1995 almost constant jerking and "hiccuping" - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

tgc · 09-29-2010, 06:38 PM

Been to 3 different mechanics and they are all stumped. One mechanic even got with the head Toyota mechanic here in town.

At first it was occasional but now it's almost constant jerking and hiccuping. When trying to accelerate it jerks as well.

The entire fuel system has been ruled out as well as distributor rotors, cap, all hoses, valves. The rotors were replaced and spark plugs and wires. Not entirely sure about the EGR valve though. The throttle bottle sensor was also changed out. Nothing fixes this problem.

All diagnostics point to ignition but everything that has been tried fails.

Last night while turning it completely died and all lights came on. It normally does NOT do this. It started back up just fine though and has not died anymore. However the horrible jerking and hiccuping continue.

The most recent mechanic said the only thing left is the distributor. However, he really didn't seem to think that was the problem in the beginning.

Any ideas before we try this?

We are trying to get this car working right for our 16 yr old son.

Bitter · 09-29-2010, 06:45 PM

could be a weak coil, need to determine if its a spark misfire (lack of) or fuel misfire (lack of or too much).

year? miles? engine/trans?

tgc · 09-29-2010, 07:04 PM

1995, approx. 167,000 miles, automatic, 1.8 liter engine

The coil was changed. Couldn't find anything with the electrical. Fuel volume at idle was checked and it was perfect. Fuel volume on load was perfect. Spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, coil, throttle body sensor all replaced.

There was oil in #1 and #3 cylinder when the plugs were pulled. The mechanic replaced the valve cover gasket. Could it still be the EGR valve possibly?

John19 · 09-29-2010, 10:33 PM

It wouldn't hurt to take out the EGR and clean it, and put it back on. I had similar problem.

speedy25 · 09-30-2010, 03:20 PM

EGR is not at fault.

I would look for badly connected wires to distibutor/ignition/ecu to start and then replace the distributor. If you poke around on here there are some instances where the pickup coil came apart.

-SP