Good morning everyone.

I am trying to figure out what is up with my 03. Here is the scenario:

Fueled up with Shell V-Power 91 oct. Right after, went to the car wash at the station and had a automatic wash, car was off. After 2-3 minutes of waiting after the wash (on the phone), I proceded to drive onto a 45 mph hwy. I went through 1-3rd like normal no 4k plus revs, the right after I shifted to 4th, it did a sputter and my rps fell from like 3-4k to null, but it did not die. Since I had no idea what it was, I put it in nuetral and coasted down to the bottom of the hill and pulled into the median. Once stopped, since there was traffic I couldn't turn right away, I tried to go from 1st to cross the street, and nothing... as soon as you let the clutch start to engage it acts like it will die, and will if you let off the gas too much. I tried to cross a few times, since I didn't want to be in the middle of the road, but it would just not go. After those few tries my check engine light came on. Then, 2 friendly Sherrif deputies helped me push it across into a parking lot.

My first thought: bad gas... but, within like 5 minutes of running?
2nd: fuel pump... I only have 35k miles though, but u never know
3rd: MAF... would be similar to losing a fuel pump some say? so it could be this also?

Any help is appreciated... it has sat at a Toyota dealership for the last week (no Mitsu within 2 hours), and they are super busy, so they barely just looked at it, plus it seems like they are retarded when it comes to diagonsing so far, they are getting a check engine light reader (lack of the correct term) for a mitsu to see what that tells them, which I thought they would have already, but I guess they make the readers make dependant? They did say they looked around a bit and couldn't tell anything, but I thought seeing it the pump has pressure would be relatively easy? even though that could still be either the pump or MAF.

Sorry for the longevity, I like to talk.

Thanks for any comments!!!

Have a good one!

 

did you check the intercooler piping? the couplers might have come loose or blew off

 

Its doubtfull that the issue is the fuel. It is more likely that its an issue from the car wash or some other un-related issue.

I would pull the plug cover, coils and plugs. See if there is water affecting your spark. If everything is dry and you do not see water on the cylinder side of the plugs (as if water got into your intake), you can probably rule out a water issue.

Next I would pull the filter off the MAF. See if the screen is still intact. I have seen several screens get sucked in and turned affecting the MAF readings. If you have a cheap cone filter, I have seen them lose internal pieces that get sucked up next to the MAF causing issues.

If everthing looks good there, I would check other basics like fuel pressure, cam timing, compression, etc....

 

+1 check your spark plugs. go to autozone and get the cel read

 

Any dealership has an OBDII code reader. They have nothing to do with make and model.

 

Description sounds like a IC Pipe

 

Sounds like water got in somewhere....you check the air filter?

 

def water or an intercooler pipe issue. Stock clamps are known for being very flimsy. I had very similar symptons and it was my IC hose that popped off the throttle body.

 

Sounds like a piping problem. I have had so many pipes pop off on my car. Also it sounds like you put 87 octane in your car (I did that once) did the same thing you are describing. I would try dumping a sh@% load of octane booster into you fuel tank and just let it run for a while. Try and get it as mixed as possible especially if your tank is still full.