Car is not turning over

[rbryanpena]

My car accellerates extremely slow barely getting to 25 MPH with the pedal down and the exhaust sound like a train. My engine light was on for cyl 4 misifire and the o2 sensor (bank 1 sensor 1). Since then, I have replaced the o2 sensor, spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap with ignition rotor. I have been using the best gas I can get with sea foam or lucas. The car would drive very slow in 1st with the gas all the way down. This continued through the gears just using tons of gas spitting out black gray smoke with alot of bogging sputter. I was going to continue working on it today because I am still having the same issues, however the car will not turn over. The battery is brand new and the starter is about 3 years old now. I am not sure what to do because now I cannot get it to start correctly, any advice???

1997 Corolla 1.6L Manual Trans.

[07corollaDave]

im not saying its this but i had the same problem with my thunderbird and it turned out to be a really bad clogged cat (stop up in your exhaust) the engine cant breath and as it gets worst you can possibly damage your engine im just saying its possable

[rbryanpena]

Originally Posted by 07corollaDave

im not saying its this but i had the same problem with my thunderbird and it turned out to be a really bad clogged cat (stop up in your exhaust) the engine cant breath and as it gets worst you can possibly damage your engine im just saying its possable

Hmmmm....what does one do to clear the clog or how did you go about fixing your tbird??

[07corollaDave]

all i did was take it off and gut it but its easier to do it on that car cus the cat is close to the end you can stick a skinny bar in there and mash it apart but i advise you to put a new one on just in case muffler shops are cheap enough to do that but you dont know for sure if its that try and figure it have some one diagnose it for you

[cipher93]

OBDII should throw a code if it's anything to do with the car. It could be your timing is way off; has it always done this, or just started recently? Have you made sure you're getting a good spark? If the spark is really weak, it could be due to your ignition coil or distributor going out. What did the old spark plugs look like? You could possibly have internal mechanical issues too.

[Piloter]

Timing belt could've stretched/jumped a tooth if it's really old. Make sure you use NGK or Denso plugs, our Corollas really really hate Boschs (to the point where a new properly gapped set ran worse than a 90,000 mile set of shot NGKs). How's the fuel pressure at the rail? Could be a clogged fuel filter or pump that's going out.

[sam333]

I would check your fuel pressure regulator ( it sounds like its not just running rich , but flooding). If your cat is not damaged/ clogged allready, this will do it.

[rbryanpena]

Thank you everyone for the input. It turns out like Sam333 had mentioned that my gas was too rich which would not cause it to start. I had been using Lucas at each fill up about 4 oz. on 93 premium, then I had switched to about 8 oz of seafoam. After many many cranks I was able to get the vehicle to stay on. I am able to get the vehicle past 25 MPH now, however its still very sluggish from start in 1st thru 3rd. At this point I am just trying to burn through all of the gas. I did however change the sparkplugs again from autolights and NKG due to tons of carbon on the AL’s. I will look at the timing belt as piloter explained next, thank you all again

[Piloter]

Originally Posted by rbryanpena

I had been using Lucas at each fill up about 4 oz. on 93 premium,

Running 93 octane in our low-compression motors will do nothing but drain your wallet and create ungodly amounts of carbon buildup. Fill with 87 only and throw some Techron in there if you need a good additive to help clean out the crap. At this point you could do a lot worse than Seafoaming your intake, that'll help burn out the crap that stuff in the fuel system will never reach. Do a search on here, there's a lot of good information. If Seafoam doesn't do it for you, you can do the same thing with steam-distilled water (obviously very carefully as well!) which basically flash-boils to steam on hitting the combustion chamber and helps blast carbon deposits off/out. You'll want to change your plugs after Seafoaming and change your oil, but it should make a difference. Alternatively look up information on piston soaks, basically you put a measured amount of Berryman's B12 or GM's Top Engine Cleaner or faithful-old-Seafoam down into the combustion chamber (spark plugs removed) and let it sit overnight. In the morning, pull the fuel injector relays in the fusebox and--with towels over the plug wells!--crank until all the fluid is out. Then put the plugs and relay back in and start the car, starting will be a lot harder than usual that first time but it'll again help clean things.