Weird toyota problem

king_of_inismac

Hey guys,

I drive a 94 corolla 1.3 petrol. It has about 215000 miles on the clock, but I normally dont have any problem with it.

I service it very regularly myself, oil, plugs, oil and air filter etc.

I've had to replace bushings, and drop links due to the high milage, but the engine is normally solid as a rock. until...

The engine seems lately to be cutting out at low revs. Like if I'm driving on an open road its fine, but when I'm stuck in traffic it just cuts out. It restarts very easily, so thats not the problem.

I'm thinking its the alternator cos this morning I was sitting in traffic and saw the ignition lights come on (as if it was about to cut out) I switched off the lights and the car didnt cut out. I dont think its the battery cos I replaced it last year.

What do you guys think?

Thanks
Martin

crosstownk

Check to see if you have 'pre heat' pipe which draughts warm air into the intake. If this pipe is torn/damaged then there may not be too much cold air getting in which could be causing the engine to cut out. There is also a valve that controls the amount of warm air. It's basically an automatic version of the "summer/winter" setting that used to be on much older cars.

AMurphy

This one is carburettor or fuel inj with or without vacuum Adv/Retard type distributor?.

How is the timing on it, as well as the Cap and Rotor.
From what I have seen on some of these olcer Corolla, the distributor Adv/Retard vacuum component on these leaks, that will cause air leaks and poor timing. most cheap garages simply unplug the vac hoses, plug them and reset the dist to some good position. However this is not a great idea long term.
the Vac part is unfortunately €80 the last time I checked, but deas simple to exchange.

So check that lot first.

king_of_inismac

Ok, update on the problem.

I was sitting in the car this morning. hadn't the ignition even switched on. just turned the keys to put on the radio (i.e. engine completely off). Then after a few minutes the power died and the radio went off.

I know everyone here will say its the battery that's dead, but I replaced the battery only last year.

Maybe it's the alternator thats not recharging the battery properly, or could it be the battery leads?

Thanks for the help so far!

Audioslaven

Why dont you call into any decent garage. They have an applicance that tests the charge and your battery as far as i know

king_of_inismac

ah yes, but I'm an engineer by profession, so I'd like to figure it out myself.

Gonna get a multimeter from work to test if the battery is charging properly, and that the alternator is ok.

Still if anyone else has any suggestions, Id appreciate the help!

kluivert

It comes like the throttle body is dirty from the carbon deposits. This means that dirt builds up around the intake and stops the correct amount of air being taken in by the engine.

You said stuck in traffic and the bells started to ring. How is the throttle response. To clean the throttle body get some carb cleaner and clean it out, making sure no carbon depoists gets pushed into the intake.

This happens on the Astra as well - its a common problem with the EGR value. Replacing the value seems to cure the problem.

amg-slurp

Earths? battery connections? Battery?!
If all else fails im selling a 1.3efi engine!! 4E-FE

AMurphy

king_of_inismac wrote:

Ok, update on the problem.

I was sitting in the car this morning. hadn't the ignition even switched on. just turned the keys to put on the radio (i.e. engine completely off). Then after a few minutes the power died and the radio went off.

I know everyone here will say its the battery that's dead, but I replaced the battery only last year.

Maybe it's the alternator thats not recharging the battery properly, or could it be the battery leads?

Thanks for the help so far!

So how did you start it after this event? or did you?.

king_of_inismac

It started fine afterwards.

Yesterday, I cleaned the trottle body, and cleaned the refixed the battery terminal.

It seems to be going fine now. Probably just a bad connection!

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated!