Starts No problem, but if it cuts out its out for the count

[ptl]

Hi, Im a complete beginner when it comes to cars but im getting to know my way around them now, Ive a 95 corolla saloon 1.4 and cant afford a new car cause im a poor student

OK so it starts no problem at all, never gives trouble but if its been running for more then 10 minutes or so and (me being a learner driver and living in Ireland with manuals) its bound to cut out cause of my error not the cars but then all i get is cranking and cranking with no ignition. It can take up to 20 minutes before it starts again

Ok so when it cuts out i try turning the key and i get the cranking and i give it a little bit of gas and after trying that 20 times or so after 5 seconds into the cranking i get very slow ignition even if i have my foot full on the acelerator but it builds up and after another 5 seconds it just takes off and revs like it should and makes everyone look around at the edgit learner driver haha BUT if i took my foot off the acelerator there it would just go straight down to dead it wouldnt tick over!!!! and next time i turn the key it would just crank again .... so once i get it going ive to get into first gear at around 3-5 thousand revs haha

And you can feel for the next 30second or more the car is just trying its best to die , if i took my foot off the acelerator before the 30 seconds it would die straight away

after 2-3 minutes when its stalled and cranking the smell of gas is definitly there, it could knock you out.

Also in the last few weeks building up to this starting the central locking started playing up and when ever you would press the drivers side down it would just pop straight back up and bring all the others up with it, if you held it down it would just constantly try to pop back up and down about twice a second for as long as you hold it down, so unscrewed the central locking thing on the door so now its just dangling so it doesnt try to press it down, but now the passenger side is starting to do the same trick ... i duno is that connected and an electronic thing or just the car telling me it wants to retire, theres 100km on the car

I got a full service done on it and its still happening so im going to check to see if im getting full sparks on them all (going to do a search on the forum to find out how haha) so if theres anything else you guys think of can you put a little explaination of how to do it aswell. Thanks to everyone for there time in advance.

[woodenhead72]

You might check your muffler and catalytic converter for blockage. I had something similar happen on a 85 tercel, the car had been sitting and a rat made a nest in the muffler. it would start just fine, but once it warmed up, it wouldnt restart for about 20 minutes.

[thespud]

The running issue sounds like a blocked muffler.

The door lock issue sounds like either your actuator (The bit that makes it move) or a sticky switch. Is your drivers door a master? ie: when you lock the Drivers door, the rest lock? Is the passenger the same? If not, check the switch in the centre console. If this is stuck on unlock, then it will have the problems you are talking about...

[ptl]

Sorry about the delay in getting back about this topic, it still does the problem, everytime you cut out or stop it after 10-15 mins of running it just wont start again

How do i check the muffler and catalyic converter? im sorry for asking probably obvious questions but im new to this and dont have the money to just hand it to the mechanic to play around with my money .... once i find the problem then he can fix it if its a difficult one like changing the fuel filter etc

As for is the front door a master , yes the driver and passenger doors are masters, the back doors just lock themselves and lock when ever the front ones are locked ... i disconnected the drivers door one and now the passengers is playing up

[tashirosgt]

I assume an Irish ''95 Corolla has fuel injection, so don't pump he accelerator before or during starting. My USA '90 doesn't start well (or sometimes at all) if I do that. But I get in the habit of doing it from driving my '89 which is carbuerated. In fact, try starting without depressing the accelerator pedal.

You ask a good question - how to check for a blocked muffler or converter? Having more time to spend on cars that a poor student, I would be inclined to take them off the car and try to blow air through them. Taking off a stock muffler is not too hard. I haven't tried taking off the converter. I don't think it would be a good idea to blow air the reverse way up the tailpipe to test the flow since you could blow debris into the engine.

Before you tackle muffler testing, you might want to try some simple things. On my '90, I have had a similar problem, but I don't know what fixed it. I changed the gas tank cap and cleaned the battery cables and terminals the problem went away. There was another thread recently about a cracked ignition coil causing a problem when the engine got warm.

