Problems & suggestions: low rpms, balancer wobble, white smo

[sarahps33]

Hi all, I've been trying to figure out what's going on with my Corolla. Hoping someone may have some insight or suggestions. It's a 94' 1.8 with 209,000 miles

Last week all of a sudden after an hr drive, my bf started it up at work and it ran terrible, engine shook, tailpipe shook and exhaust did a putt putt putt putt, horrible gas mileage (like almost whole tank for a 3 hour drive), poor acceleration, idled rough and low. With it running like this, he still had to drive it home about an hr and a half drive.
Then we replaced O2 sensor, sparkplugs & wires, and map sensor before driving it again.
All the noticable symptoms seemed to stop as soon as we replaced the sparkplug wires.
I drove it the next day for about 2 hours and it ran great.

5 days later:

It acted like I didn't want to start, cranked it normal time and it didn't start, cranked it again but for longer and it reluctantly started. I turned it off and started it back up a few times and each time it's a bit hesitant to start at first then it seems as it warms up, it's easier to start after that. There was a putt-putt from the exhaust for a couple minutes starting from cold then seemed to clear up for the most part.
The symptoms are mainly upon start up now but still has low idle rpms (750 once warmed up), thin on and off white exhaust.
I noticed a noise as well coming from the engine compartment and saw that the harmonic balancer is wobbling a little. We just replaced that this past November (didn't even need the puller as it fell right off once we got the bolt out.) (*I started it up today and noticed that this noise didn't really happen until the car was warmed up. And I don't know if I'm seeing things but the balancer didn't appear to be as wobbly until the car was warmed up as well.*)

So my brain is running over time, from him driving it home like that could it somehow cause damage to the harmonic balancer or the inside of the engine where it bolts on somehow? Could that cause any of the symptoms it's having? I read that a faulty crankshaft position sensor could cause some of these issues, could it be the sensor is reading wrong because of the wobbly balancer? Or is this unrelated altogether?

I'm going to check the torque on the balancer bolt today and make sure it's not running itself off and check for any signs of rubbing on the timing cover or damaged belt edges and try to figure out if any of that could be the source of the noise.

I also noticed what I think is the oil pressure sensor, sorta in line lower behind the alternator - the copper wire is exposed, rubber torn, and there's a lots of oil around there, i sometimes smell oil going downhill so think could be leak there. I don't know if that would contribute to any of these issues.

I know enough about vehicles to replace parts but I'm no mechanic, i try to learn about how things work but there's just so much! So I'm hoping someone can help me make sense of things. I've got a 6 hr drive coming up this Sunday, I'm starting to think I'll have to find another way besides this car.

Thanks so much

[DerekHa]

Hi Sarah,

Sorry to here about your proplems with your Corolla. Did own one going back quite a few years ago, a E90 1988 1.3 liftback I think.

Anyway only thing I can comment on is the fact your getting white smoke. White smoke is associated with water or condensation (black smoke would be related to too much fuel and black smoke is associated with oil being burnt).

At 200K plus miles it's quite possible there's a failed headgasket. If it's intermittent white smoke it may be that even though the head gasket is leaking coolant into the the cumbustion chamber(s) that it's a relatively small leak and you may get away with adding one of the better stop leak additives to the coolant. Water slowly seeping into the engine while the engine isn't running could cause the puttt putt misfire you describe on start up. Would think a check on the state/colour of the spark plugs might indicate which cylinder is affected.