has 3rx-fe 4cyl, starts but won't stay running. Throttle body and sensor cleaned as well as mass air. Runs now but throws P1300 error. Ignitor, cap and rotor, new plugs replaced. Any ideas where to look next?

had a mobile mechanic look at it. he targeted the throttle body and sensor and cleaned it very well. At first it seemed fixed but would still give P1300 error. today. it will start, run a little at idle, notice a few "skips" and then it dies. P1300 error pops up immediately. afraid my help is wanting to use a $hotgun approach now to chase this down. Wish someone here had seen this before. at this point, can't trust driving to a shop and not sure how much $$ is worth investing in this old girl.

The distributor *assembly* is likely going to be the culprit - however as stated before - hands-on testing is required.. Good luck it’s it!

Hopefully your mechanic will have access to a diagnostic flow chart for testing procedures.

Good advice. Thanks. I'm afraid this problem may be over his head... he's more of a try this and see guy than flow chart. I do have the shop manual and have traced some of the signals from ECM to igniter to distributor. Will go back to that by myself. I have most test equipment but not a scope. Just don't see as good as I once did. LOL Thanks again

These distributors have multiple components and they break down with age / mileage - it is less expensive to replace the assembly as opposed to the suspect component - with the exception of the ignition coil .. Can find coil primary + secondary ohm values by google + vehicle info - then see YouTube video on the resulting page. I can’t remember the specific ohm reading numbers right off hand ..

coil was next on the list. will check out cost of replacing whole distributor also. thanks for the coil info