Check Engine Is Indicated And Stopping Car

thara123 · October 29, 2014

Hi Guys,

I have a toyota carina AT192 car. While i was driving 10kms suddenly check engine is indicated and car was stopped. Then I had to drag the car to a garage. then they attached a scanner and scanner indicates "Ignition system" and they said i need to replace the distributor. then I bought a distributor and attached it to the car and they replaced one of relays. garage people drived the car for around 6 kms and then that problem did not come back. after 3 days, again when i was driving the car for 2 kms, again the same problem occurred. then garage people attached my previous distributor back and checked. they brought the spark plug wire to top and spark plug wire is sparked some times but some times it does not. then they removed the computer box and checked. some capacitors are overflowed and computer circuit board has brown color patches there. then they asked me to replace those capacitors. still that replacing capacitors is in progress. so please tell me what would be the actual issue and what should i do for this issue?

thanks in advance

Edited October 29, 2014 by thara123

Rumesh88 · October 29, 2014

It is somewhat unlikely for several capacitors leak at the same time. Remember, during the assembly process they use a brown color epoxy to keep the capacitors from mechanically vibrating. Do you have a picture of the ECU board? If the issue was of intermittent nature the best approach should have been to do a tune up including a throttle body clean up and then see where you end up rather than blindly (ie blind except for whatever the scanner tells you) go on changing parts.

The Don · October 29, 2014

On 10/29/2014 at 6:17 AM, Rumesh88 said:
It is somewhat unlikely for several capacitors leak at the same time. Remember, during the assembly process they use a brown color epoxy to keep the capacitors from mechanically vibrating. Do you have a picture of the ECU board? If the issue was of intermittent nature the best approach should have been to do a tune up including a throttle body clean up and then see where you end up rather than blindly (ie blind except for whatever the scanner tells you) go on changing parts.

Hi Rumesh,

There was an issue in 1990s Japanese car ECUs which for a little while used lower quality capacitors which seemed to give way prematurely. They would bulge in bulk but not leak, but by this point the ECU would start to act eratically (like hunting idle etc).

The same was true of computer power supplies and motherboards..... It could be that.

To the OP, I suggest you check the wiring to the ignition unit, and see if all the lines are intact and the contacts are not corroded. Might be worthwhile getting the contacts cleaned with contact cleaner. I had a similar issue where one piston stopped firing due to a broken wire into the ignition distributor (car has electronic ignition, with a central coil).

Davy · October 29, 2014

I'm not sure about the setup on this particular Toyota, but on Mitsubishi's the Crank Position Sensor and Cam Position sensor inputs have a direct impact on Fuel Delivery and Ignition respectively. Therefore, a failing Cam Position Sensor would cause intermittent ignition failures that will cause the vehicle to stall. On these occasions, it is most likely that the check engine light is illuminated. The car may not start again for a while until cooled down. While checking up on the points mentioned by Rumesh and The Don, I suggest you get these two sensors checked as well.

Isn't this particular Carina only OBD I compliant? If so, the error "ignition system" would mean that the associated sensors (Cam/Crank) should also be checked. OBD II would give out a specific code related to the sensor whereas OBD I doesn't. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Edited October 29, 2014 by Davy

Rumesh88 · October 29, 2014

On 10/29/2014 at 10:03 AM, The Don said:
Hi Rumesh,
There was an issue in 1990s Japanese car ECUs which for a little while used lower quality capacitors which seemed to give way prematurely. They would bulge in bulk but not leak, but by this point the ECU would start to act eratically (like hunting idle etc).

The same was true of computer power supplies and motherboards..... It could be that.

To the OP, I suggest you check the wiring to the ignition unit, and see if all the lines are intact and the contacts are not corroded. Might be worthwhile getting the contacts cleaned with contact cleaner. I had a similar issue where one piston stopped firing due to a broken wire into the ignition distributor (car has electronic ignition, with a central coil).

Yeah Don you are right. They do bulge at the end cap safety valve. What caught my attention in OP's post was the mention of overflowing caps with brown patches.

thara123 · November 1, 2014

Thanks for your all replies. I was looking at all of your ideas until I fixed the Computer box before reply. My friend had replaced some of capacitors on the circuit board and then garage people fixed that computer box back to the car today. then we have run test drive for around 10 kms. then I drived only 15kms and up to now, car is running. I'm not sure when its stopped again. bad thing was now car is running under the previous distributor. my money was lost like. i bought it from N.I.N in wijerama. and they will not return money for it.

thanks all for your valuable ideas.

The Don · November 5, 2014

On 11/1/2014 at 3:42 PM, thara123 said:
Thanks for your all replies. I was looking at all of your ideas until I fixed the Computer box before reply. My friend had replaced some of capacitors on the circuit board and then garage people fixed that computer box back to the car today. then we have run test drive for around 10 kms. then I drived only 15kms and up to now, car is running. I'm not sure when its stopped again. bad thing was now car is running under the previous distributor. my money was lost like. i bought it from N.I.N in wijerama. and they will not return money for it.
thanks all for your valuable ideas.

Does your friend do this professionaly or just do this for you as a favour?

Don't worry about the money lost on the distributor. It might come in handy again one day. Its good the ECU was fixed but the cost of an ECU is a lot less than the cost of a distributor so the decision was right to eliminate that as an issue.

thara123 · November 24, 2014

Hi All,

again,thanks all for your replies

then my car was again stopped and it kept running 1-2 minutes and automatically stopped. inside the distributor there was a noise like sparking. then i took my car to electric place in kiribathgoda. they replaced the ECU and now car is running up to now . and now new distributor i bought is fixed to the car. but now there is a problem. Always RPM is going around 2000 before and after comes to the heat in both parking(P) and N mode either A/C on or off. when i put to the D mode, it reduced to the 1100 RPM. that electric guy said there might be a problem in throttle body sensor and i need to do a tune-up.

Please advice me on this

Thanks

Rumesh88 · November 24, 2014

Well assuming your current ECU is OK, now there seems to be a problem with your idle speed. It could well be the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) itself or its setting. Get the TPS tested during the tune up and if faulty you may have to replace it. However, if it is only the setting then it is a matter of an adjustment in its position and perhaps in the throttle flap as well.