Toyota Starlet - Fails to start or cuts out when driving.

[deeksyboy]

My wife's Toyota Starlet has been giving the following problems recently:
Failing to start. After a short journey the car will fail to start, but will fire up when left for a while, not always the same amount of time.
Cutting out when driving. The car has lost power a couple of times recently.
I have:
Changed the spark plugs.
Changed the distributor cap and rotor arm.
Disconnected the battery when idling, engine did not cut out. I am assuming that means the alternator is OK.
Took the car for a drive today and noticed the following:
When sitting with the car idling, I noticed that the revs increased when I turned the steering wheel either right or left, should that happen?
A strong fume smell.
The car, by the way, is a 1996 starlet Sportif.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[david and julie]

One would assume that the smell is probably a petrol leak, it is not usually hard to locate these.

You should not really run car with battery leads disconnected, In the olden days this would tell you if a dynamo was working but that is not the case with an alternator,you may have damaged it.

The power steering works from an engine driven pump. Moving the steering when stationary takes a lot of engine effort, this slows the engine momentarily as pull on the steering wheel, when you take the pressure off the engine load is immediately lessened which I think you are calling speeding up. I dont think you have problem here.

Find and fix the smell first then take it from thier.

 

[noflame]

It sounds like an electrical problem; most likely the ignition amplifier is faulty, or has a dodgy connection.
I am not sure exactly where it is on a starlet; most likely built into or attached to the distributor body, or somewhere near the coil; a haynes manual would help with the location.
Check and clean all the related connections and see if this makes a difference-best of luck; intermittent faults are the worse!!!!
Perhaps next time it happens you could wiggle any ignition related wires and see if the fault clears.