Sudden Engine Stall

Maintenance/Repairs
,
1

Bought this car new and really haven’t had any major issues until the last month. It’s a 2003, six-speed, inline 4, 1.8L engine.

When I came to a stop, the engine just died and would not restart until I let it “rest” for a couple of minutes. It restarted and ran fine.

This same thing happened again a week or so later.

Then, just yesterday, I was doing about 65 on the interstate and the engine died, tach dropped to 0, but I didn’t lose power steering or brakes. I was coasting for a few seconds and the engine came back. When I slowed down to pull into a parking garage, it died but I was coasting enough to pop the clutch and it restarted for a moment allowing me to almost get into a parking stall. As I slowed to get into the stall it died completely and had to be pushed into the stall.

I left it there for a few hours. When I got back, it started and ran fine.

I feel this is just the beginning of some problem with the electronic control module/unit.

Anyone else have this experience?

Thanks in advance

2

Toyota Matrix, 1.8L 4 - Cylinder, 6 -Speed, “Bought New”

Model - Year ?

CSA

3

Stalled in gear at 65 mph? Did not lose power steering or brakes? Not possible. However, I think you may have 2 problems:

  1. Your tachometer is malfunctioning and you thought your engine stalled at speed.
  2. Your engine (when the car was stopped) is not idling properly.

Check engine light on? Codes? Mileage?

4

Oh, on the Matrix … I should have mentioned that it has an “immobilizer” installed. In the past, when the battery got weak on the keychain unit, I would experience a similar situation. All was fine once a new battery was installed.

So, I found my backup keychain unit, that has never been used, put a new battery in it and am now waiting to see if that might have been the problem.