Why would a 1996 Toyota Rav4 start hard when it is warm?

Answer 1

my best guess without actually looking at it would be the ignition coil. sometimes as they get warm the coil can "go open" making it harder to start. try this to see, when the engine is overnight cold, locate the ignition coil by following the coil wire from the center of the distributor cap to the ignition coil. take a hair dryer and blow it on the coil until it is warm to hot to the touch(a heat gun works better and much faster) try to start the car. if you have the same problem as when the engine is hot, you've just identified the problem. a bad coil. the procedure is the same if there is no distributor cap except that there are 2 coils on the drivers side of the cylinder head instead of just one. try the same test just do them one at a time to see which is the problem.