Erratic Idleing - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

camrybartockus · 01-25-2009, 10:49 AM

I have a 94 camry, 4 cyl.
When I start it, the car runs smoothly as it should.
It idles around 1000 rpms steadily.
Keep in mind I live in a cold climate too - if that bears any relevance.

Once it warms up, the idle is rough mainly when stopped, in gear. The car will sometimes take right off, but also, will hesitate other times, due to the erratic ide. It is acting similar to the time my ignition coil was wearing out and eventually broke. However, a new ignition coil was installed 4 months ago so I dont think it is that.

Also - a new distributor cap was installed just a few months ago as well, and is sealed properly. The ignition wires seem to be fine and I checked the plugs, they look ok.

At this point - perhaps it is anyones guess what could be wrong, but based on the way it starts properly, and then idles strange, any guesses?

Also, last week a fuse blew, just before the idleing problems started. It was the shiftlock/brake lights. I replaced it. Any correlation perhaps? Also - the battery terminals were loose for a few days - as I had disconnected the negative terminal to do some other work on my car. I didnt tighten them up fully until a week or so later - even though the car was starting up. If the connection was bad - perhaps teh battery was not being charged enough? Could this be a symtom of a bad battery?

Thanks to you all

the94camryman · 01-25-2009, 01:42 PM

4 cyl camrys usually idle a little roughly in gear when below 1000 rpms. my 94 has always done that. now its erratic b/c my engine mounts are broken, but thats b/c i wrecked it not to long ago.
try checking the bushings on your dog bone mount. if those are going bad then it can make the vibration a little worse

camrybartockus · 01-25-2009, 02:03 PM

thanks for your reply - but i dont think you understand the issue at hand. its not the mounts - and i am saying it has an erratic idle, or like engine surges in all rpms, when warmed up.
when it starts and is 1000, its good. it runs properly for about 5 minutes. once the engine has heated up, i then have these idle/engine jumpiness/whatever you want to call it.

anyone else havea suggestion?

CrawlingEye · 01-25-2009, 02:23 PM

try purchasing some throttle body (get something that is IAC safe) cleaner and grabbing a crapload of paper towels. remove your intake from the throttle body and open the butterfly valve and spray into the TB and the IAC. wipe the throttle body cleaner with the paper towels, rinse and repeat until the paper towels come back nearly clean. over time the idle air control valve can get blocked (as can the throttle body itself) and cause the car to idle somewhat rough.

5sfe's (your engine) are known to idle a bit rough while in gear. bad motor mounts will make this situation worse. the above poster is correct in that the dogbone mount is the most frequent to wear quickly.

I've heard of a solution with using different dogbone mount but I haven't personally yet investigated it. I believe it's a gen4 camry dogbone (5sfe) that fits and does a good job of settling the rough idle while in gear.

CrawlingEye · 01-25-2009, 02:42 PM

here's the direct link to the thread involving the dogbone swap: DYI Improving Gen 3/3.5 vibration problem at idle

Mike Gerber · 01-25-2009, 03:28 PM

If cleaning the throttle body doesn't help the problem, then check the engine coolant temperature sensor. It could be out of range and constantly telling the computer that the engine is always cold. This will be fine for a cold engine but could make a warm engine run very rough, espcially at idle. You will need a digital volt/ohmeter and the specs from any manual to do this. If the engine coolant temperature sensor checks out ok, then check the O2 sensors. They too may be out of range. I don't remember for certain if they are out of the feedback loop until the engine reaches a set temperature on a 94 Camry or not.

Mike

camrybartockus · 01-25-2009, 04:16 PM

thanks for the good info mike. btw, i just took the car for a spin, same issue of course, but i noticed the lights on the dashboard were flikering slightly whenever the engine lopes/pulsates/idles roughly. Im guessing there is not enough power of somesort. does this tell you anything? whoever else is reading this, please comment.

CrawlingEye · 01-25-2009, 07:24 PM

If there is an issue with the battery not being fully charged, just leave the car run for a bit (take an extended drive). The alternator will charge the battery back up to full within time.

Mike Gerber · 01-25-2009, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camrybartockus

thanks for the good info mike. btw, i just took the car for a spin, same issue of course, but i noticed the lights on the dashboard were flikering slightly whenever the engine lopes/pulsates/idles roughly. Im guessing there is not enough power of somesort. does this tell you anything? whoever else is reading this, please comment.

When the engine stumbles, the alternator doesn't turn as fast as when the engine is running normally, so less electricity is produced. I think this is just a symptom of the real problem, not the problem itself. Hiowever, I would check the battery terminal connections for corrosion, just to be safe.

Mike