need help with 95 camry

[elvester]

Hello Everyone,

I am new here and I need some advice about some trouble I'm having with my 95 camry 4 cyl. automatic. A couple of months ago the car started this thing where when I came to a traffic light..the engine started sputtering and the car died,..I put it in park and started it back up and it proceeded to run roughly till i got home. After cooling down the car started back up fine..it only seems to do this when the engine has been running 40 mintues are so,..the check engine light does not come on when this happens either. When it starts sputtering and choking,..I have to put it in park (at red lights, etc) -and the problem stops. I did some online research and found another forum where it was suggested to change the coolant temperature sensor -so I did..problem persists. Next I changed my EGR valve,..problem still persists. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could be causing this?..I'm no mechanic,..but I think it might be the idle air control valve?..could that be it?? I would certainly appreciate any help or advice anyone could offer -the car runs great otherwise -it's just when the engine is warm and i'm sitting still that it happens..best wishes,
Johnny

[bigbird]

could be, worth checking out. how many miles on the car?

[Blackhawk3D]

Try spraying your throttle body and IAC with throttle body cleaner or carburator cleaner, I emptied a whole can into mine. It took a while to start afterwards and made some nice smoke, but it ran better and I haven't had any idle problems since.

[elvester]

The car has 148k on it,..I already cleaned the throttle body there alll around the butterfly valve with carb cleaner..are you saying to remove the iac and clean that real well too? I just would prefer to not spend the 200$ if I don't have to for a new IAC. Thanx for the suggestions BTW..
Johnny

[Stealth]

Try replacing the engine coolant temperature sensorb (ECT/CTS). Part should be like $30-40. I'd much rather give that a try first. I did the IAC first which my mechanic did for $300. That didn't fix my problem, but I replaced the CTS and it ran fine afterwards.

[Teefy]

I am having exactly the same problem with my car. Anytime i'm at a stop light the car feels like it is going to stall, if i put the car into neutral or park then it idles perfectly. Car runs very well other than that.

So if you find a solution i would be interested in hearing about it.
From what i have read so far it sounds like cleaning out the IAC valve is a good start.

[Blackhawk3D]

Could it be that your torque converter isn't quite releasing enough at idle?

[elvester]

Well Stealth -I already did try the replacing the Coolant Temperature Sensor (CTS)..AND the EGR valve..I guess I'll try to clean the IAC next and see if that helps...I'm also reading it could be the MAP sensor,..heck,..I guess I have to make my way thru all these things to see which one makes it stop doing what it's doing,..I'll keep you all posted...the frustrating thing is that it seems to be a common problem,..but quite a few people have tried different things that worked for them...grrr..
Johnny

[nunyadamnbiz]

Try using seafoam...do a search on it there is a bunch on this forum...put it in your brake booster vacume line