What the hell is wrong with my camry?!?! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

MattSWE · 11-29-2006, 08:15 PM

for some time now my camry has been acting horribly. on startup, it shakes and idles extremely rough at around 2500rpm for a few minutes, plus it smokes bad too and sometimes dies. I got a used computer recently since the old one died, but that hasn't fixed the problem. i replaced all my plugs, wires and dist. cap and button not too long ago.could my o2 sensor be going bad? I need serious help please

***HomeGrown*** · 11-29-2006, 08:30 PM

Fuel issue? Sounds like it could be a flooded condition on startup. You didn't say anything about hard starting, but that would accompany a flooding condition.

Tommy · 11-29-2006, 09:37 PM

what type of temps outside? what color smoke?

fredk · 11-29-2006, 09:48 PM

you got a big blue spark out of the coil?

MattSWE · 11-30-2006, 10:18 AM

it doesn't start hard at all, and the smoke is white btw. ill check the coil somehow. As far as the weather goes, it has been fairly warm here recently(evansville, Indiana) for december. Its supposed to snow tomorrow too.

TBayToyotaBoy · 11-30-2006, 11:24 AM

White smoke in warm weather usually = vapour out the tail pipe, which usually = either a cracked head or a blown head gasket. Check the coolant level, and check inside the oil filler cap for white sludge.

***HomeGrown*** · 11-30-2006, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattSWE

As far as the weather goes, it has been fairly warm here recently(evansville, Indiana) for december.

It's December in Indiana already?

MattSWE · 11-30-2006, 12:26 PM

you know what i mean, the weather is frickin wierd man

bdfwinn · 11-30-2006, 12:33 PM

Possibly your valve seals are leaking and oil is leaking into your combustion chambers. If it is not too bad yet your engine will burn the oil off no problem when the engine warms up. But at startup there is a lot of accumulated oil for the engine to burn. At higher rpms at startup more air is required to make the engine perform. The excessive smoke from the oil burn-off can starve the combustion process of much needed oxygen and cause the engine to shudder or stall.

If that is your problem this might help. The best thing is to take it to a friend with a code reader or a mechanic you trust---

... sorry that oxy-moron made me laugh.

Bill

Mike Gerber · 11-30-2006, 05:03 PM

First of all, it's a good idea to give the mileage on your car and whather the engine is an I4 or V6. That usually helps.

That said, you could have a bad cold start time switch. If you have the 3SFE 4 cylinder engine, it's under a brown connector next to the green connector, in a water passage that comes off the cylinder head toward the driver's side. You will see it while standing in front of the engine. You need to check this sensor both hot and cold with a DVM. You can get the specs from any manual.

You could also have an injector that is leaking after you shut off the engine. It leaks excessive amounts of fuel down in to one of the cylinders. That makes the car run extremely rough until all the excess fuel is burned off. It would also explain the white smoke you see coming out of the tail pipe. Are you sure the smoke you are seeing is not normal water vapor caused by starting a cold engine?

Are you also sure the smoke doesn't have a slightly blue tint to it? That would be oil burning. If that's what it is, I would keep a watch on the oil level for a while.

Mike

MattSWE · 11-30-2006, 07:23 PM

4 cyl with 145,000 miles. Just white smoke, given the car does have an oil leak as well, its basically a F^#%$& money pit.

marc780 · 12-03-2006, 09:07 AM

If it might be oil out the tailpipe, feel inside tailpipe for oil on you finger. Also theres no mistaking the smell. Normal condensation is white of course with no antifreeze stink, nor any trace of antifreeze at the tailpipe.

When was the last time you gave the throttle body a good soaking with Seafoam deepcreep, the Idle air control valve could be clogged up too. Also, i'd consider doing a compression check of the engine

MattSWE · 01-08-2007, 03:44 PM

Actually, I put my hands by the muffler when it was idling, shaking and smoking and they got damp, and my hands didn't smell like oil or antifreeze. So its A LOT of vapor, do I need a head gasket set then?
thanks

MattSWE · 01-08-2007, 03:44 PM

also, how do I clean my IAC valve?

timebuilder · 01-08-2007, 04:00 PM

To find out about the throttle body, go here:

http://tril.shineautoproject.com/camry/90/index.html

scroll own to "EFI"

scroll to page 128 in the pdf file.

Use throttle body cleaner. It is a more modern version of "choke cleaner."

BUT, instead of being concerned about the IAC at this point, you need to determine the condition of the engine that is causing the white vapor cloud. Is your coolant level dropping?