Lousy MPG - No acceleration - Need help

[1988 Camry 2.0]

Hello, I have an 88 Camry 3SFE with poor acceleration and bad gas mileage (maybe 18 MPG!) I have to press hard on the gas to keep the car moving. (Explaining the poor MPG). Even in cruise control the vehicle down shifts much more than typical. It feels like I'm towing a heavy trailer. There is evidence of some surging.

The car does this hot or cold. Problem started two weeks ago and seems to be getting worse. The vehicle has had a large exhaust leak recently fixed so a plugged cat can be ruled out. The vehicle takes forever to start cold - cranks fine but takes at least 10 seconds to start, but has done this for nearly 6 months (fuel pump?). Once warm it starts fine but the poor gas mileage and crap driveability remain. I tend to drive the vehicle near empty and hoping this is not further evidence of a shot fuel pump. No engine light comes on and as far as I know has not thrown a code. The car idles fine, does not lope, does not stall.

As mentioned on this great site, I cleaned the crud out of the EGR port (was blocked). Cleaned the throttle body and ISC passages. This seemed beneficial but did not help. The car starts way better.

The vehicle rolls fine in neutral (not binding brakes). Throttle is responsive when vehicle in park and RPM goes up with the accelerator pedal (leaving out a sleepy TPS). But the car has no go.

The car has over 160,000 miles, I bought the vehicle used and have done nothing to the vehicle except oil changes, trans fluid change and regular seafoam. Incidentally, the trans drain plug is leaking and I thought this might be the problem (low fluid = poor driveability) and so its been topped up, maybe more than needed.

Why don't I just change a bunch of parts? Because I drive a Gen 2 Camry. Currently I can not afford to buy a fuel pump or throw parts at this thing. Could it just be the fuel filter? Could a vehicle run that poorly with a clogged filter? Would it be a shot distributor? Could a poor distributor cause this? My last car was a 3.1 Cavalier with electronic timing and I'm not familiar with the distributor set-up. What are the chances my fuel pump is an Aisan or Denso??

Any advice would be appreciated. I will report back with ongoing progress unless I scrap this vehicle.

Sincerely,
D. Stout
North Bay, Ontario

[monito]

I didn't see any mention of a complete tune-up. i.e. spark plugs, spark plug wires, air filter, etc. those along w/ a new fuel filter should help. [spark plugs and plug cables may get expensive]
Also, run a fuel system cleaner thru the system to clean out the injectors.

[fredk]

check your cam timing

[Camsurolla]

I agree start with the basics, tune-up including fuel filter. If you jump the diagnostic block and there aren't any codes than it is not likely to be shot distributor (encountered distributor problems several times each time computer gave me a code). What brand and type of trans fluid did you use when you serviced the trans. What type of fuel do you run, with poor gas mileage i could only assume that you run the cheapest brand you can find. (don't blame you if you do, fuel is outrageous but you can't cheap out on it)

[marc780]

I'd start with a compression check of the engine. If your compression is within acceptable range, then it could be: one or moredirty or bad fuel injectors, worn timing belt, or as the other fellow said maybe the belt has jumped time.
If compression is low, maybe you just need to do a valve job. Which you can do yourself for about $400-

Harbor freight has compression testers cheap and it isnt hard to do.
http://www.camrymanuals.com/manuals/...Mechanical.pdf

[1988 Camry 2.0]

The car will not a climb a steep hill. Has no go. RPM moves nice in neutral. I put a can of Seafoam in the tank hoping for a quick fix.

When driving on highway today pressing down 3/4 on gas pedal. Like driving a forklift. Has little to no response. Camry manual troubleshooting asks if car stumbles on acceleration - Car seems to have no acceleration. Engine seems to start in 3rd gear. Will accelerate slowly on highway and then suddenly surge and take off as if there is a fuel blockage. I was overfilling the trans fluid to compensate for a leaky drain plug. (something I did with my Cavalier regularly - a bulletproof trans. The THC-125). I can feel when its time to add by the way it shifts. trans fluid level is now back to optimum. Engine starts fine since TB cleaning. Engine idles fine.
I don't know... Gave all my money to Big Oil. Can't even buy a spark plug now...
(Supertech Dex ATF, Shell regular.)

[monito]

Originally Posted by 1988 Camry 2.0

... was overfilling the trans fluid to compensate for a leaky drain plug. (something I did with my Cavalier regularly - a bulletproof trans). I can feel when its time to add by the way it shifts. trans fluid level is now back to optimum. Engine starts fine since TB cleaning. Engine idles fine...

you might have a worn transmission. If you did the trans flush yourself, I can understand why you would have trans fluid leak. [drain plug was put on to torque spec]
But if you had it done at a shop, your tranny might be done for. After a certain number of miles, a lot of mechs don't recommend a trans flush, but instead a drain and fill.

[Camsurolla]

I am not sure how picky the camry auto is but a friend of mine has a mrk 4 supra and put pennzoil in auto tranny and about 7000 miles later tranny slipped in 3rd. did some research and found out some additive in the pennzoil negatively affected the bands inside the tranny. come to find out he should have used the toyota tranny fluid. that said you might be ok but isn't supertech a wally world brand. Does the car stumble or is just slugish.

[Doctor J]

Toyota is not using band for a third gear

[Camsurolla]

Not saying 3rd gear has a band. that is just the gear that began to foul up, after a couple weeks every gear was having problems, and on supra forums a few people posted that they did encounter similar problems and found out the bands had malfunctioned.

[1988 Camry 2.0]

I appreciate all the help. I will drive the car tomorrow. The hardest part is describing the symptoms...

[fredk]

is the trans shifting?

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Originally Posted by 1988 Camry 2.0

When driving on highway today pressing down 3/4 on gas pedal. Like driving a forklift. Has little to no response. Troubleshooting asks if car stumbles on acceleration - Car seems to have no acceleration. Engine seems to start in 3rd gear. Will accelerate slowly on highway and then suddenly surge and take off as if there is a fuel blockage.

So is it actually starting in third gear? When it takes-off all of a sudden, is there a drop in rpm's as the tranny downshifts?

This may sound totally stupid, but maybe you have a worn bearing and/or a sticking caliper/wheel cylinder/e-brake cable? When I drove the auto 87 LE home from work the day I bought it, it was behaving similarly. I hate and don't understand auto trannys (no experience) so I looked at the bearings/brakes first and replaced r/s front caliper and the problem went away. Had the same caliper seize on my V6 Camry--twice.

[wiccanferret]

Wow...come on now...it's a used car. Why would you buy a $6 can of seafoam before you bought $4 worth of cheap spark plugs?

Change your plugs, wires, distributor cap, distributor rotor, fuel filter and air filter then come back if you actually HAVE a problem. Sounds to me like the car is just neglected.

[1988 Camry 2.0]

Car came home today. On a tow truck. Trans shifts poorly. engages and disengages. After the tow the car started again and then I limped it home. Same symptoms: no power. Will be inspecting today...this $200 car has served me well. Seafoam costs $14 up here...oh its neglected okay...