Ook's issues with Corolla - crank but no start - RESOLVED

be surprising the amount of times its something stupidly simple like a loose battery terminal or ground strap thats not connected that fixes these weird issues.
 
UPDATE : Ordered a new coil last week @ Midas, they found one, but it took its sweet time to arrive yesterday afternoon.

Collected it this morning on my way to work (got a lift), and had to wait till this PM to install it.

Installed it, checked all cables etc, and the car started first crank.

Yippi, happy days are here again *does happy funky chicken dance*

Now I can proceed with long-overdue maintenance on the car, as well as get some other things done that's overdue.

Yay for wheels!
 
Oh, by the way. The distributor is partly mechanical, which means it uses a rotor arm.

The centre brush pin for the distributor cap was worn out, which means that there's a gap between it and the rotor arm, so the spark have to jump an extra distance.

Can this be the cause of messing up a coil?
 
The_Librarian said:
UPDATE : Ordered a new coil last week @ Midas, they found one, but it took its sweet time to arrive yesterday afternoon.

Collected it this morning on my way to work (got a lift), and had to wait till this PM to install it.

Installed it, checked all cables etc, and the car started first crank.

Yippi, happy days are here again *does happy funky chicken dance*

Now I can proceed with long-overdue maintenance on the car, as well as get some other things done that's overdue.

Yay for wheels!
Click to expand...

Money well spent! There are a lot of things we take for granted, particularly on older model cars. Fortunately they are mostly easy to replace.

The_Librarian said:
Oh, by the way. The distributor is partly mechanical, which means it uses a rotor arm.

The centre brush pin for the distributor cap was worn out, which means that there's a gap between it and the rotor arm, so the spark have to jump an extra distance.

Can this be the cause of messing up a coil?
Click to expand...

The distributor rotor is unlikely to have directly caused problems with the coil (more likely insulation breakdown), though the two problems together would make starting harder. Worth replacing if you can source the part. Plug leads too.
 
Gordon_R said:
The distributor rotor is unlikely to have directly caused problems with the coil (more likely insulation breakdown), though the two problems together would make starting harder. Worth replacing if you can source the part. Plug leads too.
Click to expand...
That is next on the list. I absolutely need to do this.
 
Not to be funny. But.

When we left for the December holiday, we left the car at a friend of ours.

When I dismantled the distributor, I found that there were a lot of scratch marks on the coil body next to the one hole which you put a bolt in to fasten it to the distributor. Like somebody struggled to loosen a bolt in order to remove the coil.

I know I did not scratch anything on the coil. Was a straightforward replacement without struggling to fasten the bolts.

My suspicion is that somebody exchanged my good coil for their faulty coil during my absence, as we started to get engine misfire issues straightaway after collecting the car when we returned from the Eastern Cape.

Cannot prove anything, but the suspicion is there.

Bought new coolant pipes this morning. There is a cold start feature, but it runs off the coolant - if coolant is cold, valve is closed, richer mixture. When coolant is hot, valve is open, normal mixture (or so it's supposed to work).

I have figured out the layout of the pipes, can just remove the blobs of silicone I've put in to seal these, and can get that part up to a working standard.

Will leave a bit earlier today to go to Senna to get the distributor cap, leads and see if they have a compartment fan - the original one have no brushes left, and the commutator is damaged. And also a driver door window winder mechanism.

Overdue maintenance which got deferred time and again.
 
The_Librarian said:
Not to be funny. But.

When we left for the December holiday, we left the car at a friend of ours.

When I dismantled the distributor, I found that there were a lot of scratch marks on the coil body next to the one hole which you put a bolt in to fasten it to the distributor. Like somebody struggled to loosen a bolt in order to remove the coil.

I know I did not scratch anything on the coil. Was a straightforward replacement without struggling to fasten the bolts.

My suspicion is that somebody exchanged my good coil for their faulty coil during my absence, as we started to get engine misfire issues straightaway after collecting the car when we returned from the Eastern Cape.

Cannot prove anything, but the suspicion is there.

Bought new coolant pipes this morning. There is a cold start feature, but it runs off the coolant - if coolant is cold, valve is closed, richer mixture. When coolant is hot, valve is open, normal mixture (or so it's supposed to work).

I have figured out the layout of the pipes, can just remove the blobs of silicone I've put in to seal these, and can get that part up to a working standard.

Will leave a bit earlier today to go to Senna to get the distributor cap, leads and see if they have a compartment fan - the original one have no brushes left, and the commutator is damaged. And also a driver door window winder mechanism.

Overdue maintenance which got deferred time and again.
Click to expand...
Excellent news on the fix.

What does this do to the BMW purchase - still going ahead?
 
UrBaN963 said:
Excellent news on the fix.

What does this do to the BMW purchase - still going ahead?
Click to expand...
Decided to drop the BMW purchase as motorcycles in this area tend to go walkabouts late at night and never come back. Too risky, and put us at risk as well from ne'er-do-wells...
 
Went to Senna's this PM. Got everything except the distributor cap and rear left door handle. These will be available for collection on Moanday PM.

Any place which can refurbish 12v motors (the interior fan)? If not, then I'll try to refurbish it myself. Going to be fun, and a learning experience.
 
The_Librarian said:
Why would a vehicle chow coils?

I'm starting to experience the same issue, coil is on its way out.

This cannot be a batch of faulty coils?
Click to expand...
When one goes the rest are usually close behind. You don't have to but good mechanics will recommend replacing all of them at the same time, not just the faulty one.
 
The_Librarian said:
Why would a vehicle chow coils?

I'm starting to experience the same issue, coil is on its way out.

This cannot be a batch of faulty coils?
Click to expand...

Yeah unfortunately you generally replace all coils, not just one at a time...

Had to do so on an A3 in the family a while ago... 1 coil went so there was a weird misfire at times, replaced just that coil and all was dandy for about 3 days before a new misfire started happening. Replaced all coils and the car was purrfect till we flogged it a few months later.
Still see it around town, and the guy is happy as larry with his purchase, car hasn't given him a days trouble in the few years he's owned it.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Yeah unfortunately you generally replace all coils, not just one at a time...

Had to do so on an A3 in the family a while ago... 1 coil went so there was a weird misfire at times, replaced just that coil and all was dandy for about 3 days before a new misfire started happening. Replaced all coils and the car was purrfect till we flogged it a few months later.
Click to expand...
Car only have one coil, but I can see what you mean.
 
The_Librarian said:
Car only have one coil, but I can see what you mean.
Click to expand...

Hmmm ok, then different engine style... so ignore my post, but yeah you have something in the electrics that are making the coil work harder than it should so its failing faster than it should.

BUT you bought it recently, so get it back to MIDAS and tell them dud coil, gimme new one.
 
Had a similar issue back in the day on a toyota corolla, was the crankshaft sensor.
 
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