Big Problem with GF's car

[dedalus1981]

Hello all! Glad to be here. Okay right to the point.

My girlfriend owns a 1993 Camry w/ automatic transmission. Over the past few months the car has had a problem that's gotten worse and worse.

The car runs fine when in Park, Reverse, and Neutral. In fact it runs amazingly well in those gears for a 15 year old car. However, when the car is put into Drive, it stalls and dies. The car shudders very violently in first gear ONLY, and she has to push the gas ever so gently to keep the engine running. Once the car is up to speed and out of first gear (about 5-10 mph I suppose), it runs beautifully all the way up to standard highways speeds. The main problem is that when coming to a stoplight, or simply sitting still at any time while in Drive, the car will almost always begin to shake, shudder, choke and die. It starts up perfectly after it dies, though. The step that she has taken to prevent stalling is that whenever she is coming to a stop for more than one or two seconds and she feels the car begin to shudder, she throws it into Park (at stoplights, etc.) and this seems to work--the RPMs shoot back up and the engine runs smoothly until you need to start moving forward again. I've drievn the car myself and found this is the only way to keep the car running while stopped and in Drive.

I think it's safe to assume this is a transmission issue. But I can't be 100% because she doesn't know when the car was last taken in for a check-up. I think it make have something to do with the transmission torque converter, but that's just what I'm assuming because of the choke/stall.

What do you think could be the issue here? Will it cost her an arm and leg to get fixed? Can I do it myself? (moderate car knowledge).
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[wtftoy]

What happens when you're at a stop light and instead of Park put it in Neutral, does it still dies? Also, have you checked the condition of the transmission fluid?

[ghettosled]

i would start off by checking the color and level of the transmission fluid just for peace of mind. i would also take the time to clean the throttle body and idle air control valve. i had a smiliar problem as you and cleaning did the trick. even though the car thought everything was fine and ideled just fine, in gear there is a power being drawn from the engine causing a lower idle and with the gunk build up in the throttly body less air was getting through causing mine to constantly be on the verge of stalling.

im shotting this idea from the hip so i dont know if it will work - has she been using the AC recently? on my car, the RPMs would raise with the AC on because of the draw from the compressor. in theory with the raise RPMs from the AC being on, this should compensate for the power loss and she should be able to drive the car without stalling. if she is able to, then it is crud build up. but, i havent put this to the test so i have no idea if this idea holds water.

[Mike Gerber]

^ I will second cleaning the throttle body, paying particular attention to spraying the cleaner liberally down in to the square or diamond shaped port at the base of the throttle body. That is the port that leads to the idle air control valve, where the problem porbably exists. Spray there first and then go on to clean the rest of the throttle body while the cleaner soaks in to the idle air control valve.

Mike

[Shelleybeanz]

I had something similar happen about 3 years ago. My 95 camry would have a shaky start then run great at 15+ but as soon as you began to slow down, the car would choke shake and eventually stall. It would restart immediately with a little gas. It was my EGR valve. Not sure of the repair cost as my father decided to take it on as a weekend project. I do know that it was fairly difficult for him, but he isn't too great with cars.

Does her CEL blink at all while she's slowing down? Check the computer to see if there is a code. Sounds identical to my experiences.