Toyota - Corolla :: 1997 - Rough Idle / Stalling Noises While Stuck In Stop And Go Traffic
Oct 29, 2013
I have a 1997 Corolla with 150k miles.
I had my catalytic converter and flex pipe replaced this summer. Lately, my car has been idling rough. While stuck in some horrific stop and go traffic three weeks ago, it started to make noises as if it would stall out. It didn't, but it still sometimes makes those noises.
The car seems fine on the highway. No loss of power. I did think that the hood felt too warm on a recent trip, but the temperature gauge in the car showed no issue.
The car hesitated when I tried to start it last week, but normally starts fine. It was the first cold day of the year.
I saw some white smoke come out of the tailpipe last week. It only happened once. Coolant and oil levels are fine. The spark plugs look good.
The fill pipe has been leaking gas for several months. It leaks if the tank is more than half full and it drips a bit of gas when I fill up. Two mechanics have not been able to find the leak and have told me not to replace it until it is a problem, given the age of my car.
I took it to a mechanic today (not the one who replaced the cat). He told me that the rough idling is due to the new flex pipe being shorter than what was originally there. He assured me that the car is fine to drive long distances and that there was nothing wrong with it. There's no check engine light or anything on the dash to indicate a problem.
I should be relieved, but I'm not. I've lost confidence in my car. Can the stalling noises and rough idling be explained away by a changed exhaust system? Or are these signs of a problem about to happen?
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Had a tune-up and a mechanic also looked at the accelerator pedalfor some reason, but no report regarding the fuel injection or regulatory components which I suppose should have signaled an issue when the computer diagnostic was run if I am to understand the mechanic's position.
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I've noticed that in the past week or so, whenever I'm stuck in traffic for a few minutes, the engine temp will slowly rise. it gets really bad if traffic is crawling; the temp has reached that 2nd highest line before the red area.
Whenever I get going again and hit the gas, the temp drops. What it is?
Car is currently at 86k miles. I don't believe the water pump has been replaced yet.
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I'm having issues with my 2004 Toyota Corolla with 118K. Every few weeks, the car will go through a phase where it will stall out, run rough and hesitate on acceleration. Oftentimes it is accompanied with the rotten egg smell coming from the catalytic converter. When I decelerate to a stop light, the car will stall. When I start it back up, I have to rev the engine to 2000 rpm in neutral to keep it from re-stalling. Once I get up to about 10-15 mph, the car will jerk and sputter, and at 40mph, the jerking motion gets worse. If the car doesn't stall it'll run rough and have the rotten egg smell. I'm assuming the smell is from unburnt gas.
I find it happens more often when I don't let the car warm up for a few minutes. I've taken it to my mechanic, and i've gone through 2 MAF sensors, cleaned the throttle body. I changed the iridium plugs at 102K and am on top of maintenance with filters, oil and such. Of course when I bring it to the mechanic, the problems don't show up, and we are kinda blind to what could be causing the issue. Also, if I park it for a day or two after the issue occurs, the problems go away. What to look for?
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My vehicle has started to idle very rough, stuttering and almost dies at stop lights. It hesitates when accelerating, and really shakes and rattles if the AC is turned on. The check engine light and EPC lights are on. And even letting the foot off the brake in drive causes it to jerk along. I am up around 65k miles and have not had too many issues other than a fuel pump getting replaced last year. (the dealer first started replacing and charging me for many other items) I am scared to go back without trying to trouble shoot it myself.
What it could be and if there is anything I can try to correct it myself?
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I have a 1997 Toyota 4Runner SR5, 6 cylinder with 188,000 miles. I love my car, it's treated me well over the years. About 2 months ago it started stalling at stop lights, etc. Basically, any time I came to a stop and it was idling while in gear. I start it right back up and when my foot's on the gas, it doesn't stall. After 10 times or so I learned that if I took it out of gear the RPMs went up a little and it didn't stall. About 2 weeks later the "check engine" like went on so I figured, now it's time to take it somewhere. So I took it to a mechanic that I've been to before and trusted (here in San Francisco) and he said, "oh.. it's probably just an idle adjustment" so I think, great, no big deal.
