Suddenly Lost Power

January 30, 2008

Hey. I was driving home this evening on the highway at 70 mph. Speed limit. Its about 15 degF out. All the sudden the car started losing power. She started getting rough so I pulled over. By the way shes a 2001 Corolla. I checked the gas cap. Fine. Checked the oil, fine. No steam. No smoke. Just a sudden crap out. She started right back up after a couple of minutes. Really rough. Slapped on the hazards and limped the last 5 miles home. I don't have a clue. Any ideas. Would the car restart and run still if it threw the timing belt? It just lost power and steadily got worse. It would move kinda okay on level highway, but the hills, it just slowed way down.

January 30, 2008

Distributor or rotor arm.

Does it have coilpacks mate?

Do these corollas have ecus which flash error codes?

January 30, 2008

Distributor or rotor arm.
Does it have coilpacks mate?
Do these corollas have ecus which flash error codes?

Yes I have the individual ignition coils, $135 each! Wow! By the way, while limping home last nite the check engine lite was flashing and stopping. I tried to count the flashes ut I was driving on ice. I think I got up to 22-24 flashes. I wish I had a rotor and distriutor cap. :(

January 30, 2008

Well. I took it to the mechanic. Didn't have much choice. He ran diagnostic, and a blowby test. $125.00. He said #4 cylinder has a sticking valve. Probably from soot, carbon buildup. $2000.00 was his offer to fix that problem. Not happening. I guess I'm getting a head gasket set and going to work. Any suggestions? Can I clean up the valves and reuse? Or should I replace them. Or should I kill the bank book and have the head redone? :(

January 31, 2008

Well. I took it to the mechanic. Didn't have much choice. He ran diagnostic, and a blowby test. $125.00. He said #4 cylinder has a sticking valve. Probably from soot, carbon buildup. $2000.00 was his offer to fix that problem. Not happening. I guess I'm getting a head gasket set and going to work. Any suggestions? Can I clean up the valves and reuse? Or should I replace them. Or should I kill the bank book and have the head redone? :(

In case anyones curious I'll give you a breakdown of costs here in middle America. $150.00 for good condition complete head at salvage yard, $138.00 for complete Felpro head gasket set, $40 for new Iridium plugs, $35 to resurface head at localmachine shop. I got the salvage head because it had good guts in it. I have to get this car back on its feet asap. I would have had to order new valves and seals for new which would have cost more for one but would have taken at least 5 days shipping. ;)

February 10, 2008

Well, in case anyones interested. The jobs done. I now have a REALLY NICE set of tools. After several hours just getting down to where I could take off the head, there was a hole in a#4 exhaust valve large enough to stick a pencil in. I put the resurfaced head on with new valves and seals. The valve stem seals were bad too. I figured out I didn't need the expensive crank pulley holder either. I put a pipe wrench on the lip of the pulley and leaned it on the ground for support and used a monster breaker bar to get the bolt off. It didn't mar the pulley at all. You don't put the wrench around the pull, but, put the jaws at a 90deg angle to the pulley. Works great. Figured out it was a 12M 12 point wrench/socket to remove the head bolts. They cost $90 for tty bolts! Anyway....... :)