Shaking car, reduced acceleration, WTF?

[pdilla]

My LE L4 used to have a weird hiccup going on. While in idle, the car would sort of "bump" as if I had huge subwoofers or something. I would compensate by shifting to neutral at red lights.... but NOW, it's bumping and shaking all over, not only through the steering wheel.... but the whole car.

And on top of that, it feels like I'm towing a TRAILER or something. I can't accelerate very well up hills anymore. On the freeway, unless I'm going downhill, I can't pass 60.... even if I floor it.

And speaking of the throttle, while I am accelerating, I hear a sort of high pitched buzzy thing going on.

I also have had recent trouble cold starting, it doesn't happen all the time, but I need to rev the engine a bit after it turns over in order for the car to stay on. Although its probably just a dirty IAC...

Suggestions?

[plbill]

Same problem with mine. Bad idle,and hesitation during acceleration. Help would be appreciate.

[pdilla]

Just to add... It seems to shake much worse when I shift to reverse.

[MrSo0h0o]

I would clean out your throttle body and see if that makes a difference. Also, try using seafoam through one of your vacuum hoses(do a search on it if you dont know what this is).

[imbest123]

Originally Posted by MrSo0h0o

I would clean out your throttle body and see if that makes a difference. Also, try using seafoam through one of your vacuum hoses(do a search on it if you dont know what this is).

exactly what i would recommend and a probably cause of the problem could be a faulty idle air control valve

[Loganwiththe'93]

The only issue my car has that is related to this is that high-pitch buzz. Sounds kind of like the buzz in your ear, or a bit like a computer monitor going bad.

[pdilla]

Ok, so I cleaned the throttle body out, now I have RIDICULOUSLY high RPM in idle. Like around 3100.

Scaring the shit outta me. Now what???

[Mike Gerber]

Originally Posted by pdilla

Ok, so I cleaned the throttle body out, now I have RIDICULOUSLY high RPM in idle. Like around 3100.

Scaring the shit outta me. Now what???

Check for vauum leaks. Make sure if you disconnected any vacuum lines that they have been reattached. Also, be sure to inspect the large tube leading to the throttle body that you had to remove in order to clean it. They can crack with age and cause this problem.

Mike

[JCamry94]

Check for leaks, check your throttle kick back cable, may have tightened or loosened something on accident, reset the battery, check your spark plugs/wires as well.

[pdilla]

Anyways.... I fixed that high rpm problem, I put Seamfoam up the vacuum hose, enjoyed the smoke show, and now I got no more hesitation during acceleration, ALTHOUGH.......

The shaking still persists. When I turn my car on, I go around the back and find that the exhaust pipe is pushing air out in "putts".

It goes like, " putt-putt-putt-putt-putt" instead of the smooth airflow that normally happens. So there's where the shaking is coming from.... now what???v

[Mike Gerber]

It sounds like you have a classic case of missfiring, especially under load. That is usually caused by faulty ignition system components. I would check/replace spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor. If that doesn't solve the problem, I would check the fuel injectors. You may have 1 bad injector.

Mike

[hooRAH]

Originally Posted by Mike Gerber

It sounds like you have a classic case of missfiring, especially under load. That is usually caused by faulty ignition system components. I would check/replace spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor. If that doesn't solve the problem, I would check the fuel injectors. You may have 1 bad injector.

Mike

Beat me to it. The thumping definitely sounds like a misfire.

Due to the fact that the Camry uses a map sensor rather than a MAF (I think), any vaccum leak will be noticed by the map sensor and compensated for, and your idle will increase, whereas on a car with a MAF sensor, the mixture would be all wrong and could cause misfires.

Whenever a car is misfiring, the FIRST thing I would check are the spark plug wires. When replacing the VC gasket on our camry, I tore one of the boots on the wire. Had a pretty bad misfire until I replaced the cables.

With the car in a dark area (NOT in the garage with the door closed), start the car and look for blue arcs.

Next, I would check the spark plugs. After that, I'd start checking out the ignition coils and try to see if there are any pending codes in the OBDII system.

[VTHokiEE]

I have the same putt-putt thing going on in my Camry (1993 XLE V6, AT). Acceleration sucks and shifting has gotten rougher. Sometimes I have to back off slightly on the gas and then things shift right away. But back to the shaking...

I have cleaned the TB, replaced spark plug wires, distributer cap and rotor (been trolling the forums on this problem a while). PCV is ok, the plate that replaces the MAF in this car (name is escaping me) passes all the resistence checks that Haynes manual suggests. I have run some injector cleaner in the gas a couple times, no difference.

So, in addition to suggestions for the above, what should the car idle at in drive? Neutral? Right now it is about 1200-1400 in P/N and drops to ~800 in D/R.

[VTHokiEE]

I forgot to add that the gas mileage is also sucking and the car occasionally surges some while driving and then goes back to its underpowered ways. The shaking is much worse while accelerating (or trying to) than it is when coasting or just maintaining speed.


As a side bar, I didn't see a DIY on replacing distributer cap and rotor. I took pictures while I was doing it, so I can try to gen one up if it would help folks.

[ECale3]