After a few days he said wasn't the idle and that after testing he found that all 6 cylinders were randomly misfiring. So he needed to change the spark plugs cause they were down to a bare nub. I figured, ok, it's about time anyway. He said it could also be the ignitor?, he didn't sound 100% positive, but told me there's probably something wrong with it since it's pretty old too and that's all he could think of. So he changed all 6 spark plugs and the ingintor and the engine light was still on. It was stalling less frequently, but still randomly stalling.
He then said he was going to have his Toyota specialist friend look at it. His friend couldn't figure out what was wrong either. Then he sent to to the Toyota dealer, they checked everything they could think of, but couldn't diagnose the real cause either. Apparently they even checked the "Dynamic Balancer"? I'm not even sure my car has one of those. They might as well have told me it needed a new agonculator (totally made up word) for all I knew. So they had my car for 3 weeks and finally I said, enough is enough, these guys can't figure it out. After 3 weeks of hearing how much money they spent on other people to figure out it, I finally said, let's stop the bleeding. The car still runs and doesn't stall that much. The last thing they tried was 2 series of a fuel injection flush (decarbonize)? So they did that with not a whole lot of improvement. They also managed to run all the gas out of my car and by the time I picked it up, the fuel light was on and I took it immediately to a gas station. No joke, they burned about 1/2 tank of gas and didn't refill it.
After 3 weeks and $1000, they come up with "we don't know what's wrong, but use Premium gas and it might fix itself". In the end they told me they were down to only one misfire, cylider #4. Also, the "check engine" light is still on. Since I've gotten it back it hasn't stalled, so there's an improvement. But I'm no closer to figuring out what's wrong that's keeping the check engine light on. Needless to say, I'm not taking it back to these guys.
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I have a 2001 Toyota celica GT auto. It has 120k miles. I seem to have an issue that really is not causing a problem except for annoyance. After coming to a stop the car seems to exhibit the signs of stalling (car idles rough, shakes a bit) however the car never stalls. Once I start driving all is well. Now I took it to the dealer and they replaced the Idle Air Control Valve which is under the throttle body. They said it was getting stuck and due to the higher mileage possible. It was replaced and the problem is still there. The funny thing is even though the car exhibits these stalling symptoms the idle does not drop below 500 rpm (both dealer and I have verified this).
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My Tacoma makes very loud roaring and whistling noises mostly when I am idle and the brake is engaged while the clutch is depressed. Sometimes, she'll rear and balk continuously --- even more loudly --- depending on the outside temperature and her level of activity. I need to get her fixed, but live in the New York City area and am a broke graduate student terrified of getting ripped off. Do you think it's just belts? My transmission (sometimes I can feel the noise in my gear shifter)?
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2004 Trailblazer 6cy. 2WD - has been experiencing a very rough idle, engine shudders - no matter how long it's been warmed up. Wants to stall off red lights and at very low speeds. Not throwing any lights yet - but the speedo is out ( a cam shift typical problem for this car) so I don't trust the console for lights. Worse when the heat or air is on. Rides fine with more gas/higher speeds. Definitely worse in colder temps but continues even after 40-50 mins of driving. I've heard a number of things, but can't afford to fix them all. I've heard plugs, dirty throttle camshaft, sensors, cam actuator solenoid, etc. All seem to have people who said it fixed and didn't fix the issue. Worried I'm going to stall pulling off a stop and rear end someone any day now. Where do I start!?
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2 questions regarding our 2001 F150 Supercrew. My 2 questions are:
My 2001 Ford F150 Supercrew (5.4L, 230,000 miles)has the check engine light on with the code reader telling me that it is the P0174. The truck would run rough when cold (usually in the mornings) and sometimes it would get close to stalling out when coming to a stop light. So we would quickly put it in park and give it some gas to rev it up a bit. After the truck gets warmed up, it runs great with no hint of the rough idle. Since this all started I have changed out the PCV valve and replaced the PCV hose (including the elbow). I have also replaced the Idle Air Control unit but that didn't really make a difference.
