Stalls after 30minutes - 93 corolla

[kruze]

Hey whats up everybody?

Ok so heres the problem: I start the car, everything is copacetic. After about 30minutes of driving the car shuts off with no warning. I need to let it sit for a bit before i can restart it. I brought it to autozone and the guy told me it may be an "electronic module" in the distributor. Has this happened to anyone? I just want to be sure before i spend 200 on a new one.

My engine is the 16v 1.8L model. Thanks!! Oh and it has roughly 140-150k on it.


kruze

[karazy]

It sounds like a coil problem. A small crack expands and shorts the spark when warm and contracts when cool, which allows it to work again.

[94_Rolla_Guy]

also look at the ignition module

[thespud]

Originally Posted by 94_Rolla_Guy

also look at the ignition module

Thats what the guy was talking about the 'Electric module'. My Fiance Just had this go on her Ford. It's a fairly common problem..

[kruze]

Thanks to all that helped. I bought the module from autozone for cheap. I bought a new cap as well. And bam everything worked fine. My car doesnt die like it did after 30minz of running. Thanks again guys!!! Stilling running past 150k miles, no problem now!

[Kermit T. Frog]

I've got a 93 with a little less mileage doing the same thing. What exactly did you replace?

I've already replaced the ignition coil, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, & fuel filter. These all needed doing and were fairly cheap.

Don't feel like spending a whole lot doing the trial and error routine, things are tight here in the swamp.

Thanks,

Kermit

[kruze]

I told the guy at autozone I wanted the ignition module. It was cheap. The expensive thing was the friggen cap, which was like 20-30bucks. But the module was cheap. And my car runs like it did before.

And I changed the fuel filter in the beginning of the year so I knew it wasnt that. So check out the ignition module. It worked for me.

[diver9000]

Originally Posted by kruze

I told the guy at autozone I wanted the ignition module. It was cheap. The expensive thing was the friggen cap, which was like 20-30bucks. But the module was cheap. And my car runs like it did before.

And I changed the fuel filter in the beginning of the year so I knew it wasnt that. So check out the ignition module. It worked for me.

$20.00-$30.00 is not expensive for engine parts.

[kruze]

Originally Posted by diver9000

$20.00-$30.00 is not expensive for engine parts.

dude this is in comparison to a 5 dollar module. that's what i meant.

[Kermit T. Frog]

Well, I got the car back from the dealer on Thursday (was on a time constraint, and I was sick of fixing this friggin' thing) after I paid the obligatory $500 ransom.

So, I went down to Pop's shop on the week end to fix an oil leak (the ransom was enough to get me interested in working on the car myself). On the way home, she died, in a way characteristic to running out of gas. After a little road side diagnostics, I came to the conclusion that it's ignition related: No Spark. Pretty smart, eh? No tools at all and I don't get paid $100 an hour like those know-it-all Toyota Garage Mechanic$. I let it sit a while and eventually it restarted and got me back to the swamp. I also had my brother-in-law, Shreck, following me just in case.

So I called up the Dealer$hip this morning to let them know what I thought of their $500 repair that left me stranded. They told me from here on in that the troubleshooting would be free (no idea what that means, they surely will be making another foray into my bank account). They told me that they may have to replace the distributor!!! "F.O.!!" was my response, doesn't anybody know how to fix anything anymore?!?

Kruze:
I went to the local auto parts retailer yesterday. The only ignition related part in the $5 range was some sort of capacitor that they listed under the P/N of WA11. this sound like the part?

Keep you posted,

Kermie

[Kermit T. Frog]

Okay, so there's a broken wire somewhere in the wiring harness. Dealer is 99.99% sure that's the culprit and he can make the thing stall at will.

Now, he wants to replace it with a new harne$$ at a cost of $1329 and change plus $700 in labour, all plus applicable. I start laughing, and inform him that I can source a harness cheaper than that with the added bonus that it will have a car attached to it!!

So I ask him about plan B, because with his help I now have a car that instead of stalling only when it's hot, it stalls everytime it goes over a bump!! He said they could continue to tear into the harness, looking for the break, at a cost of $100 per hour. I said could you not pull out a wiring diagram, figure out which wire it is, where it connects and then splice a new wire in next to it? He found my approach intriguing, then said that it would not be a 100% fix. I informed him that with 4 bald tires, rust spots, and an oil leak that it was not a 100% car!!

So a splice it is (I hope).

Fun, fun, fun!!