Clyde is a 1985 Toyota Corolla DX 1.6. Automatic. Front-wheel drive. 5 door liftback. He likes 80s music and bumper stickers and can sense negative energy from Clyde-haters.

So the other night my car wouldn't turn over (because Clyde doesn't like the cold - he's very temperamental) so I was pumping the gas pedal to get some fuel flowing and I flooded it. I got it to start and drove the 3 maybe 4 miles to my boyfriend's house and the car sputtered and putted the whole way there. Now, I'm not saying my 23 year-old car is in pristine condition, but he runs quiet. I couldn't accelerate it was just an all around bad ride. This was 3 days ago, it's still doing it.

It has a carburetor and my boyfriend figured maybe I just flooded so much gasoline into that it hadn't evaporated so he took my air filter out and left the car to air out. Nothing. Checked my plug wires and they're fine. My oil isn't white or milky so I didn't blow a head gasket.

The other thing we have determined is that my valve gasket cover is blown because some oil is seeping out of one side. But, from the look of the amount of oil on various parts of the engine, this has been going on for a while so I doubt it caused this sudden problem.

A few weeks back it was stalling when I braked so I replaced the air filter and it runs fine. Now, it's like the exact opposite. The car only runs moderately well if I take my foot OFF the gas.

What is wrong with my poor sick Clyde? Everyone is pushing me to buy a newer, more-reliable car (more reliable than a Corolla?) but I was to cure Clyde.