Toyota Corolla 96 turns over but does not start

I have a 1996 Toyota Corolla with 207,000 miles on it. This car used to start up on the first try without putting my foot on the gas. Here recently when it rained the car would start sluggish like and then I would drive it up to the C-store about 2 miles away. By then it would run itself out of this sluggishness and be fine after that. On Sunday, it rained alot. I went to start it and again like I mentioned. Only when I almost got to the C-store it died and I haven't been able to get it started again. It will turn over and sound like it will start but just gets close. Ive tried it for two days now with no luck. What can I do? Im down to driving my v8 truck that cost 20 bucks a day on gas. please help. thanks

hello tlee,by the way you are discribing, it sounds like a bad distributor cap/rotor i think they still used them in 96. take a look & see if the inside is wet/damp also how old are the plug wires??Good Luck

Coil failures aren't uncommon either above 180k mi. Might as well change that if you're gonna open up the distributor cap. And a new fuel filter wouldn't hurt.

inafogg:

it was the distributor rotor. im glad because i was paying 20 bucks a day on gas on that 94 silverado. i deeply, deeply appreciate it. thanks automotive forum. jdmccright: i got your message after i changed the distributor rotor. where is the fuel filter anyway? ill change that too if its not too much trouble. thanks again.

It's located under the brake master cylinder, mounted to the driver's side fender. Shouldn't be hard to replace.