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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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.