3rd & 4th Generation (1992–1996 & 1997–2001)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 1992-1996 & 1997-2001
Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving America's favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
First and foremost, thanks in advance to anyone who can offer any advice. I am going to take off work tomarrow just to do battle with this car, and i so far i have about 8 possiable culprits. I will make a point to post the solution if and when I fix it.
I just bought a 93 Camry with 210k miles. Nice car in good condition for the age and milage. The owner disclosed that the only known problem was a fluxuation in the idle. For $900 I wasn't complaining.
Things have taken a turn for the worst however. The idle issue has now turned into a stalling issue. The following is a detailed decription of what is/has happened...
From the time I bought the car, it would idle normal when engine was cold. Upon warm-up it would idle around 1000 but drop to 750ish for a second every 5-7 seconds. This problem never happened during acceleration. At the time I was thinking ISC valve needed cleaned/replaced.
After about a week my wife reported that the car actually stalled twice while in park (again... after being warmed up). She said it started right back up with no problems however both times.
Today she told me it stalled three times. Once in park, once while she was reversing, and once when she was pulling out from a drive-by ATM machine. The final stall (pulling out) she said it went about 20 feet real sluggishly even though she was giving it sufficent gas, then it abruptly regained power for a second then stalled. All three times she said it started right back up with no problem (hense I doubt it is the coolant temp sensor as people with this problem report trouble restarting after a stall). Interestingly enough she also noted that when she puts it in neutral all problems including the idle fluxuation do not occur.
At this point I am guessing one of the following...
Air intake issue (either a leak or a sticking flap). I have yet to check for this because of how dark it gets by the time i get home, however if this was the issue woudn't it have problems both when cold and warmed-up?
Dirty ERG valve. This is mentioned ALOT by people with late model Camry stall issues. Although they report trouble restarting, which i am not experiencing. Alot of people with ERG problems report it stalls when stopping, which has not happened... yet.
Ignition Coil. I see this pop up as the culprit for camry stalls. Wouldn't this also be a cold and hot problem though... not just a warm problem?
I really think the key to this is that it only does it when in gear. Any ideas?
I would encourage you to clean the throttle body, the IAC, and the EGR valve. I believe dirty EGRs do make the car run rough when the car warms up, however stalling the car out is unusual. To cause the car to stall you may have several issues so start at one end and work towards the other. Seafoam is highly recommended on this forum to clean out the combustion system and the oil passages. You can run a resistance checks on the spark plug wires and the coil. Distributor contacts and rotor should be clean. No oil in the distributor cap is best. If you notice the problem more in damp conditions you may want to remove the distributor coil (you have to take off the distributor) and look for cracks. Check the big air hose for cracks, check for broken vacuum lines.
Later,
Kep
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Often, it's the loose screw between the steering wheel and the driver's seat that needs to be fixed first!
I had a similar problem and it turned out to be the ignition coil. The reason it only does it when it's hot (or at least for my car) is because the coil is inside the distributer which is mounted on the engine. As the engine warms up it warms up the coil too. The problem is that along with all electrical devices, resistances change with temperature, and the coil is at a point where when it gets warm its resistance gets too high, causing a misfire.
__________________ All of the lag, none of the boost.
VTEC It's like waiting for really bad sex.
First guess would be Idle Air Control valve usually referred to as the IAC.
When it was just a weird idle, i thought the same thing. Could this valve malfunctioning actually cause stalling while in drive however? Unless the weird idle is independent of the stallilng problem.
Went under the hood today and checked the intake hoses... no visable cracks or leaks.
Hitting up the junkyard tomarrow to pillage a camry for pieces.
Could this valve malfunctioning actually cause stalling while in drive however?
Our '93 got really close to stalling before I pulled the IAC and hosed it out well with carb cleaner. I imagine it would have begun to stall if it got much funkier.
I had a similar problem on my 2.2L 93. mechanic said that it was a dirty egr value, and that fixed it for a while, but then it came back. Then another mechanic changed the timing, and that helped a little, and stoped the stalling, but he told me that I had 1 or 2 bad cylinders. He said the cheapest thing would be to just get a "new" engine(either rebuild or salvaged)
Given your symptoms I would first thoroughly clean the IAC and throttle butterfly valve. I don't suspect coil and I don't suspect EGR, although given the age and mileage cleaning it can't hurt. Before I would do anything major on this $900 car I would do a compression test as well as pull the plugs to see if it's burning oil and to see if it's running rich.
