Bummer, I explored the whole ignition system in me 93 including plugs wires, coil, igniter and even a fresh ECU before I figured it was a blown HG and a very wet cylinder #2 that was keeping me from starting; have you double checked the cylinder/compression?

 

your coil is probably bad dude. Pull off the distributor cap and inspect the coil.

 

tedmich - I haven't checked compression, but it starts and runs when it's cooled down. Would it start like that if I didn't have compression?

Mister_Perkins - I've already replaced the coil and it didn't help.

 

your ignition coil is bad. open the distributor cover and look for crack ignition coil.

 

I've already replaced the coil and it didn't help.

 

a weak battery makes you wait to start up, but it doesn't usually die while going unless your alternator is bad too, maybe check both but the coolant is stable right? No white smoke or low level in radiator?

 

Radiator was low, but I've topped it off and it didn't help.

How do I test the alternator?

It seems that if the battery was low, that it wouldn't crank and crank when trying to start. Right?

 

A damaged battery could cause the engine to suddenly stall and all kinds of freaky stuff. Especially when things get warmed up. But if your immediately able to constantly crank the starter right after it dies then that theory is questionable. But I would just swap one out to see what happens.

 

my HG leak made my motor VERY hard to start, it required a fresh battery and then ran very rough. Check for coolant in cylinders, I used some very high quality paper tower rolled around a dowel and pushed it into the spark plug hole, actually used this to dry out cylinder so I could start up and drive to my work space where I pulled head and swapped HG. If its not HG you need to work your way through ignition system.

On the bright side, I had a new ignition system once I fixed the HG!

 

my 99 4 cyl camry stalled once at a stop sign. was able to restart and drove it home. i then decided to have it towed to the shop the next day (it won't start). the driver of the tow truck opened the hood and checked the battery posts and cables, gave the cables a wiggle then started the car. he said he used to be a car mecahinic for 10 years and seen a lot of these in old cars--corroded battery cable and loose connection. i replaced the cables and clean the battery posts and no more problem. thanks.

 

Check for codes:
http://www.frontiernet.net/~wily11/1984-1992-Corolla-Haynes_6-7.JPG
http://www.frontiernet.net/~wily11/1984-1992-Corolla-Haynes_6-8.JPG
http://www.frontiernet.net/~wily11/1984-1992-Corolla-Haynes_6-9.JPG

 

i hate to ask a painfully noob question (please dont take offense) - when you checked for spark when you pulled the plug, did you ground the plug when checking? it wont spark if not grounded. you wouldn't believe how many people dont realize this.

this sounds like a classic fuel pump issue, assuming this proves not to be a spark problem.

 

these can be useful, about $10 at JC Whitney

 

these can be useful, about $10 at JC Whitney

what does it do?

 

shows you approx how much volts the ignition system is producing by measuring the spark gap.