Car not starting

Tiny
NEWUNIT18
  • MEMBER
  • 1995 TOYOTA COROLLA
  • 1.8L
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 237,000 MILES
The other day while driving my car around the block, I stopped at a stop sign. As it shifted back down to idle it began to sputter out and eventually shut off. I cranked it a bunch and eventually got it restarted by pumping the gas pedal. Got it back home, parked, and it continued to run just fine for the time being. Turned it off and back on a few times and it started after some effort each time. I noticed that when gradually applying gas smoothly, it would accelerate smoothly, but if I gave it a lot of gas quickly it would begin sputtering rough until RPMs were pretty high then it would run smoothly again. I left it for the time being and went to bed.

On waking up the next day, I discovered it would no longer even start. Had a buddy look at it, he suggested the fuel pump should be priming and that it was not. Started troubleshooting at this point.

Checked the relays by swapping them out with known working relays, they all seem to be good. Checked fuses, fuses seem good as well including the fuses in the kick panel. Jumped the FP and B+ ports in the diagnostic jumper array and the pump engages just fine when I turn the key on. On removing the jumper, it does not prime or engage. I read someone on a Toyota forum suggest that some Toyotas don't engage the pump to prime when the key is turned over, but I don't know if this is true or not.

I tried starting the car with the pump engaged just to see if I could get it to start even for a second with the pump manually switched on, but it would not start. Tested farthest spark plug wire from the distributor for spark using a spare plug, and it is getting spark. I haven't checked the others yet.

Checked for trouble codes by manually jumping the Te1 and E1 in the diagnostic panel, no codes. I haven't used a reader yet but will tomorrow.

Checked the belts I could see but they all appear to be in good condition, I'll look at them further tomorrow. I can't get to the timing belt right now so I guess it could be the timing belt but I'm not sure if there's an easy way to check it.

Measured the fuel injector resistance and it's reading 13.6-13.8 ohm, which appears to be within range for these cars.

Also note that we attempted to start it with ether to no avail as a last resort. It did not start, even for a fraction of a second. Just turned over and over.

Any ideas?

Happy new year!
Saturday, January 1st, 2022 AT 4:51 PM

4 Replies

Tiny
NEWUNIT18
  • MEMBER
  • 7 POSTS
Cracked the fuel rail and it had fuel under pressure. It almost started after a buddy of mine tried ether again, seemed like at least one cylinder fired but then refused to start any more.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Sunday, January 2nd, 2022 AT 3:36 PM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Just to be sure we are on the same page, the vehicle was driving fine, it started to sputter and then stalled. Then you were able to get it started again and it has not started since?

If this is the case, then we need to start by confirming there are no codes using a scanner.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/checking-a-service-engine-soon-or-check-engine-light-on-or-flashing

Then we can move on from fuel at this point and we will come back if needed.

Let's confirm spark and then compression as you need these as well to get the engine started.

Let's pull a spark plug and hold it against the block and crank the engine to see if there is a bright blue spark.

If not, we can chase this. However, if there is we need to check the compression because we may have a timing issue.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-engine-compression

Please run through this and let us know what you find.

Thanks
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Sunday, January 2nd, 2022 AT 5:40 PM
Tiny
NEWUNIT18
  • MEMBER
  • 7 POSTS
We have an OBD2 that I'll hook up a bit later. I know the rail has fuel but that's about it for the time being.

We tested one ignition coil for spark, and it was good as far as I could tell, battery was wearing down, so I didn't keep turning it over to find out if it sparked reliably though.

Thanks for your help again lol I'll update you.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Monday, January 3rd, 2022 AT 9:37 AM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Okay. That is a good thing that it has fuel at the rail but it may not be high enough pressure so we should check it.

Thanks for letting us know and let us know what you find.

Thanks
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Tuesday, January 4th, 2022 AT 2:39 PM

Please login or register to post a reply.

Sponsored links