Tacoma died on freeway puffs of white smoke coming from exhaust with gas smell

[kefferjoe]

I was driving down the freeway and the truck suddenly went into limp mode and the dash lit up. The truck had issues idling and there were puffs of white smoke coming from the exhaust and smelled like gasoline. The vehicle diagnostic indicated electrical failure of some sort. Had it towed to the dealership but was curious if anyone else has experienced this. 2024 Tacoma non hybrid 28k miles. Does have K&N intake.

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[gmalkmus]

Never heard of that happening before, terrible luck I’m sorry! Is it a manual? Uphill in a high gear giving it a lot of gas?

 

[maxx075]

Prepare yourself for them trying to deny warranty because of that intake.

 

[kefferjoe]

Never heard of that happening before, terrible luck I’m sorry! Is it a manual? Uphill in a high gear giving it a lot of gas?

Uphill so was giving it a good amount of gas.

preliminary results showed a lot of fuel in cylinder 3. So possibly a bad injector or bad valve.

Toyota gave me a rental for at least a week and assured me this will be covered under warranty

 

[Will721]

Not as common in gas as diesel due to pressure differences, but direct injection injectors typically have replaceable tips do to a combination of high cylinder and rail pressures. They function like an needle and seat. They are prone to hanging open or even dropping the tip into a cylinder.

Just a shot in the dark, but if I had to guess one of the injectors in the DI system hung open and flooded the engine. Possible it hydro locked.

 

[Ace-ington]

I had the K&N intake and I had fueling issues with it(not tuned). The design sucks around the sensor (on mine it did right around the vaccuum hoses its a mess) i wouldn't mention it to the dealer haha. My dash lit up with that intake and i believe I might have a lazy O2 sensor from it cause of bad fueling clogging it up from the intake design (might be throwing too much fuel to compensate)

 

[sanman4ever]

I had a Rogue that blew up, similar symptoms. Ended up being coolant leaking into one of the cylinders.

 

[TrailAdventurer]

The K&N filter could contribute, particularly if you cleaned and reoiled it recently. Excessive oil can be pulled past and contaminate the MAF sensor (different vehicle, but been there, have the t'shirt).

As also noted, fuel injector sticking open or electrically commanded open (e.g. the electrical issue).

Ignition-coil, plug, or ignition-circuit failure.

Either way, stopping and having it towed may have prevented damage to the catalytic converter, washing lubricant from the cylinder wall, or dilute the engine oil.

Will be very interested to hear what the dealer comes up with.

 

[TacoBirdinNW]

Update us if they give you any guff about that intake !

 

[kefferjoe]

Update: cylinder 3 fuel injector was leaking. Toyota will cover the cost. Right now they are just looking at replacing the injector. While looking around it seems some people have had anything from one injector to 4 injectors to a total engine replacement. So will see what happens with that by end of week

 

[BLtheP]

If the injector caused enough trouble to kill the truck, I would expect severe cylinder scoring. Will be interested to see what happens. Good to hear they're covering it.

 

[Will721]

I would assume since they are just replacing the injector they've already ran a compression test and everything came up green. But if they haven't yet, don't be surprised if it turns into a total replacement.

A side note, make sure you save paperwork from this service. The catalyst may have been damaged by all the extra fuel. Even if it doesn't kill it today, if you keep the truck long term it may definitely shorten it's lifespan. So if you own it outside of its warranty and it fails, it could make for an argument to cover it anyway.

 

[Reconsnake]

If the injector caused enough trouble to kill the truck, I would expect severe cylinder scoring. Will be interested to see what happens. Good to hear they're covering it.

Could ask them to borescope that cylinder, record video?

 

[kefferjoe]

They have bore scoped the cylinder (they saw injector dumping fuel in non stop) but when they scoped it, it sounds like the piston was almost at the top, so I have asked them to take a video of it. They will also do a compression test but they can only do that after they replace the injector. Sounds like they need to replace the injector prior to doing any more of an assessment on the condition of a motor.

on a side note this sounds like a fairly common problem, very alarming Toyota hasn’t issued a recall yet, but I expect that there may be one I. The future, especially if failure can cost Toyota a full engine replacement. I also filed a complaint with the NHTSA.

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