need help with a 90' corolla - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Standard4BangerGuy · 12-26-2010, 11:11 PM

its a standard 5 spd. ever since i jumped my friends vehicle my car has started dying on me and i cant figure out what it might be. some people have told me it might be my computer or my fuel pump or even my timing chain...just wondering if someone on here knows more about it than them. any help will be appreciated greatly

***REN69*** · 12-26-2010, 11:53 PM

like dying what? no power(electrical) at all?? stalling??

check your battery connections, if you boosted someone and you messed around with them, chances are you losened them up. I did this before and had to re-tighten them and worked fine.

90 GP · 12-27-2010, 08:52 AM

Get your charging system /battery checked for free at Advance/Autozone. If you got your polarity reversed during the jump your alternator or a fuse( in relay box and large fuse holder on batt positive cable) could have taken a hit. Get the charging system checked first to rule it out especially if you had no problems with car before the jump start.

eage8 · 12-27-2010, 09:58 AM

+1 I would take off your battery cables and clean them and the terminals and see if that helped.

Did you do anything wrong after the jump? (hook it up backwards) Older cars like this are usually fine if you connect them battery to battery... (even though you're not supposed to)

***REN69*** · 12-27-2010, 01:23 PM

yeah if the battery was older and by chance you hooked it on backwards or even touch the cables, this could finally bust it... same goes for the alternator.

Standard4BangerGuy · 01-04-2011, 08:03 PM

ok i can be like in third gear and then my engine just stops and i cant start it afterwards, it just turns over for a few hours...if i let it sit for a few hours after it dies it will start up..and i didnt do anything after jumping my friends car...my friend just told me the other night that it sounds like my alternator so that can get thrown into the list of possibilities

***SCT*** · 01-04-2011, 08:11 PM

+1 for the Alternator. It's probably not charging up the battery, so once the battery goes dead, the alt is not giving any power to keep the car running. Could be an intermittent problem with it. Just get it tested first.

Donald · 01-05-2011, 06:16 PM

This might not be your problem, but I see an opportunity to share some information.

I can't swear for this, but I have been told that when you give someone a "jump start", turn your engine off or you run the risk of burning the diodes in your alternator.
I am not big on electrics/electronics so I am not sure of this, but supposedly the large power draw of the starter can cause what they call a soft failure of the diodes, where they don't fail completely, but over time the alternator life could be shortened.
It might fail tomorrow, or it could fail nine months later.

This is the recommended procedure:
Connect the cables, run your engine for a while to get some charge into the other battery.
Turn off your engine.
With the cables still connected, try starting the other car.