1988 Camry 4cyl. standard runs/dies

[rayboy7]

1988 Camry standard 4 cylinder. Same problem exactly as HUSKER's start & run problems.
It quit on the road, no restart.

Replaced rotor button, dist. cap, plug wires AND Timing Belt. Cleaned Throttle Body & Sensor holes.
Now starts barely puffs & misses. Mash gas pedal some & picks up speed, then
after a few seconds dies again. Will restart in just a bit, but same thing.

NOW am setting TIMING.

Is it 10° for my engine??????? AND do I have to hook up a crossover wire between the terminals mentioned in previous message to HUSKER???

Been without wheels for 45 days. HELP! I am 59 years old.

Thanks,
rayboy7

[Kep]

With the engine off, turn the key to accessorie position. Does the Check Engine Light come on along with all of the other idiot lights?

Kep

[Mike Gerber]

I would check fuel pressure. The pump may be very weak or you could get lucky and the fuel filter is clogged. You will need a gage and a couple of fittings to do this. Download the generation 2 Toyota factory service manual stickied at the top of this forum. It will have the procedure top do this. If that checks out OK, I would then check the coil inside the distributor. They have been a common failure area on the first three generation Camrys. You will need a digital volt/ohmeter to do this again along with the specs from the manual.

Mike

[geojumper]

Hello,

Bought an '87 with stalling / runnining uneven condition. Replaced the coil even though tested within secs with meter. Has not missed a beat since. Guess reason to write is if I had trusted meter I would have been scratching my head awhile. George in Wisconsin.

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Sometimes there are just ghosts in the machine. The hard task is knowing when not to trust diagnostic results--you just got lucky.

[rayboy7]

This is rayboy7,

I got what I think is a good tip from a Mechanic here in TN.

He had a 1988 Camry with same problem. Acts like it starts starving for something.

He has to change the Cannister by the grille on passenger side under battery
every 60,000 or 70,000 miles. It gets clogged and won't let the vacuum work.

I have new Timing Belt set perfectly and the ignition Timing at 10° BTDC
with the crossover wire between E1 and T. This is correct for a 1988 4cyl.

I think this will do it now. If not, I will check fuel pressure and condenser in distributor.

Anyone know what kinds of problems a bad igniter might cause???

Thank you so much guys,
rayboy7

[rayboy7]

To MIKE GERBER,

The FREE Camry Manuals site is shut down. Toyota made them close.

Anyone know of any other 1988 Camry 4cyl. Manual FREE???????

Thank you,
rayboy7

[atobe]

camrystuff.com toyota hasn't gotten that one yet

[Mike Gerber]

If the link atobe posted doesn't work, try this one:

http://www.camrymanuals.com/index.ph...=105&topicid=0

Mike

[atobe]

may be you haven't tried any of the links yourself mike.

[PaulyJay]

mike, check your link, and some one needs to update the sticky.

atobe, your link works. USE THIS LINK>>>>>>> http://camrystuff.com

[TBayToyotaBoy]

That just absolutely sucks, that Toyota would close Camrymanuals.com down. It was much easier to use than the Haynes manual, which is patchy at best (the entire section on fluid capacities is missing from the Haynes Camry edition for some reason). At least the Camrystuff.com site seems to have identical files to those that we've been using.

A question for Mr. Mike Gerber: you mentioned the weak fuel pump. Have you known these pumps to weaken and inject foam? I've seen that happen on Jeeps and GMs generally, but I expect crap quality from them. In my humble experience, the Toyota pumps either work or they don't. Much like Honda pumps, they don't seem to crap-out slowly. For me and those I know it's always been an abrupt and complete failure. I'm curious to hear your experiences...

[rayboy7]

rayboy7 I'm back...

Charcoal cannister is bad. Can't afford to replace at $275.
Now leaning toward Vacuum leaks.
Taking large vacuum hose off of Brake booster at firewall and holding hose closed
improved running: longer and better. Possibly caused vacuum to pull better on other parts. huh?

I will update you all more later.
rayboy7

[rayboy7]

rayboy7
By the way, where does the Main Vacuum source originate exactly
that vacuums the rest???????

Thank you guys,
rayboy7

[marc780]

Heres some ideas:
1. fuel injectors dirty or worn out
2. fuel filter clogged, replace
3. fuel pump is weak, check output pressure with a gauge
4. do a compression check, maybe it has low engine compression
5. alternator weak, check output with a cheapo v.o.m. meter at the battery - needs a minimum of 13.9 volts, acceptable range 13.9 - 15 volts; (i had your symptoms in my 1988 nissan truck, and the dasboard light never came on, and it turned out the alternator was doing a slow fade)
6. worn out ignition switch (sounds weird but i have actually seen this make the car run wrong or not start!)