Strange, intermittent starting issue (1997 corolla)

[swaffles]

First off, I drive a 1997 Corolla CE, 1.8L. I'll try to explain this as clearly as possible...

I have had it for two years, and it's worked perfectly. I got it with 108k miles, I've since put on about 24 k miles. I've always gotten the oil changed, I have had the fuel injection system cleaned. It's practically in mint condition except for a small power steering pressure hose leak, which I need to get some sealer for.

Anyway, in the past two years, it has sometimes had an issue starting. It would start immediately, and sometimes when it would start, the engine would be very weak and stall out, and the acceleration would sputter and die out when I tried to move. Then, just a few minutes later, after leaving it off for a bit, it would work perfectly when I tried again to run it.

Last week, one day when I walked out to use it for the first time that day, it would do that again. Barely start, and stall out and what not. Then 20 minutes later, it would work perfectly, and I used it all day and it was fine. The next day, I couldn't start it at all...but then I went back out another half hour later, and BAM, it worked perfectly again. The next day, I couldn't start it...it did start later, again, but I had to work on it for about an hour. I just kept trying and trying. Let me be clear here that each time, after the first start of that day, it would continue working for the rest of the day, perfectly. Also, each time, the lights would always work, and it always turned over. It just didn't spark.

So that same day, I took it to my trusted Mechanic. I went back a few days later after talking to him on the phone. He inspected it up and down, and even replaced some components (I cannot remember what he did). He said he couldn't fix it, and he could not start it. I tried to start it with him, and we had no luck. He couldn't find anything wrong with it, and because he couldn't fix it, he even didn't charge me. He said it was probably some sort of electrical issue.

I had it towed to a shop that had more know how with more complex problems. It sat there for a week. Went back today to pick up the car, as I talked to the man on the phone and he told me that when they tried to start it, it started right up...I phoned my mechanic and told him that (since he couldn't fix it, he was genuinely curious as to what was wrong with it), and his response was "HOLY S$%T!". So I took it today and used it, and it worked fine. No issues starting at all today, and like I said, the man at the second place I took it to said he couldn't find anything wrong with it and that it started up right away.

So I guess I'm just wondering...anyone have any ideas what could be causing this and why it's so intermittent?

[swaffles]

Update: second day in a row where the car has started up fine. It worked perfectly as of today.


Could this have been an issue with the fuel quality?