Any car mechanics out there?

1994 celica GT. 138k miles

the 1st thing that went bad after I bought it, was the TPS. I 1st bought one online and had a friend change it for me, who apparently had no idea what he was doing because this TPS broke again. So i just said **** it and took it to the toyota stealearship and had them do it with an original part.

I thought my car was fine but the following thing kept happening:

would be driving the car fine, then RPS gauge will start going crazy going up and down, car would kinda "choke" then stale. it would not crack back up. not even with battery cables. after letting it cool off it would start again fine and drive fine.

I changed spark plugs and cables. put a new battery on it, changed the timing belt and the drive belt.

Car was fine for a couple of weeks and then bam again same thing. car would be driving fine, then the RPM thingy will go up and down, car will shut down. I figured out if I kept giving it gas I would stop it from stalling, but it would be driving like total ****, just not staling, i figured this out cus I was tired of being broke down on the road so I wouldnt let the car stale until I was somewhere I could park.

I researched a bit, and changed the ignition module. again car was fine for a couple of days, and bam same **** fucking happens.

so to me its seems car drives fine, then somehow something gets hot, car shuts down, then it cools off and works again. sometimes it will work for days, sometimes it will die on me next day. I want to clarify the temp gauge never gets hot or the car never overheats. its seems something electrical

WHAT ELSE CAN I REPLACE? WHAT ELSE CAN I DO? I ALREADY PUT 1000+ DOLLARS ON PARTS AND LABOR? IM CONTEMPLATING SETTING IT ON FIRE LOL JK BUT I AM DESPERATE HELP ME PLEASE

btw I took it again to the toyota dealership out of desperation ! and I asked them to test the electrical wires and stuff for a bad ground or something, then i go to pick up the car and the mothers f'ers told me they found nothing wrong with it, that they ran it for 2 hours with no problems!..then im driving the car home from the dealership and bam, **** happens again! im so sad/depressed/stressed/aggravated

No quiero soñar mil veces las mismas cosas

MassHysteria United States. June 26 2012 12:11. Posts 2188

Profile #

Should have gone Korean.

edit: about guy below me. The car runs on an OBD1 chip so if you do have the check engine light, you don't need the scanner to figure out and read the codes if you want to look up how and do it yourself.

Last edit: 2012-06-26 12:32:17

At exactly what point do you start to realize that life without knowledge is death in disguise.

bigwig123 June 26 2012 12:20. Posts 162

Profile Blog #

sounds like a fuel problem like a bad injector. Is your check engine light on? If so take it to autozone or something like it and they usually check it for free

edit: its alot easier for him to take it to autozone and have them read it then him learning how to jump the codes

Last edit: 2012-06-26 12:53:41

TheFish7 United States. June 26 2012 14:32. Posts 1205

Profile #

My friend had a similar issue, for him it was the fuel pump. He had to go to 2 different places before they found the problem.

lastprobeALIVE United States. June 26 2012 15:26. Posts 932

Profile Blog #

hmmm... i wouldnt think it is the fuel pump because your car won't start period. it shouldnt just die when you're driving. does your RPM go up and down when your driving or when it's idling? cus if it's idling then it could be an idle sensor.

another thing is maybe your alternator is bad. on my ford my truck would have to be jumped, and if i turned my headlights on it would immediately die. that was after i just bought a new battery. i changed the alternator and bam it was good.

EDIT: if it was your fuel pump u can do a simple test by turning the key to ACC and u should be able to hear a humming noise coming from the gas tank. no hum = bad fuel pump

and i would have turned around to go back the dealership and give them hell saying it just happened to you lol

Last edit: 2012-06-26 15:34:00

when in doubt DT out

lastprobeALIVE United States. June 26 2012 15:35. Posts 932

Profile Blog #

shit all these cars with all new electronics, people love them but honestly they can fuck up your car. and it's so hard to find what the electrical problem is because you gotta figure out how to trace it too the source.

edit again: did you check your coolant? my girls intrepid drove like shit and had the same symptoms when the coolant was bone dry. she ended up having a leak and i fixed it. then the water pump went out, and i fixed that too lol

Last edit: 2012-06-26 15:47:56

when in doubt DT out

mAKiTO Colombia. June 26 2012 20:46. Posts 3702

Profile Blog #

no. no check engine light on. yes the rps start going crazy before it stals like going up and down and not idle-ling right like going under 1 then jumping to 2 etc.

its a 94 it doesnt have the thing for the codes. it was to be done manually. but again no check engine light on

No quiero soñar mil veces las mismas cosas

bigwig123 June 27 2012 05:06. Posts 162

Profile Blog #

check your injectors and fuel pump its one of the two most likely injectors

mAKiTO Colombia. October 15 2012 07:13. Posts 3702

Profile Blog #

so just because people have PM and asked me if it ever got fixed.

I had to change the alternator, worked for a while then same fucking problem kept happening.

Until this cuban mechanic looked at it saw the fuel pump was malfunctioning but took it out tested it, it was fine.
the real problem was the ECM computer was bad, did not give enough electricity to fuel pump then fuel pump would not work right.

searched for a new ecm computer, they dont make it anymore for my car lol fml. finally found one out of a junk yard in Cali, had it shipped here, changed it and car has been running like a champ now! problem solved!.

now it has so many new parts lol I hope it runs forever!

No quiero soñar mil veces las mismas cosas

MountainDewJunkie United States. October 15 2012 07:24. Posts 9308

Profile Blog #

I'm glad to hear that worked out! A lot of us know what it's like to be dealt a lemon