Spontaneous Camry Problem (1991)

[vex]

The car was working just fine when I went out to run errands. No issues whatsoever. When I was heading home the engine stopped while going up hill. No stutter, no hesitation, just stopped (check engine light did come on). I was able to pull over to the side of the road and park it there, but when I attempted to turn it over the car would not kick. It freely cranks and it sounds like it's trying to fire on 1 cylinder, but none of the others. I'm thinking something with the ignition system went out, but being by myself it becomes rather difficult to test spark.

Any thoughts?

Here are the details about the car:
1991 V6 Camry
Automatic
Distributor was rebuilt almost a year ago with new o-rings and the like
An intermittent stumble has occurred every so often but never stalled out the car (even after the distributor was rebuilt)

[vex]

I think I've tracked down the problem to the coil/igniter assembly. Will be looking for the ohm criteria to do an ohm test.

[vex]

I was able to test the coil:

Primary coil tested: ~0.5 ohms [0.38 - 0.48 ohms is target, but I'm using an analog multimeter]
Secondary coil tested: ~16 kohms [7.7 - 10.4 kohms]

as can be seen the secondary coil is fubr but the primary seems to be okay. Would this cause my problems?

[Mike Gerber]

Possibly. Most of the time the coils go out it is because of hairline cracks in the plastic of the coil. The coil then shorts itself to ground on any metal inside the distributor. With this problem it is usually worse in wet/damp weather. I would remove it and inspect for cracks.

Mike

[vex]

Originally Posted by Mike Gerber

Possibly. Most of the time the coils go out it is because of hairline cracks in the plastic of the coil. The coil then shorts itself to ground on any metal inside the distributor. With this problem it is usually worse in wet/damp weather. I would remove it and inspect for cracks.

Mike

There was a hairline crack with a few mm of separation occurring on the side of the coil. This would also coincide with the non-functional secondary coil not meeting spec. The coil seemed dry to me, but humidity in the air, evaporating water from a puddle may all have played a role in bringing this to a head. I've already put in a order to replace it at the tune of $75.00 and a few days wait. Hopefully this will fix the issue I'm having. Will update when it is installed.

[WhippinCamry]

could it be a timing belt?

[Mike Gerber]

It's also possible the timing belt could have snapped, but that's pretty easy to check. Just remove the distributor cap. Then have someone crank the engine by turning the key while a second person observes the rotor. If the rotor rotates, the timing belt is intact. If it doesn't rotate, the timing belt has snapped.

The coil is more likely IMHO, since the OP stated this "An intermittent stumble has occurred every so often but never stalled out the car" in his original post. A timing belt doesn't usually give any problems until it snapps. It is possible a couple of teeth could sheer off from the timing belt throwing the timing off, but then the OP would have noticed a change (usually a loss) in power. That's not impossible, but the coil is a more likely suspect.

Mike

[vex]

So I just took the opportunity to go and check to see if the timing belt is intact and is turning the distributor. It looks like I will have to secure means to get the timing belt replaced as the rotor does not turn when the car cranks.

[Tatohead]

Yeah, because it's not making compression in all cylinders the starter motor will turn over the engine much faster without a timing belt attached. Many have interpreted the higher starter RPM as an engine "almost starting".

I JUST did the belt on a 3SFE 2 weeks ago. Let me know if you have any Q's.

Good luck!

EDIT: DUh! You have a V6. Good luck just the same!