Dear Tom and Ray:

On warm, rainy mornings after sitting all night, my '87 Toyota Corolla starts OK but stalls out as soon as I step on the gas. When this happens, it also makes a clicking noise, then surges and goes fine until I stop or slow down again. As soon as I try to feed it gas, it dies. Once I get it on the highway and go a few miles, the problem goes away for the rest of the day. Toyota has replaced the distributor cap and rotor twice, and replaced the spark plugs and plug wires, too. None of this has helped. Please help. I have to hold my breath now every time I pull out in front of an 18 wheeler...yikes! Cathy

Ray: Your dealer is circling the problem, but hasn't come in for a landing yet, Cathy. We've seen this problem a number of times on Toyotas, and it was always fixed with a new distributor.

Tom: Right. After we unsuccessfully tried replacing the distributor cap, the rotor, the plugs, the wires, the fuzzy dice, and the glove box hinges. You need a whole new distributor, Cathy.

Ray: So that's the good news. We know what the problem is.

Tom: Here's the bad news: It's going to cost you 500 to 600 bucks. Yikes! 1163

Tom and Ray share secrets mechanics don't want you to know in their pamphlet Ten Ways You May Be Ruining Your Car Without Even Knowing It! To order, send (check or money order) to Ruin, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. You can also order online.

© 1994 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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