Hey guys. I've been a long time lurker, but I'm new to posting here. I'm having problems with my '82 Celica Supra P-Type dying randomly while driving.
It only had 42,000 miles on it when I bought it (has almost 50k on it now). Despite the low mileage, it still has its fair share of problems that I have been trying to work out over the last two years.
Pretty much all of the problems I have had with it have been electrical issues. I am the third owner. The second owner bought it to be his son's college car, so I can imagine a college kid hacking at the wiring trying to be cheap by not taking it to a mechanic, despite not knowing what he was doing.
When I got it the wiring was a train wreck. There was basically a huge rat's nest of wiring under the fuse box, which wasn't even bolted down, it was just sitting loosely behind the battery. The battery itself was of course also just dropped into the engine compartment, nary a bracket in sight.
The flip-up headlights never worked: Only one would come up, and when you turned them off, only the other one would go down. I unhooked the headlight relay, and just leave them up for now. There are also random wires which have been cut from under the fuse box, their purpose unknown to me. Basically, this car is an electrical disaster.
This brings me to the problem I am having today:
The car turns over strong and fires up just fine, but after driving for an indeterminate amount of time, it will just shut off. After shutting off in such a manner, the car will still turn over strong (indicating the charging system still works) but will not start.
I've tried unplugging and re-connecting the air mass sensor, TPS, and even randomly rustling wires around the fuse box, to no avail.
After several minutes of waiting, the car will always fire up again (as if it never happened) and run for several more minutes only to shut off again. The last time it did this, I just parked it without trying to fix it. But after a couple hours, the car still fired up again despite leaving the car exactly as it was when it died.
I can think of so many potential causes of this problem, that I'm overwhelmed as to what it could be. I suspect possibly fuel pump, ignitor, coil, ECU, air mass sensor, etc. I have a spare air mass sensor, so I'm going to go try that. The problem is that I cannot consistently reproduce the problem other than by driving around and getting stuck somewhere, so it will be difficult for me to test: 32:
It doesn't even necessarily shut off at consistent intervals. Last weekend I drove it 1.5 hours to Forth Worth from Dallas, and it shut off just as I arrived into town. I let it sit there as I ate lunch, and then it drove fine for the remainder of the weekend and the whole trip home. Then the next week it drove without issue for two commutes to work and back (45 minutes each way), but died again as I was almost home the third day. Then last night it drove for like 10 minutes before dying. After several minutes of waiting, it started up again for only like 3 minutes. Then after a couple hours, I was able to get it all the way back home.
If there is some obvious solution I am missing, please chime in. I would really appreciate the help. I've been trolling the forums for anybody with a similar issue, but I'm coming up with nothing so far.
Regards,
Phillip.
It only had 42,000 miles on it when I bought it (has almost 50k on it now). Despite the low mileage, it still has its fair share of problems that I have been trying to work out over the last two years.
Pretty much all of the problems I have had with it have been electrical issues. I am the third owner. The second owner bought it to be his son's college car, so I can imagine a college kid hacking at the wiring trying to be cheap by not taking it to a mechanic, despite not knowing what he was doing.
When I got it the wiring was a train wreck. There was basically a huge rat's nest of wiring under the fuse box, which wasn't even bolted down, it was just sitting loosely behind the battery. The battery itself was of course also just dropped into the engine compartment, nary a bracket in sight.
The flip-up headlights never worked: Only one would come up, and when you turned them off, only the other one would go down. I unhooked the headlight relay, and just leave them up for now. There are also random wires which have been cut from under the fuse box, their purpose unknown to me. Basically, this car is an electrical disaster.
This brings me to the problem I am having today:
The car turns over strong and fires up just fine, but after driving for an indeterminate amount of time, it will just shut off. After shutting off in such a manner, the car will still turn over strong (indicating the charging system still works) but will not start.
I've tried unplugging and re-connecting the air mass sensor, TPS, and even randomly rustling wires around the fuse box, to no avail.
After several minutes of waiting, the car will always fire up again (as if it never happened) and run for several more minutes only to shut off again. The last time it did this, I just parked it without trying to fix it. But after a couple hours, the car still fired up again despite leaving the car exactly as it was when it died.
I can think of so many potential causes of this problem, that I'm overwhelmed as to what it could be. I suspect possibly fuel pump, ignitor, coil, ECU, air mass sensor, etc. I have a spare air mass sensor, so I'm going to go try that. The problem is that I cannot consistently reproduce the problem other than by driving around and getting stuck somewhere, so it will be difficult for me to test: 32:
It doesn't even necessarily shut off at consistent intervals. Last weekend I drove it 1.5 hours to Forth Worth from Dallas, and it shut off just as I arrived into town. I let it sit there as I ate lunch, and then it drove fine for the remainder of the weekend and the whole trip home. Then the next week it drove without issue for two commutes to work and back (45 minutes each way), but died again as I was almost home the third day. Then last night it drove for like 10 minutes before dying. After several minutes of waiting, it started up again for only like 3 minutes. Then after a couple hours, I was able to get it all the way back home.
If there is some obvious solution I am missing, please chime in. I would really appreciate the help. I've been trolling the forums for anybody with a similar issue, but I'm coming up with nothing so far.
Regards,
Phillip.