1990 Corolla hard starting

[mrb1962]

We have a 1990 Corolla that is hard to start in the mornings. (or anytime it has sat for serveral hours, cold weather is not a factor..yet) It requires cranking the engine for about 5 seconds, short pause, another 5 seconds, pause, then it starts the third cranking and runs fine. (after starting its followed by a low idle and rough run for several seconds, giving it some throttle smoothes it out and rpms go up to normal idle) After driving it either a short time or long time and shutting engine off long enough for a grocery shopping run (or even longer) the car starts up fine on the first try.
Question is where do I start the troubleshooting procedure? It sounds like a fuel problem of some sort to my best "guess". Thanks in advance.

[retiredat44]

FI or carb? try cleaning the throttle boday and choke with carb cleaner.. does the choke close when cold?

[tashirosgt]

The USA 1990's have fuel injection, don't they?
If you have a timing light with inductive pickup, use it to check that each sparkplug wire is firing when you are having a rough start. (I think the statistical odds favor an electrical problem.)

Pull the pllugs and see if you have moisture in the cylinders after the car has been sitting. (Also do routine checks like inspecting oil and coolant to see they aren't mixing due to a blown head gasket.)

If you think it's a fuel problem, learn the location of the cold start injector since that is where a "by the book" fuel pressure test is done. I haven't done much trouble shooting of that injector. I wonder it you can hear it click when it operates?

[REN69]

Either that or you have a cracked or lose distributor cap

On my Civic, a similar hard start problem seems to come from a bad main relay, I'd check the relays too.

[KevD]

This is the exact problem i have. Car starts fine all summer, but when the temp drops, this condition arrises. When the block heater is plugged in all nite, the car fires right up. I'm convinced it's something in the cold start components...

My plugs, wires, cap, rotor and timing belt are all brand new. There is no sign of leaking and/or mixing of coolant or oil.

HELP! Winter's coming!!!!!

[Roxas]

You know, I had the same problem in my GT-S. After having several people/places troubleshoot it, it turned out to be the "cold start injector."
It's this small little piece that sits on the throttle assembly. I pretty much did everything that everyone else did/suggested from cleaning the injector heads to cleaning/replacing the sparks. Prices range from $159-179 for the injector, but it's a simple install. I'll have pics when I have time, possibly tomorrow.

Do you also experience a slight decrease in power, as if your car's hesitating when you push on the gas? The injector somehow helps continual feed of gas into the throttle assembly, or so I'm told by my shop...

Oh yeah, I'm a noobie. Name's Fred. I joined a while back but kept forgetting about it. I'd drop in every once in a while, but rarely had the time to "peruse," so to speak. Yippee!