We then experienced a cylinder #4 misfire which we resolved by changing out the cop with a new Motorcraft unit. The misfire went away but we still had the problem of running rough at idle to the point of stalling out at stops when the engine is cold. A few weeks ago we cleaned the MAF sensor and that seemed to work. The truck doesn't run as rough now (when cold) at stop-lights, but occasionally it will still have the loping idle. We cleared the check engine code and it stayed off for about a week before returning.
I don't know what else to check other than trying to see if there is some type of vacuum leak, but I don't have access to a smoke machine nor would I know how or where to hook one up. Removing and cleaning the throttle body would work? What could be causing the trouble, or what I should do to further isolate or troubleshoot the problem? I saw a you-tube video on the F150 intake manifold gasket possibly being the problem and although I hope that isn't the trouble with my truck, if it is then I will have to deal with it. We need the truck to get to work and the car is now due for a registration renewal, but we can't get a California smog certificate with the check engine light on.
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I have a 2000 Corolla with about 147,000 miles. At idle it runs very rough, but can accelerate up to about 50 mph. Then it starts to cough and wheeze and run roughly again and won't accelerate any further. It feels like the engine will shake itself off its mounts, so I slow down and stay under 50 mph. I replaced spark plugs and a repair place hooked it up to a computer. They then told me it needed about 1800 dollars worth of repairs to replace the valve cam I think they said. I'm skeptical and wonder if it just needs a tune up, . It has not had one since I bought it at 128,000 miles, and II don't know how long it had been prior to that.
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So I've got a 2000 1.8T with an automatic trans that doesn't seem to want to stay on. The car was initially stalling out after getting up to temperature in stop and go traffic but now it's having problems all the time. It doesn't want to start and the only time it wants to run is if I'm on the highway. If I slow down below 20mph the car will stall out, if I go to start it the rpms will drop and it will stutter and stall out if I can get it started.
I've already replaced the diverter valve along with dropping in a K&N filter. I'm not sure what else it could be. I'd like to change out the N75 valve but I'm not sure where its located on this car.
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I have a 1996 Chevy Cavalier, which I purchased used Two years ago, and lately I've been having a problem with it. I live in the area where Temps rub pretty high here. Recently, with three digit weather, my car stalls when I'm in stop and go traffic. I would have to turn off the car and restart it. The car temp gauge in car doesn't show the car overheating. What is the possible cause of the car stalling?
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Basically when the car is in D and when i am stopped with the brakes pressed on at a stop sign or a red light, the car starts vibrating and i can see the the rpm going down and then receiving back up and going down again something when the car is in R. its a 2009 toyota corolla le 90k miles. when the headlights are on, the rpm stays high so the car does not vibrate or anything. other than this the car runs perfectly fine.
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My exhaust system was replaced on my 2005 Corolla in August. After driving it for just a few days, there was a shaking when the car idled. The mechanic replaced two engine mounts and the idle was much worse! He said it was ok to drive, so I started on my planned trip across the country. In Denver I took it to a mechanic at the Toyota dealer and they adjusted the throttle. It was better for a while, maybe a week and 1,000 miles. Now it is worse than ever! Having gotten two totally different causes from mechanics, I am not sure what to do next.
Also just before the exhaust sytem went, I had the 60,000 mile service done and had the car totally checked out by both Toyota, and an independent mechanic who specilizes in Japanese cars. After a car wash in California, the maintence required light came on.
What is going on?
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I purchased a used 2010 Toyota Corolla LE with about 40k miles back in February of this year. Since then, the car has been issue-free and has responded accordingly.
