Corolla has a Miss

[blue95yota]

I have a 1995 Corolla DX 1.8L. While driving it home last week it died immediately. My dad checked the fire it it had none. He suggested the coil was the problem. I bought a coil, put it on, and it fired right up. However, it continues to miss. I replaced the sparkplugs and the plug wires. It still did the same thing. Then, I replaced the distributor cap and found the older one had small spider cracks inside. I drove it around thinking the problem was solved after 10-15 miles, then it started missing again. The miss is unpredictable, it comes and goes. I drive 10 miles to work this morning with no miss. Then on the way home it jerks like crazy. Does anyone know what the problem may be? Thanks.

[Bitter]

Bosch Platinum spark plugs?

[blue95yota]

Nah, AC Delco 5 plugs.

[Bitter]

flaky injector? Is one plug getting fouled out black or is one staying cleaner?

[blue95yota]

That sounds interesting about the injector. It comes and goes as well as my gas mileage suffering. I've ran fuel treatment through it in the last two tanks. I'll check out the plugs when I have some time. I just wonder if it might be the distributor itself maybe having corrosion or a short? Thanks.

[Danny289]

You are in right track.
check the fuel pump connection in addition to injectors. Maybe it comes short sometimes when the engine is warm. Also posible problem with your alternator... please upgrade the information. It is interesting to know what is the problem
Good luck

[blue95yota]

danny 289,

I wanted to post a reply if you or anyone else was interested in what the problem was. I initially replaced the corolla's oem ignition coil with a brand new aftermarket one. It started but ran rough (misfiring) inconsistently. It was over my head, so I took it to a shop. My mechanic took the coil back, got another one (brand new), and it missed even worse. It turned out that he had a used oem coil off of a wrecked corolla in his salvage yard. He put it on and the car is more efficient and powerful than ever. Go figure. I guess some aftermarket coils have certain compatibility problems (brand new out of the box) with some models, oem was better in this case.

[speedy25]

Originally Posted by blue95yota

I guess some aftermarket coils have certain compatibility problems

Nope its not compatibility, its because it s JUST PLAIN JUNK!

Poor quality parts in the aftermarket is rampant and its gets more difficult all the time to get anything that actually works. We expect a new part to be functional, but that isnt always the case.

BUYER BEWARE. Check what you get CAREFULLY to make sure its OK to install.

-SP

[Piloter]

Does it only do it when the car is beyond a certain engine temperature? I'm troubleshooting much the same issue over in my P1300 thread and have pretty definitively traced it down to a ignition control module...but that's with a specific error code, repeated symptoms manifesting after heat-soak, and with an OBD-2 vehicle so YMMV.

That and I won't know if that solves the problem until it gets here on Thursday...

[blue95yota]

The car would seem to miss after it had be driven for a while (10+ miles) at normal temperature mostly, but not always. It didn't throw any codes (the check engine light never came on). This made it harder to pinpoint. Maybe this helps you.