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2003... Car Stuttered When Giving Gas...




Guest sx460

Hi guys,

On my way to work Monday my car stuttered when giving it gas. The temp outside was about ~40F. I let the car warm up for roughly 3-4 minutes (a little past the temp to registering on the temp gauge).

I drove about 100 ft, came to stop sign, turned right and began getting up to speed (25mph). At about 20MPH the car began to stutter and felt like it was not accelerating any more. I've felt this before on my old car when I ran out of gas, or on an carburated pickup when not fully warm. I had half a tank of gas when this happened.

I checked the spark plugs and they look great. The air filter is looks great as well. I'm leaning towards it being a gas supply issue.

Another possibly related problem I deal with infrequently are hard starts: having to crank the motor for up 3-5 seconds at times before it will turn on. And sometimes when acting up, it stutters just a touch when finally turning on. Other times it turns on like a champ.

What do you guys make of this? Are these issues related by some common denomintor?

The car has nearly 50,000 miles and is nearly 2 years old. I've run fuel injector cleaner and this had no effect.

Thanks!

Change the fuel filter? If not, youve got blockage should be changed every 20,000km.

Guest sx460

Change the fuel filter? If not, youve got blockage should be changed every 20,000km.

I'd like to change the filter, but isn't it located in the gas tank making it virtually impossible to change yourself?

 

Is it possible to change the fuel filter yourself on a 2003 model? If so, how?

Thanks!

You can pull the filter - just a lot of work. Right above the tank - access is under the rear seat,driver's side.

Could be a MAF issue. I've noticed that quite a few of the 1ZZ-FE powered cars seem to have contamination problems of the mass airflow sensor. It is the square looking plug close to the airbox. Sometimes cleaning it with a solvent and resetting the ECU helps solve the stumbling problems with our cars.

I generally don't push cleaning the MAF sensor too often - it is an expensive part that can be easily ruined.

Check these sites out:

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/...ntenancep5.html - MAF on Toyota Tacoma, similar to Corolla.

http://66.55.64.111/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5295 has a Matrix XRS - still would apply to the 1ZZ-FE Corolla.

Notice that the IAT sensor is caked with dirt and soot. The MAF sensor wires are actually inside the plastic tube - becareful that you don't damage those.

Good Luck.

Guest sx460

You can pull the filter - just a lot of work.  Right above the tank  - access is under the rear seat,driver's side.

Could be a MAF issue.  I've noticed that quite a few of the 1ZZ-FE powered cars seem to have contamination problems of the mass airflow sensor.  It is the square looking plug close to the airbox.  Sometimes cleaning it with a solvent and resetting the ECU helps solve the stumbling problems with our cars. 

I generally don't push cleaning the MAF sensor too often - it is an expensive part that can be easily ruined.

Check these sites out:

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/...ntenancep5.html - MAF on Toyota Tacoma, similar to Corolla.

http://66.55.64.111/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5295 has a Matrix XRS - still would apply to the 1ZZ-FE Corolla.

Notice that the IAT sensor is caked with dirt and soot.  The MAF sensor wires are actually inside the plastic tube - becareful that you don't damage those.

Good Luck.

Thanks for the reply. Great info... about the filter, your saying that I can replace the fuel filter if I take out the rear seat? Never thought of that...

 

 

You can do it - but it is a major pain. I had to pull it out (fuel pump/fuil filter/pressure regulator unit) to troubleshoot some emission problems I had earlier.

The rear seat's bottom cushion just lifts straight out - pull up on the front to release the platic tabs and pull it out. The fuel assembly should be right under the seat, behind the driver's seat. Undo the screws - pull out the unit and you'll see the fuel filter screen in the bottom.

Shouldn't need any normal maintenance unless something got dropped into the tank. But anything could happen. I'm more inclined to check the easier stuff first - like the MAF and hope that the fuel filter is good.

Good Luck.

Is there any chance that you may have been sabotaged by someone putting some sort of contaminant down your fuel filler pipe? How about the fuel supply at the source -- have there been any complaints of similar problems from other customers where you purchase your gasoline? May be worth a bit of investigation.



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