Camry doesnt like the cold.

[ecl]

With it getting cold recently, every morning I go out to start the car it'll crank over but not start. I do this 2-3 times and then it'll start, what could be a cause of this and is there any thing I can do? I just dont want to go out one morning and it not start at all. I tried searching and found a thread that seems like it would help but my computer locks up every time I try to open so any help would be appreciated.

[dem2757]

first, how old is your battery?

try tightening/ cleaning the terminals on the battery, sometimes thats all you need.

other than electrical, your cold start injector/time switch might be bad/ dirty.

try the battery first though, that could be your problem

[white90dx]

Since it sounds like the engine is cranking fine, you probably do have an issue with the cold start injection system. Most likely it is the Cold Start Injector Time Switch, located on the water outlet neck.

When this happened to me, I found the switch had actually broken in half... not sure how it happened. You can sometimes find a replacement at the junkyard. If you buy it new, it is fairly expensive, but at least you will probably get another 20 years out of it.

-Charlie

[ecl]

The battery is only 6 months old and the terminals r in good shape no corrosion. I guess it could be the cold start injector thing. Any way to just clean it if its not broke?

[Camry84]

Not sure on how to clean the Cold start timing switch but I cleaned my cold start injector by removing it and cleaning it with some throttle body cleaner.
I made a jumper so I could apply 12 Volts to the injector and back flushed it with the throttle body cleaner. I made sure the screen was clean and the whole injector clean and put it back in.

It's a good idea to have a new gasket handy for re-install.
Just be sure if you do this to not leave the 12 Volts connected for more than a few seconds at a time. Too long might fry it.

Ultrasonic cleaning would probably be the best if you have access to one then backflush.

I didn't test the spray pattern, you need to have a remote connection with pressurized fuel and I didn't want to risk fire by spraying it in the engine compartment (although I've read that other people have done this to test it out.)

[Mike Gerber]

"Not sure on how to clean the Cold start timing switch"

You can not clean the cold start time switch. It is an electronic sensor and it can go out of range causing the problem you are experiencing. The good news is that you can test it with a digital volt/ohmeter and the specs from any manual. I would definitely test it and not just try to replace it, since it is an expensive part, probably over $100. To the best of my knowledge it's a dealer only part.

Mike