97 Geo Prizm 1.6 Problem - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

ben_g99 · 08-08-2005, 10:06 PM

I got a 97 Geo Prizm as a DD. It's a chevy car with a toyota motor, so who knows what it is! (1.6 4 Cyl)

Anywho, the car won't start when it's cold. It will crank, turn over, but won't start. After 10 minutes of cranking, it will start firing on one cylinder, then two, three and finally four. It's not getting spark when could, I bought a spark tester to verify this! Now it seems that after 15 minutes of cranking the car gets warm and it finally starts firing and I can get it started, but I just can't figure out why it's not firing when it's cold.

If I drive the car, let it sit for 6-8 hours during the day (it's been in the 90's here every day), I can get in it and it will fire right up most of the time. Every morning it will not.

So far I've replaced: CTS (coolant temperature sensor), wires, plugs, rotor cap, rotor, distributor, ECU (PCM), Oxygen sensor, fuel pump ... and I am sure some other stuff I am forgetting.

The only theory i have at this point is that the ECU does not know when to fire because maybe the Crank Angle Sensor is deffective, but when it warms up, it starts working ...

I don't know! Any clues are appreciated!

Cavi Mike · 08-08-2005, 11:31 PM

It's not a chevy car with a toyota motor. It's a Toyota Corolla with a Chevy badge stuck on it. No Geos were General Motors cars. The Metro was a Suzuki Swift, the Tracker is an Isuzu Amigo, the Storm was an Isuzu Impluse, and your Prism is a Toyota Corolla. It's called "brand-marketing," every one of the Big 3 does it. These cars just don't get all of the goodies that the real version does, but they get the reliability and the lower American price tag.

As far as your car not wanting to start, then starting when it's "warm" 99% positive you need new spark plug wires. Moisture is getting to the core and it needs to burn off before they can carry enough current to your plugs.

ben_g99 · 08-09-2005, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cavi Mike

It's not a chevy car with a toyota motor. It's a Toyota Corolla with a Chevy badge stuck on it. No Geos were General Motors cars. The Metro was a Suzuki Swift, the Tracker is an Isuzu Amigo, the Storm was an Isuzu Impluse, and your Prism is a Toyota Corolla. It's called "brand-marketing," every one of the Big 3 does it. These cars just don't get all of the goodies that the real version does, but they get the reliability and the lower American price tag.

As far as your car not wanting to start, then starting when it's "warm" 99% positive you need new spark plug wires. Moisture is getting to the core and it needs to burn off before they can carry enough current to your plugs.

Thanks for clearing that up! I didn't know all of that!

Anywho, i've already replaced the plug wires, though! That's not it! I am running out of ideas and I've replaced so many things ...

Anyone else have any ideas?

thespud · 08-09-2005, 08:20 AM

The '97's have an internal coil, yeh? If not, try replacing the coil and ignitor. If it does, replacing the dizzy should do the same thing, but you've already done that.

Other than that, i dunno, maybe the starter relay is shot?

ben_g99 · 08-09-2005, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thespud

Other than that, i dunno, maybe the starter relay is shot?

If the starter relay is shot, would the car even crank?

Whatever is faulty starts working either after a certain period of time (15 minutes of cranking) or after the engine gets to a certain temperature.

Since I've replaced the Coolant Temp. sensor, are there any other sensor that could tell the ECU/PCM temperatures that would effect fuel or spark delivery?