Please diagnose this random stoppage

[Ballatician]

What happened: Driving along, slow down for a car turning, when I hit the gas again...nothing. I tried a few more times, luckily nobody was behind me even though it was rush hour. I pulled over (going on a slight decline), braked and took the key out. Tried turning it on again and luckily it turned on.

2000 Toyota Camry, 115k miles, automatic never had problems before, do oil changes etc on time

Context: Helping my sister with her move out west and decided to take care of her car stuff. This happened AS I left the smog check place where. First time I ever had a smog check done but the only thing the guy mentioned was that my ABS brake light would be on since the car had been on two wheels for a time. I think he did a couple acceleration tests with a lot of engaging and releasing the parking brake during.

I was also planning on getting her oil changed so she would be all set but now I am a bit worried since this has never happened before. I guess I can bring it up when I get the oil changed but I was hoping someone could tell me if this was related to the smog test or something else like the battery? Hopefully nothing serious but if so, I want to get it taken care of quickly.

Appreciate any advice.

 

[BassBomb]

transmission?

did it even rev when you hit the gas? my old civic tranmission started losing gears and then lost ability to grab any gear... press the gas and engine would rev up but not pick up gear, in some cases if it had the gear and needed to change to next one it wouldn't change and would be stuck in limbo

 

[Demon-Xanth]

If it didn't even rev, the throttle cable might've come off or broke.

 

[PricklyPete]

Unintended lack of acceleration? I kid.

As DX said, did the engine rev...or did the car just sit there as if you were putting no input in at all?

 

[kornphlake]

ECU brain fart. I've had it happen once or twice with different vehicles. They just fritz out then after a shutdown/restart everything seems fine. Did you get a check engine light before turning off the engine?

It could be a fuel pump going bad, I've had the bearings bind up but a stop and restart puts enough shock into the bearing to get it to spin again for a while. It's tough to diagnose with the amount of info given though. I don't know what state the smog check was done in, I believe in some states the smog check involves moving some vacuum lines and installing an inline sensor for the test. It's possible the line wasn't correctly reinstalled or it was old and brittle and cracked when it was moved. A vacuum leak can cause stalling at idle.

 

[LTC8K6]

Very hard to diagnose a single in flght engine shutdown.

 

[Ballatician]

It didn't rev. I pressed the accelerator and got no response. I think the car was still on though because I tried turning the key and that did nothing. After putting it in park, taking the key out and turning it back on, everything was normal.

No check engine light and the smog test was in CA. I hope some of that info helps..

Thanks for the responses so far. I'm trying to find a place to take it to on Monday as the dealership couldnt' keep my appointment. I also will go back and ask the smog check guy if this is something he has seen before.

If the throttle cable came off would it still start normally next time?
Fuel pump is worrying.
As its CA, I don't know if they do any inline sensor or vacuum stuff. I'll look into it.

I know its hard to diagnose like this but appreciate the tries!

 

[Demon-Xanth]

It would start, but the throttle would still do nothing.

 

[Vette73]

Could be just a brain fart from the traction control system if the smog place made the ABS light come on. When you went around the corner the system could have over reacted and just cut power. *Wild guess*

If it happens again disconnect the negative terminal of the battery. Wait 2minutes and then reconnect. Try driving after that.