# Engine stalls at idle, but only after a few minutes of driving

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/engine-stalls-at-idle-but-only-after-a-few-minutes-of-driving/96896>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** toyota, tercel\
**Created:** [December 6, 2016, 8:27am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/engine-stalls-at-idle-but-only-after-a-few-minutes-of-driving/96896 "2016-12-06T08:27:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![znbail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ea666f/32.png) [@znbail](https://community.cartalk.com/u/znbail)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 8:27am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/engine-stalls-at-idle-but-only-after-a-few-minutes-of-driving/96896/1 "2016-12-06T08:27:33Z")

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So this past weekend I decided it was finally time to do a little maintenance. I did the normal stuff, oil, oil filter, antifreeze flush, fuel filter, air filter, spark plugs and wires, and I even decided to do the valve clearances this time around since it had been awhile. After I was finished with all that and did a little test driving around I was at a stop light and my car completely stalled! It’s always been a little finicky, being forty years old does that to you, but something like this has never happened before. Obviously it’s been caused by something I did, and I’m thinking there’s something wrong with the spark delivery, it sounds like there might be some kind of miss in the engine and I can definitely smell gas coming from the exhaust. Any thoughts on what might be causing this issue?

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**Author:** ![BillRussell](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/billrussell/32/3179_2.png) [@BillRussell](https://community.cartalk.com/u/BillRussell)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 12:53pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/engine-stalls-at-idle-but-only-after-a-few-minutes-of-driving/96896/2 "2016-12-06T12:53:01Z")

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Did you change the points (if it has any) ?

make model, year?

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**Author:** ![Yosemite](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/yosemite/32/643_2.png) [@Yosemite](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Yosemite)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/engine-stalls-at-idle-but-only-after-a-few-minutes-of-driving/96896/3 "2016-12-06T15:36:52Z")

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You may have gotten a couple of plug wires in the wrong order.

I would recheck the routing of the plug wires.

Yosemite

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**Author:** ![znbail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ea666f/32.png) [@znbail](https://community.cartalk.com/u/znbail)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/engine-stalls-at-idle-but-only-after-a-few-minutes-of-driving/96896/4 "2016-12-06T16:33:23Z")

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I didn’t replace the points, it’s a 1980 Toyota Tercel.

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**Author:** ![znbail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ea666f/32.png) [@znbail](https://community.cartalk.com/u/znbail)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/engine-stalls-at-idle-but-only-after-a-few-minutes-of-driving/96896/5 "2016-12-06T16:34:13Z")

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That was my original thought but it doesn’t even turn on if the firing order is wrong.