The engine in our classic Toyota needs fuel, air and a spark. Only when the conditions of these are right, your engine (when in overall good condition) will run smoothly, economical and reliable. Old cars, even Toyota's, are not known for their reliability even if the mechanical parts of the engine, like the valves, pistonrings, seals and bearings are in good condition. Every owner knows about this and many accept one of more issues, as long as the car takes you where you want to go. In general, older engines takes longer to start, runs uneven at cold start, smells of unburned fuel, accellerating can be slow ... and so on. Most of these problems are not due to a worn engine, but due to the auxiliaries like the ignition or the carburetor. It is not soo much of a problem when you only use your classic once or twice every month to a meeting, but what if it is also your daily? You want your Toyota to be in optimum condition to assure it starts every time and uses an economic amount of fuel (specially in these days).
The ignition system of our classic Toyota is composed of four mayor parts that contribute to a healthy ignition. An ignitioncoil, distributor, sparkplugs and not to forget, all the wires (for power and leads from coil/distributor to the sparkplugs). The obvious signs of a failing ignition can be recognized by firstly looking at those wiring. The parts to be checked are the sparkplug wires, wire from coil to distributorcap, the distributor cap and rotor, the condensor and the contactpoints. Read the description of the seperate parts for tips how to inspect and testing these parts.