93 1.6 no start fixed

[Ernie Davis]

I have a 93 1.6 110k miles, died on the way home. First time ever stalled on me and would crank over but would not start. Had it towed home and did the following analysis. First shot it with starting fluid (I know that's bad), to see if it could be a fuel deliver problem. Still wouldn't start. Then pulled the valve cover to make sure the timing belt didn't break. It was fine and still tight. Then pulled a spark plug wire and plug, grounded to metal and found a orange weak spark. Performed an Ohm test on the coil and tested okay, but pick-up igniter, and registered open in all test. Order new distributor off of e-bay, got the wrong one at first, then installed the correct one and the little car started. But then noticed bad hesitation on medium to hard pedal push. Messed with turning the distributor to see if timing was off, did have a little effect, but still too bad to trust driving. Then checked the spark again with a spark tester and found plug 4 wire was arcing. So ordered new plugs and plug wires, installed and now hesitation is about 85% gone. I still noticed it sometimes, but I feel it is drivable now. So one last thing is to borrow or buy a timing light and make sure the timing is where it is suppose to be. But as my son says, only so much you can do on a 93 Corolla, with a $70 distributor from e-bay.

 

[Ernie Davis]

Had friend of my son bring over a timing light. Had the timing set perfect at 0 degrees. Only problem needs to be 10 degrees, move the distributor clockwise 1~1.5mm and heard the timing pick-up and now the little car has her pep back. Keeping my fingers crossed that the ebay distributor holds up.