1997 Toyota Corolla 1

1997 Toyota Corolla
1.6L 4A-FE 196,000miles

Driving down the road the road the car start to shutter a little. Then about a mile down the road the car shook like to stall so I gave it gas and continued, but I could feel a little skipping in the motor. After about 1/2 mile more the car would stall when I would come to a stop, but if I stepped on the gas while stopped the car wouldn't stall unless I release the gas.

I pulled over and turn the car off. After about 5 minutes I started it up and it sounded like the car was off timing like it was struggling to start, but it cranked up and shook a little then the idle increased and stayed running. The minute I put it in Drive the car would stall. I cranked it up started the same way as previous, but it cranked and ran only to stall every time I put in gear (drive, reverse etc.). Got it home driving with my foot on the gas in neutral and then slipping in to drive, but no power what so ever. Took about a block before I could get to a speed of 30mph. When I finally got home I put the computer on it to check out what this issues where. P0300, P0301, P0302 and P0303 meaning 3 cylinders misfired. I don't know if its because I drove it 20 miles home it this condition.

Cleared the codes and started the engine, but tinkered with it a little so I got some false readings I guess, the codes that came out next referred to the TPS and IAT. Did some looking around checked the TPS my assumes reading (cause I don't have a FSM only the haines which I don't like to much is the following: the TPS for this car has 4 prongs when you remove the connector. KOhm testing the TPS I think its the top to bottom is VCC, VTA, IDL and E2. E2 being the neutral for this test. (E2 and VCC Closed and Open : 3.66kOhm), (E2 and VTA Open: 2.64kOhm | Closed: 0.68kOhm) Those readings looked okay. The one that confuses me is the E2 and IDL always reads 1 on my meter no matter kOhm or Ohms. Sprayed some cleaner in there and keep getting the same error, so I had to wait till the next day to check again.

TPS Error gone, but the misfires came back for cylinder 2 and 3. Cleared the code again and cranked the car and waited ti the error code comes on. Same error code misfires in 2 and 3. Pulled the plug cable out of cylinder 1 and the car stalled, cranked it up and pulled the cable out of #2, the car continued to run put it back in and pulled out #3 plug car continued to run, put it back in and pulled our #4 the car stalled. Cranked up the car again and pulled out #2 and #3 spark plug cable and the car shook like it was going to hesitate and the idel lowered, plugged it back in and the idel went back up. The other thing that I tried was to checking the fuel pump could not hear the pump pumping when I put the key and turn the car on without cranking (back in the old days you could hear the pump when you turned the key on with out cranking. Okay so I removed the fuel line to see if it had fuel then turned the key on and nothing, crank the car and gas did squirt out, so it looks like its working.

Next checked the resistance on the injectors all are the same then check the voltage come out of the cables looks good all the same, but couldn't tell it the injectors were clogged or not since the only way to do that was to remove the throttle body to get to the bolt that holds the railing. Didn't want to do that yet, but I swapped the cables for the injectors to see if there was an issue with voltage, same results when removing the power to the injects 2 and 3 really get no results what ever I do.

Wasn't able to do a compression test as I couldn't get the tool advance auto parts, Autozone and pepboys want you to buy it they don't offer it as a loner. So no testing that for now, but I'm thinking Blown Head Gasket or Burn Valve at this point, but before I start taking off the head, I am going to remove the throttle body so I can get at the screw to remove the fuel rail and check to see if the injectors are working.

If you have any other ideas I would appreciated it. Thanks