Toyota Repair: 96 Corolla starting problems, air intake hose, carbon deposits

Question
Hello Ted,

My '96 Corolla is having problems starting and continuing to run.

It starts fine, but, unless I depress the gas pedal, it dies immediately.  As long as the gas pedal is pressed, the car stays running, but as soon as I release the gas (to shift the car into reverse or drive), the engine shuts off.  I've had to rev the engine up really high and then try to shift as fast as I could.

The car was idle for most of a year (I was out of the country).  I had the battery tested, and it turned out fine, and I've driven 30-minute distances on it fine (after it starts up, it tends to do alright, until I cut it off again).

Thank you very much for your help in this - this is a great service you have!!

Lewis

Answer
In most cases this is caused by a contaminated throttle body, there may be a lot of carbon deposits, it can be cleaned by removing the large air intake hose from the throttle body and then cleaning the inside with some throttle body cleaner and a stiff brush to remove all the gunk.