Two weeks ago I noticed that the car when idle or at a stop light it'd make a subtle rattling noise (as if it was something behind the glove compartments rattling against metal). At 1st I thought maybe it was something inside, but as that week turned to days, I noticed that while I was outside the car and it was on and idle, I could hear the rattling from the right side of the car under the passenger seat (closer to the engine, as if right below where the glove compartment sat)--It is a constant rattle at the same frequency..meaning it doesn't rattle one way 1st and then another later. It sounds the same, but it is random.
It evolved from a subtle rattle inside to being a loud rattle outside under the car. I noticed that if it was rattling and I turned off the air, the rattling would stop, but after 20 seconds, the rattling would return just not as frequent.
It was advised to me that perhaps it was the blower...but the blower sits behind the glove compartment and should not sound so loud under the car. Not only that, but if the blower isn't on (when I turn off the air) it shouldn't sound...at least that's my logic for it.
The sound is getting louder and more frequent at this time and I'm just not sure what to do about this. I live in Miami, FL and hearing so many rip offs at mechanics, I don't know what this rattling is and I've already crawled under the car and see nothing wrong, nothing shaking violently, nothing.
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I have a 1993 Geo Prizm (Toyota Corolla) that idles roughly and lopes only when the engine is fully warmed up to operating temp. I changed the plugs, and wires are only 1 year old and seem to be in good shape. I suspected a vacuum leak, but have not been able to find one.
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So my 2004 honda civic LX with 165k miles has had some battery issues, or so it seems. While driving the car has been "shutting down", headlights fail, dash lights fail, radio sound goes off, and sometimes the car stalls. Typically this is happening when in stop and go traffic. The battery light on the dash comes on and off during these moments of failure. These issues started a few months ago when the dash maintenance light came on. I brought the car to a mechanic to see if he knew the issue. We decided to test the alternator and it was fine but we replaced it anyway. The issue went away until recently when the maintenance light came on again and seems the problem is worsening this time around.
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I fill my gas tank to 100% but I don't pump it again and overfill it like most people do after the pump stops. I then proceed to start the car. Initially it revs up and starts fine but when it revs back down to idle it does a rough idling (and sometimes it stalls). To get around the stall, I would restart and rev the engine to 3000 rpm for about 2 mins and it would be fine enough that I can drive away without it stalling but after a mile the rough idling stops and everything is back to normal. I replaced the PCV valve and it worked for about a year but it all came back again. I am stumped and every mechanic gives me a different reason and none of the reasons are even definite. It's one of those "lets try this and see what happens". One more thing, the car runs fine. It only happens when I pump more than 75% of the tank.
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I replaced my EGR valve vacuum check valve, but now started getting sputtering/rough idle. I'm pretty sure the direction of the vacuum check valve is correct, but I tried both ways to be sure and still got the sputtering at idle.
The old vacuum check valve didn't give me the sputter. I only replaced it because it was melted and I'm not sure it was working. I included a photo of it. It's orange and black.
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Okay, admittedly my car isn't top of the line. But I'd rather keep it. It all started one day getting stuck in traffic. Some kid claims something broke, causing him to serve in front of a bus bus and sending the bus into a creek. Luckily, all the kids had been dropped off, and the driver wasn't hurt. In my angrier moments, I figure the kid was texting but have no proof. I was stuck in traffic for 90 minutes, and within sight of getting out of the traffic mess, there was a loud bang and it overheats. Off to the side of the road, call the wife, she picks me up. Take it to the local shop, which replaces the Radiator and the Thermostat.
From then on, if I get stuck in slow traffic or at stop lights, it heats up quick. The dash temperature gauge has the word "NORMAL" spelled vertically. After a few traffic lights, the pointer is at the O or even the N. Before the next incident (below), running too hot would cause difficulty starting unless I pumped the gas pedal, or let it cool down for awhile.
Another incident: a rather sudden loss of power driving. The mechanic claims that the catalytic converters are clogged (the car has two). He opens up one of them, "unclogs" it. This didn't solve the problem. It did seem to clear up the starting problem. There's plenty of coolant in the reservoir.
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