Toyota Repair: 94 Tercel starting problem, valve job, valve seats


Question
It's a 94 , 140k miles 5 spd, 5k miles on plugs, dist cap, rotor, wires, fuel filter, etc; The problem: when cold the car starts(within one revolution) and runs great, however after it warms up and is shut off, if I try to restart it immediately it will start fine, however if I wait a 10 minutes to 1 hr and try to start it, it will fire like it is going to run(because it usually starts so easily)but doesn't, then it will just crank and I give it a little gas and it will run on the starter until it builds some RPM's and then as long as I keep the RPM's up it will be ok(usually a smell of fuel and a cloud from the exhaust when it gets running), if I don't keep the RPM's up and give it gas it will bog as if not getting any fuel, however it will idle fine, however if I get the rpms up to about 3k and then it will rev with no obvious problem. Thank you in advance for any suggestions and have a good one. Geo

Answer
Tercels seem to be the only toyotas that had this problem, it's usually due to a lot of carbon that has build up on the back sides of the intake and exhaust valves, the carbon has a tendency to soak up incoming fuel until it is saturated and then let fuel into the engine, this is why the long cranking and then finally starting and the smell of fuel and the smoke. If you are going to keep this car I would recommend removing the cylinder head and have a complete head reconditioning done which includes a valve job at which time all the valves are removed and cleaned and resurfaced as well as the valve seats in the head and the valve seals replaced and the cylinder head resurfaced.