Certainly changing wires, plugs,cap, rotor might be a good idea, but not necessarily realted to your idle problem.
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1995 Camry Wagon LE. 2.2 4cyl, 5S-FE, Auto, 187K
Given your symptoms I would first thoroughly clean the IAC and throttle butterfly valve. I don't suspect coil and I don't suspect EGR, although given the age and mileage cleaning it can't hurt. Before I would do anything major on this $900 car I would do a compression test as well as pull the plugs to see if it's burning oil and to see if it's running rich.
Certainly changing wires, plugs,cap, rotor might be a good idea, but not necessarily realted to your idle problem.
Perhaps I should elaborate on the history of the car before I bought it. The gentleman I purchased the car from said the thing stalled on him and he had the fuel pump, rotor, wires, and plugs changed out. He said the mechanic ran a compression test and reported "weak" compression, but normal for the mileage and not bad enough to cause the stall.
The previous owner noted that the weird idle started after he had this work done. However the work did fix the stalling at the time.
Based on the exhaust I don't suspect it is burning oil (no smell or blue smoke). Is there another home test that can be done to test for this condition?
I will also mention that last night when tinkering with the car I had a friend turn the car on, then off again immediatly while I listened for air leaks. There is a definate air rushing sound comming from what sounds like behind the engine. I cannot so far see any damaged/loose hoses however. Can someone with a 3ed gen camry repeat this test and let me know if this noise is occuring in a "working" camry?
I would check for vacuum leaks especially the brake booster if the brakes seem harder than normal to push. The air rushing sound on turn off might just be compression bleed down.
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1995 Camry Wagon LE. 2.2 4cyl, 5S-FE, Auto, 187K
Ok, today I was examining the throddle body to see how I should remove it when...
I noticed the Throddle Position Sensor was unplugged!
Thought for SURE this must have been the problem. I plugged it back in, and since I could access the IAC valve without taking the throddle body off, I cleaned the IAC as well.
Surely between these two parts the car MUST work now!
Drove it around for a half hour... same idle fluxuation, same stalling problem upon pulling out from a stop. No improvement.
I'm pulling the EGR tomarrow. THIS CAR WILL SUBMIT TO MY WILL!!!
Make sure the plugs are NGK and not bosch. The mech that did that work may have used the wrong plugs. As already mentioned, it's good idea to pull the plugs anyways to check for a rich running cylinder or possibly a wet cylinder in case you have a head gasket failure.
Make sure the plugs are NGK and not bosch. The mech that did that work may have used the wrong plugs. As already mentioned, it's good idea to pull the plugs anyways to check for a rich running cylinder or possibly a wet cylinder in case you have a head gasket failure.
As well, check your fuel pressure.
dave mc
Ewww, don't start mentioning faulty engine parts... I like it much better when people suggest things like sensors and valves that I can actually fix myself.
It is a 4 cylinder. Interesting you mention the plugs. I was thinking perhaps incorrect gapping since apparently this problem started after the mechanic changed the plugs. NO idea what type of plugs. I may have to look into this. Wouldn't plug problems affect performance both cold and warm however?
Tried pulling the EGR without taking off the throddle body by using a stubby ratchet with a crows foot wrench and a universal joint (don't ask). It would have worked, except the freeken bolt must be 23-24 mm... and my largest crowfoot is a 22 mm.
I'm not too nervous about taking the throddle body off, besides the fact that I have never done it before and there is the tentioned throddle pully? Does the thing go back on pretty much easily or do I have to do some funky tention trickery?
By throddle pully I am refering to the round wheel thing on the front of the throddle body that the gas peddle links to in order to open and close the throddle.
Really, what Davemac2 mentioned is more checks than replacements. Of course, if you find a problem... But if you do find a problem it needs attention.
I can't reassure you about the throttle cable and accelerator cable. You disconnect them before removing the throttle body. However, the manual says to adjust them when re-connecting them. I didn't find a reference to how to adjust them. Go to the on-line manual. EG1-207 starts describing the throttle body and emission systems. EG1-146 gives an introduction to the emission systems.
While you have the throttle body off, definitely clean the IAC more thoroughly. Do a search in the Gen 2 Camry section. One of the guys did a very detailed DIY & photo post. It is probably very similar for the 5SFE. Be gentle when cleaning the IAC and EGR the crud that you are cleaning is very hard and you end up prying it out with a pick. It's easy to damage the parts.
Kep
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Often, it's the loose screw between the steering wheel and the driver's seat that needs to be fixed first!
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