93 Camry sputtering & shutting off

[Owner_of_2_Camrys]

I have a 1993 Camry LE with 162K miles on it. A few days ago, my car died at the last stoplight on my way home from work. It would continuously crank, but wouldn't fire. Had to get some help to push the car 1 block to my place.

My mechanic friend re-adjusted the timing/timing belt in order for it start up again. But then ANOTHER issue came up. This time the car sputters & dies during idle and while test driving. Needless to say, it's not a pleasant experience with cranky California drivers all around you.

This past weekend, I:
-replaced the spark plugs
-replaced the fuel filter
-cleaned out the throttle body with B12 (seems to have helped with the sputtering during idling)
-got a new air duct for the throttle body since there was some tearing on the old air duct
-added B12 fuel injector cleaner into my gas tank
-checked resistance of the ignition coil and it matched up to the ohms range listed in the Haynes manual.

I have no idea where else to look. Anyone out there with any other ideas?

[93celicaconv]

How does your tachometer look when the engine is sputtering? Is it very erratic? If so, you likely have a bad igniter. If not, your coil may have good resistance when not running, but in operation, it may be arcing internally causing these problems. So I would still not dismiss the coil. You may have spark plug wires that are going bad or arching to the metal spark plug tubes. Just a few things to consider.

[Owner_of_2_Camrys]

The nightmare is over!!!

Yesterday, I opened up the distributor to re-test the Ignition Coil. Ignition Coil tested fine like before. As I was putting the distributor back together, I accidently cracked the plastic part of the Ignition Rotor. Thank god it was only a $4 piece at Autozone. It seemed like there was a world's difference in the size of the copper(?) on the new IR compared to the old IR.

(Note: I also did a little more cleaning on the throttle body and cleaned up the 4 mini-poles in the distributor cap too. But it wasn't anything to major.)

Car started up fine, idled fine, didn't sputter at all and drove fine. It drives like a beast now with all those new upgrades. It's a 4-cylinder, but it sure as hell felt like a V6 out there on the test drive!!!

All the new parts, cleaners & labor support from my mechanic friend set me back about $150. Hope this helps someone out there...I know how frustrating the process can be.

Most people depend on skill, while other people like me have to depend on pure dumb luck.

[toovira]

Good to hear. I was going to suggest cleaning the Idle Air Control valve and check its function.....or at least resistance. It's located right under the throttle body.