Engine troubles, need some tips, I have a few leads, but nothing major Options

[HectortheRican]

I'm going to go through today's events to see if there's some hidden cause to a problem that I'm missing. Here goes:

Today, I tried to wire my fog lights. I disconnected the negative terminal and jacked up the car, normal things I've done before. I was working for about 3 hours then I put the car back down and I reconnected the battery. I let it sit for roughly 20 minutes, then I checked the oil because I figured 20 minutes was enough to settle the oil. It was about half full, so I topped it off. I was running late, so I drove a bit spiritedly (about as spiritedly as one can drive with the monstrous hp and tq of a Celica ST ). After a 2.5 hour movie with my sister, I got in the car and started her up. That's when the troubles started.

It started with a lopey idle. I put my hand at the exhaust and it felt like the motor was just burping repeatedly. Not smooth by any means. The idle was so rough and lopey that the car actually shook while stationary. Despite better judgement, I drove home (I was 5 miles away). As I was approaching home, my exhaust started sounding oddly deeper and I wasn't accelerating as quickly (I feel odd using that word for an ST) as I usually do. So I arrived home and immediately popped the hood. Very quickly, I noticed the smell of sulfur and there was an odd clicking-type noise near the timing belt/accessory belt area.

Does anyone know what could be going on? I tried to describe everything as clearly as I could. I know it's a lot to read, so I thank you for your time and I really appreciate it.

Edit: I'm no mechanical genius, but it almost seems to me like the motor is running very lean and starving for fuel.

This post has been edited by HectortheRican: Jul 12, 2012 - 6:28 PM

[richee3]

To check the plugs, just pull the EFI fuse from the fuse box under the hood, then pull each plug out one at a time. Keep it attached to the wire and crank the starter and watch to see if it sparks. You'll want a second person for that, obviously. You might need to let the plug touch the head so it can ground out- I'm not sure on that.

To check the injectors, take a really long screwdriver (I mean like a 2 footer if you can) and put the bit on the injector with the car running. Put your ear ear on the handle of the screwdriver. You should hear clicking of the injector is working. There might be an easier way to check the injectors but this is the way I've always done it.

I doubt if these are your problems but I'm just trying to rule out the easy and obvious. It might be your plug wires but I doubt if it's a plug or injector. Have you tried starting the car since then to see if the problem persists?