Distributor? Your Help Appreciated.

[Poppy]

Hello, I have a 1991, J reg, Carina ll auto, 2 litre. It has developed a habit of cutting out - *not* misfiring - when the engine is warm and when stationary or slowing down. There is often a click after it cuts out and often it is difficult to restart for a couple of minutes after this happens.

I have no idea whether it's related - I'm afraid I'm a member of The World's Worst Mechanics Club - but it is also blowing some white smoke.

Any help much appreciated.

Kind regards

Neil C

[insener]

i have a similar problem with my 4a-fe on 1997 corolla Si. driving me nuts this thing.. at some quite a warm temperature it dies out and then when starting, starts and dies out right away. wait for 2-10 minutes and runs like a charm again. ok, and now i know the fault. it's a typical problem on many toyotas, some magnetical sensor in the distributor, measures the angle or sth. there. it would be all nice thing, but the damn thing is not replaceable. toyota representative suggests me to order a whole new distributor, about $1500 us dollars.

[Poppy]

i have a similar problem with my 4a-fe on 1997 corolla Si. driving me nuts this thing.. at some quite a warm temperature it dies out and then when starting, starts and dies out right away. wait for 2-10 minutes and runs like a charm again. ok, and now i know the fault. it's a typical problem on many toyotas, some magnetical sensor in the distributor, measures the angle or sth. there. it would be all nice thing, but the damn thing is not replaceable. toyota representative suggests me to order a whole new distributor, about $1500 us dollars.

←

Yes, the only suggestion I've had so far is a new distributor - rather less for me, £400 plus - as the faulty component is apparently not sold separately. One would like to be certain that this is the problem before buying! I did enquire about a used distributor and came up with one I found online for £60ish, so guess that *might* be a more reasonable solution if one could fix it!

[Mick24]

It's normally the Ignitor in the Distributor that packs up - as you've found out,the best way is one from a breakers. You need to make sure that the Auto choke mechanism is coming off when the engine has warmed up as this can cause similar cutting out/stalling problems.

The White smoke might be signs of the head gasket failing,Blue smoke - oil burning/bore wear,Black smoke - Over fueling.

[insener]

what do you mean with "ignitor"? there is rotor, few sensors, coil, condensator...?

[1995 Toyota Carina E GTi 177Bhp]

my carina did something like this but was not as bad, open the distribuor cap, and if there is lime and all stuff in it, your car isint getting the right spark, i just cleaned mine out and she went perfect.

[aclearn]

Any flash codes?