Lately, I have been having problems with my 98 corolla.
When you accelerate hard, the engine sputters and hesitates for a little while and then suddenly it lurches the car forward. Sometimes the car crawls until the engine finally kicks in.
This is very annoying specially when trying to cross a busy intersection. I have also noticed that at certain speeds (30 or 40 mph) the car feels like is dragging something. This usually happens when I am behind a slow moving vehicle and I must maintain a low speed. At higher speeds, the engine runs fine.
Last Sunday I had a hard time while driving home. The car lost power and it would not accelerate. Also when the car sputters sometimes you hear “muted firecrackers” coming from the engine.
Recently I replaced the spark plug (with original ones from Toyota), wires, the O2 sensor and got the fuel injectors cleaned. .I had to use non Toyota parts since the local Toyota dealer does not carry parts for U.S. Corollas. Transmission oil is about 10k miles old and engine oil is only about 100+ miles old.
What could be the things to check? As I said, the O2 sensor is aftermarket; could it be that it is not working fine with my car and causing all this.
not sure, it seems that its a problem with the engine. I f you accelerate the engine when it is in Park you see the same problem.
The engine seems to be having problems igniting the fuel. Sometimes (but ararely) you hear some detonations coming from the engine.
Its been cold and rainy the las few weeks here and the car runs worse when is damp, cold and mitsy outside. The other day I drove over water and the car started to have problems accelarating. I read somewhere that it can be a cracked coil. As I said before the sparkplug cables are aftermarket but they are just a couple of months old.
I'll add that I think that your problem is ignition related. I had a '90 Celica and after one of the spark plug changes I did on it I ran into very similar symptoms as yours. Turns out in my case that the spark plug wires being very old, the boots had cracked on just about every one when I pulled them off the old plugs or when I put them back on the new ones. The cracks just look like mild dry rot so I didn't suspect them to be the problem. But with the car in a dark garage and engine running, I could pull the boot top cover out of the way and see spark jumping to the head / valve cover. I replaced the wires/distributor cap with new Toyota brand, and never had the issue again.
I would not think your car's problem to be the exact same as mine, but I do suspect that something in your recent list of new parts (at least the ones that are not Toyota brand) is causing the problem. I commend you for replacing those parts, but somehow check their function. Or esle your problem may be like you were saying, a cracked or otherwise failing coil. That's not to say that non-Toyota brand parts are no good. It just seems to me that in this case, one of those parts is just not working well. And since you replaced ignition items, and my problem was an ingition issue, and my symptoms sounded very similar to yours, I suspect your new parts.
When I went through it with the Celica I was telling you about, many people told me that they suspected it had something to do with my recent spark plug change. I couldn't imagine how and thought they were smokin' ... but turns out they were right all along. I tend to think the problem with your car may not be very complicated, just a bit of a challenge to figure it out. Good luck.
Try using OEM / NGK wires. I had that problem a couple of weeks ago after a routine tune-up and it ended up that my wires were already old. I changed to NGK Blue wires and my motor is purring like a kitten now.
The spark plugs are new. I was having the same problem with the car so I took it to this particular shop when they told me that I needed to replace the air filter, O2 Sensor, Sparkplugs and clean the injector. Well I did all that and the problem remained. I did however replece the old sparkplugs with the same exact ones that toyota uses. (Ithose I bought at the Toyota dealership) But they did not have the sparkplug wires. (the engine in the corollas over here are different)
Well the shop never fixed the problem and I had to follow my instinct and decided to replace the wires. The wires that I bought are very similar to the original ones. Although these wires they mostly corrected the problem I still have problems sometimes when accelerating real hard and when driving in rain or cold weather.
i was thinking that it may be a crack in the ignition coil, or maybe the wire are not good enough and cant handle the load at high rpm.
Try looking at the motor (running) at night, or in a dark place, you might be able to find the problem.
I was driving home the other day, when I saw that guy I work with was slowing down, moving onto the shoulder, I pulled over, and noticed his coil wire was arcing to one of the brake lines.It was rainy out.
You could try spraying some water on the wire and distributer cap at night when the engine is running and see if you see any spark, then you should change them. If this only happens at a very specific throttle position it might be your throttle position sensor. I would also have the computer scanned for any stored codes.
had the same problem when i bought my 2000 corolla............engine would stall and check engine light on with P0171 i think etc..........would stall, hestitate
REPLACED MY MAF sensor and its fine......
its expensive.........$270.00 plus labour.............supposedly its a common problem.....along with the water pump and serpentine belt tensioner.....
Pull the codes from the ecu to see the code........I think this is the problem with your car judging from your description.
Mine felt too that it had a problem igniting the fuel mixture or something with the o2 sensor or fuel injectors.but it wasn't ...........it was the Mass Airflow Sensor....which regulates the mixing of air/fuel to satisfy the ignition......if that sensor goes your car will stall etc, lose power and so forth which is dangerous.
Yes, I replaced mine about a year ago and is starting to rattle all over again. Was this ever fixed?
Thanks for the tip. I think that the 99 model years does not have a MAF sensor. (I can be seriously wrong, but I think I read on my Haynes manual that only post-2000 engines have it.)
Anyway, my dad is travelling to the U.S. in a couple of weeks. I am going to tell him to get me original toyota sparkplug wires. I think that they might be the problem. (the ones in the car now were about $30 and are generic - Is hard to find quality parts here.
Hector... have you changed your fuel filter?? try that, maybe the fuel filter is clogged with dirt. My dad has the same problem with his Nissan Maxima.. it hesitates a lot.
The AutoGuide.com network consists of the largest network of enthusiast-owned enthusiast-operated automotive communities.
AutoGuide.com provides the latest car reviews, auto show coverage, new car prices, and automotive news. The AutoGuide network operates more than 100 automotive forums where our users consult peers for shopping information and advice, and share opinions as a community.
ToyotaNation.com is an independent Toyota/Lexus enthusiast website. ToyotaNation.com is not sponsored by or in any way affiliated with Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. The Toyota, Lexus and Scion names and logos are trademarks owned by Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.
Engine hesitates when accelerating hard
Linear Mode
