Back with another problem haha

[ExoticKiss]

I posted a few months ago about my car not starting on hot days...well now that we got that problem figured out...Got another one lol


It's a 1989 Toyota Camry LE V6


It's kind of hard to explain exactly what's going on but I will try my best.

For the longest time when I came to a stop on even the slightest uphill slope the car would hesitate when I try to get going..but once I got going it ran great.

Last week I went to pull out of my road after sitting waiting for 2 cars to pass. As soon as I pushed on the gas the car hesitated then immediately stalled. Started right back up, hesitated a little bit and then ran fine for the rest of the day.

3 Days ago I parked the car in the driveway for maybe 15 minutes...went out to start it, started it right up but as soon as I pushed on the gas, it stalled.

My uncle took my car over the weekend and he decided to play with idle a bit to see if it helped. He adjusted it up probably 300-400 more than it was before. And now it seems like it's worse.

Today I went out and started it this morning..immediately stalled while it was in park. Started it back up and the RPMs were jumping up and down between 300-600, went up to about 800 then dropped again and almost stalled. I gave it some gas a couple times and the RPMs finally evened out to about 900 but the first few times it was really rough when I was doing it but once it was staying around 900 it sounded and felt fine.


So whatever it is it's getting worse and fast but only does it sometimes


Any suggestions of where to start with this?

[white90dx]

Ignition coil, possibly. I think the V6 runs an external coil, which will be easier to replace.

If you can get the car up and going with light/smooth throttle application but it bogs/dies under sudden/hard throttle, then it is coil or something else in the ignition system. Often it will get worse with wet weather.

Let us know if there are any other symptoms...

-Charlie

PS. Idle control on your car is electronic. The ECU will try its best to return the idle speed back down to the factory set RPM. The only way to raise it is to open up the idle adjust screw really far, but then you won't get a constant RPM for the idle (it will change with weather, etc.).

[ExoticKiss]

Can't say that it gets worse with wet weather...Last 2 days that it's acted up really bad it was dry and sunny out.

Don't really know what else would be associated with this problem, the car has multiple problems... but the transmissions is shifting really hard sometimes too. It was just rebuilt 20k miles ago.


Is there a way to find out exactly what the factory set RPM is?

[white90dx]

Factory idle should be 650rpm - it will be listed on the emissions sticker under the hood. If the brake lights, headlights, rear defogger, etc. are on, it should rise slightly to 700rpm.

How long has it been since you have change the spark plugs, spark plug wires, cap and rotor? If it has been more than 30k miles, change those out first... Use NGK or Denso plugs and factory parts for the rest.

-Charlie

[ExoticKiss]

Well all the sticker says is "Idle mixture screw is preset and sealed at factory. Adjusting during tune up is not recommended" And for the Idle Speed it says "N/A (Automatically controlled)." No numbers but before it started acting up it always steadily idled at 1000...been like that since I bought it until it started acting up.

My dad is going to test the ignition coil for me when he gets home.


As for the plugs, cap and wires...I had the plugs replaced when I got the car, about 40k miles ago, they were taken out about 5k miles ago and I was told they looked fine. It's been about 40k since the cap and wires were changed so I guess I could try that. I'm kind of limited on my funds right now so I'm hoping the problem is something my dad can do and it won't require taking it to a shop. But I know he's not going to want to do the plugs. It'd be different if the back ones were easier to get to haha.

[white90dx]

Your problem sounds ignition related, so start with that...

I hear if you have the right tools, you can get to the rear plugs without removing the intake manifold... no promises there though! Plug wires, cap, rotor, etc. should be easier to replace (but more expensive parts).

-Charlie

[ExoticKiss]

Well thanks for the advice!

Didn't get to testing the ignition coil tonight, was dark out before he got here, hopefully tomorrow we'll either be able to figure out if it's that or we can rule that out.

And I'll have to look into the rear plugs..it'd be nice if we could check them without removing manifold.

[TUBEJUNKE]

Originally Posted by ExoticKiss

For the longest time when I came to a stop on even the slightest uphill slope the car would hesitate when I try to get going..but once I got going it ran great.

Last week I went to pull out of my road after sitting waiting for 2 cars to pass. As soon as I pushed on the gas the car hesitated then immediately stalled. Started right back up, hesitated a little bit and then ran fine for the rest of the day.

3 Days ago I parked the car in the driveway for maybe 15 minutes...went out to start it, started it right up but as soon as I pushed on the gas, it stalled.

Today I went out and started it this morning..immediately stalled while it was in park. Started it back up and the RPMs were jumping up and down between 300-600, went up to about 800 then dropped again and almost stalled. I gave it some gas a couple times and the RPMs finally evened out to about 900 but the first few times it was really rough when I was doing it but once it was staying around 900 it sounded and felt fine.

So whatever it is it's getting worse and fast but only does it sometimes

I just wanted to comment on how similar these symptoms are to mine over in the "trouble in paradice" forum. To me it's funny how both of our cars, so far, have been very intermittent, but getting worse, or at least more frequent in my case. To me it's much harder to deal with AND diagnose and repair something that part of the time is completely fine.