[woodenhead72]

Originally Posted by ptl

How do i check the muffler and catalyic converter? im sorry for asking probably obvious questions but im new to this and dont have the money to just hand it to the mechanic to play around with my money .... once i find the problem then he can fix it if its a difficult one like changing the fuel filter etc

It really depends on if you have the money to replace the muffler(about $100) and/or catalytic converter(about $300). Basically what it sounds like to me, is that once it warms up, the exhaust isnt flowing properly, so it backs up in either the muffler or catalytic converter, causing it to not start if the car dies or gets turned off, until the exhaust fumes dissipate. On my issue, i just got under the car and poked holes in the front of the muffler, and it ran fine, which led me to replacing the muffler, which is when i found the rats nest. As the muffler is cheaper to replace then the catalytic converter i would suggest starting there. If you have a friend that can weld good, i would suggest just cutting the muffler off, testing the car, and if it fixes it, replace the muffler, if it doesnt, have your friend weld the muffler back on. You could technically do the same with the converter, its just not as easy to get to. The plus with the converter is it should have a mount plate in the front, which means you dont have to cut it off.

[94_Rolla_Guy]

saying you smell fuel... i would let it run until it dies then check for spark, might be an ignitor assembly or a coil ?

[ptl]

Hey, i ran the car on a 10 minute journey and then go out and felt the exhaust for the level and pressure of smoke coming out onto my hand then got him to turn it off and turn it back on ... it started fine the first time ..felt a slight bit of pressure for the 1 - 1.5 seconds of cranking it takes to start most cars and then the big push when it fires up ...

so i got him to turn it off and then back on and it just cranked the first 1-2 times for 5-6 seconds before he stoped then started but during the crank i could feel a lighter pressure of air just like i did on the normal start ups, i couldnt tell any difference in pressure on the start ups.

And yes its the irish/jap model so it is fuel injected but the times it does fire up if i take my foot off the trottle withing the first 20 seconds it will just cut to deadness ... sure the times it fires up sometimes it only quater starts up and i have to keep the revs really high, like ven if my foot was all the way to the floor it would only quater mumble then suddenly it just all fires and then the noise of putting your foot all the way in on the trottle deafens everyone around and makes everyone look... most not knowing i have car troubles and think im a little boy racer reving the feck out of the car for no reason at the lights hahaha

I think everythings pointing to the ignitor or the distibutor so im going to look into changing the ignitor etc.

Stupid question time ... is there a difference between a distributor and a distributor cap?

[ptl]

actually now that the car has got to a stage where its reliably going to fail how do i test for a spark and how do i test the ignitor or the distributor ... any handy tips :P ?? or links to any post that would explain it cause i dont mind reading 20 post to figure it out i just duno is it the same for every car or what.

I just learned how to test the radiator and its not that... learned the basics aswell like changing the spark plugs and definitly not faulty spark plugs

[tashirosgt]

The old fashion way to test for spark is to pull a wire off of one sparkplug. Have someone start the car while you hold the end of the wire near the block and see if a spark arcs from the wire to the block. Test each wire. For cars with fancy computers this is probably not a good idea, but our age corollas are not too sophisticated.

The way I prefer to check for spark is to use an extra sparkplug. (Don't remove a plug to use for this and let gas shoot out of the cylinder, get a fifth plug.) Pull a wire off one spark plug and put it on the fifth plug. Attach the plug to someplace in the engine compartment so its threaded metal sides are grounded. Start the engine and see if a spark arcs arcoss the tip of the plug. You can see this test better when it is dark.

A hasty check for spark can be one with a timing light that clips on the spark plug wires. Just see if the light blinks. (This dosen't completely rule out a short near the plug, however.)

When you pull one plug wire, your engine wil be starting on 3 cylinders and should sound rough. See if this sounds like your car sounds when your are having trouble starting it. Even if the problem is not spark, it may be that 1 cylinder misses.