuit between the spill control valve and the ECU. Any Ideas?

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

You don't have a power chip installed do you?

[Orlando.M Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Orlando.M]

No power chip, it was second hand so I'm not 100% on that, If it had one what would it do?

I just talked to A TOYOTA mechanic and he said that the Spill control valve directs fuel into the injectors and that this CAN cause an engine to cut out if it is faulty. Also that if the the valve has a loose earth this might could be the cause.

He but also said that P1225 was not a code in his Toyota code directory. However I have found online saying it's the venturi control circuit malfunction.

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

Try starting the car and let it idle, then being careful of the fan and belts
try moving any cables that flex due to engine movement, cales on sensors
and see if you can cause it to cut out.

[Orlando.M Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Orlando.M]

Ok I will give it a shot this arvo. Cheers!

[Orlando.M Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Orlando.M]

So I have found the cable from the ECU to the Spill valve and shook and twisted and rattled it around, as well as the other cables but I still can't make it stall.

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

If it is electrical it could be anything, the problem may be related to engine movement
so try moving and cables that go to the engine and sensors etc. Could also be heat
related, if that is the case then it is going to be a lot harder to localise.

All I can suggests is trying to get mode fault codes and see if they remain constant.

The fact that is starts straight away means whatever it is is very fleeting, have you
tried cranking the car to see if it will start without turning off the ignition, if it won't
then it could localise the fault to the engine CPU, killing the ignition casues a reboot
and clears the fault.

Generally the electronics are very reliable, most CPU's diagnosed as faulty check out
to be ok.

Most times it is a cable or plug issue and simply unplugging and reconnect fixes the issue
you could try unplugging and inspecting all the connectors for the engine ECU turbo controller etc, same for engine sensors but be careful as the plastic deteriorates over time and it's not hard to break them. check for loose pins, water damage, and discoloration caused by heat from arcing.

Other options are wait till it dies completetly or take it an fuel injection specialist repair
company, they should have the abiltiy to repair the ECU if required and localise the issue
without it costing an arm an a leg. If you take it to the dealer and they can't localise they just
start changing sensors and ECU's and you'll end up paying for the bush ranging. Once they
fit a part even if it's not the issue they can't take it back to spares as it is used and you
will end up being charged for it.

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

It doesn't take much fuel to start and commence idling so fuel that is up to the injectors via rail/supply line might be enough to achieve that, but once it gets a load then it dies. That sounds like a fuel delivery issue. I ran 2 electric high flow injector pumps in my cobra. The intact pump would start to play up as it got hotter, as does the fuel heat up as it passes through the injection system and back to the tank. The engine would run for a while until the 2.5 litre swirl pot ran dry. The culprit was the in-tank pump in my case, dying as it got hotter. It would shut down. After leaving it for a while to cool it would start and run and repeat the process. There was a post somewhere here recently where they had an occasional blockage of the venturi in one of the fuel tanks causing a similar stall situation under load.