01 Camry troubles..............HELP

[Mikey415]

Hello Friends, its been a while since I last visited TN since I got a new car, but now I really need your help.

My dad owns a 2001 (auto ) 4 cylender Camry CE. He owned the car since day 1, and never really took care of it except for minor things like oil changes. I guess he expected the car to last forever trouble-free with almost no maintence (its TOYOTA, anythings possible) but now (105k) the car is beggining to have problems.

The car has stalled a total of 5 (seperate) times, most times at red lights, on normal even areas in the city. In the mornings, the RPMs get up pretty high, as you start the car, and stay high for a while, as you begin to drive, the car feels shaky with RPMs rather unstable/not normal. Also I noticed the car is not as responsive as before, when you press the accelerator, the car lags before slowly speeding up.

I really owe it to him to find out whats wrong...

Hope I didn't bore you too much,
Any help appreciated!

[ghettosled]

sounds like it needs a normal tune-up (spark plugs, fluid changes...) and a throttle body cleaning.

[hooRAH]

I'd do the throttle body cleaning before I even ordered the plugs and wires. That will probably solve most of your driveability problems right there.

[Mike Gerber]

I agree with the throttle body cleaning, but while you are in there, pay particular attention to the idle air contol valve. There is a square or diamond shaped port in the base of the throttle body that leads to the idle air control valve. Spray the cleaner liberally in to that port and let it soak while you go on to clean the rest of the throttle body. A dirty idle air control valve may be the main cause of the stalling. In addition to that, if the spark plugs still haven't been changed at 105000 miles, I would change them. They were due for replacement at 60000 miles. Do those 2 things and then see how the car runs.

Mike