Hello champs
2013 corolla, 85,000KM. (canada eh?), automatic trans.
I started my car this morning, hard to start, cranking seemed slugging and slow before engine started. The engine then idled very rough and rumbled hard, and then a very strong smell of fuel out of the exhaust. I shut off and restarted the car and same symptoms again, so i ran inside to grab a scan tool (cgsulit el'chinese), hooked it up, started the car again with the scan tool, and of course the car started fine and purred like a kitten. I had the battery tested about a month ago (topdon tester) and it passed. no vacuum leaks heard, battery terminals look ok.
Scan tool parameters after car started fine:
no dtcs (logged or pending)
fuel trims between +3 to -3
o2 sensor voltage and millamp present and fluctuating when accelerator pressed.
maf around 2 - 3 g/sec
ignition timing stable
no misfire counts (assuming I'm using this cgsulit scan tool right, counts not under real-time data).
not sure what else to check, car seems to be fine again.
I'm not a mechanic? Any thoughts from the experts?
Aside from testing the battery like @yaser said, test the alternator output, new air cleaner, clean the MAF sensor and how old are the spark plugs?
What was the outside temperature?
Load test the battery.
Thanks Yaser and Doc,
here are the answers re: @yaser
5C to 7C ambient air temp (41F to 44F) at time of issue
Topdon Battery Tester Tool says:
Battery Test:
"Good Battery"
Healthy 71% 540A
Charge 96% 12.58V
Internal R 5.52 milli-ohms
Rated 640A CCA
Cranking Test
"Cranking V Normal"
Cranking Time 4798ms
12.04 V
Charging Test
"Charging V Normal"
Loaded V 14.00V
Unloaded V 14.20 V
Ripple V 20 mV
Re: @doc
Did the air filter maybe 2 years ago, a little sooty, but not overly. Can change again.
Never cleaned the MAF before or thottle body before, spark plugs have never been changed on my watch, and I don't think it's been done. I purchased the car in 2018, and it still had original factory toyota battery and factory wipers (5 years old) so I doubt any small maintenance like plugs and maf/thottle body done. Will do those items next. Thanks and appreciate the input.