93 camry 2.2l, engine or transmission problem?

[bronzemaxell]

here is my long story,
as i was going home today, driving on highway at 60mph in the rain, on passing lane, all the sudden, the car is slowing down by itself, even though kept my foot on the gas pedal, then i step on the gas pedal harder, and the rpm was not going up any further, it was in 5th gear, engine was revving at around 2200 to 2300 rpm, then i tried to shift into 4th gear, and step on gas pedal hard, the car was slowing down further, but rpm went up to 2500 to 2700 rpm, like the engine lack of power, step on gas pedal hard, RPM not going up, speed not going up, i had to shift to neutral, turn on emgency flash, brake, and pull over to the shoulder, and i thought i was stranded.
While i fully stopped, i rev the RPM to 3k or 4k, and engine seem to be running fine, when i step on clutch all the way down, in neutral, rev the engine to 3 to 4k, and seem fine. then i tried to shift in 1st gear, gave a little gas and let go the clutch slowly, and the car moved fine. then i wait for passing traffic cleared, and shift in gear and drove home like normal.

this was the first time i ever experienced this problem, maybe a bad, first sign my car will have more problem.
anyone would like to guess if this is a engine or transmission problem?
the car has 290k, original engine, distributor, wires, new clutch last year, with a 2nd hand tranny from junkyard, no problem until now

[chronoti]

seems like an engine problem. did it throw any codes? was there any recent rain?

[bronzemaxell]

Originally Posted by chronoti

seems like an engine problem. did it throw any codes? was there any recent rain?

no engine code, but this is a ODB I, less strict or sensitive than ODBII.
it was raining while i was driving. not hard rain, enough visibility to go at 60mph, around 5:20pm in afternoon. not completely dark yet.

while this problem occured, i didn't shut off engine, i just sat idle on shoulder for 20 to 30 second while i tried to rev the engine, then was able to keep going again.
no warning light, coolant temperature normal, new battery 2 months ago.
and when i arrived home and parked, i open the hood, no burning smell, everything look normal, engine oil level normal.

[chronoti]

ya sounds like it could be water in the distro cap pull and check it for any cracks or moisture or look to see if the coil might be cracked too and shorting out to the block.

[mazdaverx7]

an engine issue for sure. the trans would not cause that sort of problem. almost sounds like a clogging converter to me.. a lack of power without an engine miss can be a tough one. it could very well be that your fuel filter is clogging and the angle you were at at the time could have obstructed fuel flow enough to slow you down.

[bronzemaxell]

this morning, sunny, i drove it to work as usual, and every seems normal, accelerate fine, no strange noise
i purposely look under the car before leaving to see if there is any oil stain or drip and there is none.
so not sure the whole thing was trigger by rain, but i drove in rain before, and never happen like this.

but yesterday, after i parked, i did open the hood to see if there was anything unusual, but the engine compartment seem dry, it was not like the rain wet the engine or other electrionic parts. and i don't recall i ran into any big puddle of water cus i never felt hydroplanting.

[ColombianMax]

The fact that this has only happened during rain, points at your distributor cap or wires being exposed to the moisture. Check the cap for cracks as mentioned ealier by someone else. Not sure how good of an idea this is but you can probably get a mister and see if that caused the engine to bog how it did.. once again probably not a bright idea but it'll help you eliminate a possibility or two.

[bronzemaxell]

here is some update

the morning i said it was fine, later dat day, i started the engine fine, and i was trying to drive as normal, step on clutch pedal, shift in R, and gave little gas and let go clutch pedal, the engine stalled, and i thought, maybe i stalled the car by letting the rpm went to low, then i proceed to restart the engine, it just crank, would not start. i tried this many times

so i checked the spark, no spark, then replaced distributor from another similar car, now has strong spark, cranks, but would not start, i thought maybe i crank it too long and the spark plug flooded by fuel, then i left it over night, next morning try again. same thing, crank, would not start, then i thought maybe the distributor need to be adjust, so i adjusted the distributor to every position, and crank, would not start.

since i crank it so many times, i don't recall i smell strong gas, what is the likely chance fuel pump or fuel related problem? what is the symptom of fuel pump fail? i didn't have a chance to loose the fuel filter bolt to check the fuel yet.

the car experience no rough idle, sputter, aside from what happen during rain a few days ago, afterward, i do feel the engine has loss little to some power, because it is not pulling as strong on acceleration as before.

then all the sudden, while engine was running, engine just shut off, and crank, but never started again.
what is the chance that the timing belt snap or jump a tooth? the timing belt was last service at 253k miles, 3.5 year ago. now it is 290k. and how like will the 16 years old belt tensioner spring gave up?

my guess it is either fuel or timing belt, what other possibility?
this is an very old car, no crank sensor.

[cocacolagrl]

Oh wow...this is crazy....i have no idea what this could be..maybe something definately needs to be changed...do you bring it in for maintnence whenit needs to be????. i would think something is very wrong with the engine.....iam no mechanic but just from your posts...it really seems like something in the engine...

[bronzemaxell]

i don't think something very wrong with the engine, i saw no oil leak, and no loud noise when it stalled,
this is an old car, no sophisticated sensors or computers,
i believe as long as there is proper fuel, air and spark mix, and the timing is right, the engine will run again.

[ColombianMax]

Let me ask you this, did you swap just the distributor cap or the entire distributor? If you swapped the whole thing, did you make sure you put it in correctly aligned where so the timing doesnt get thrown off?

[bronzemaxell]

here is what was done,
check spark by remove spark wire from far left, the one closes to passenger side,
put the boot on the engine hook, crank engine, no spark,

removed 3 screws that holds the cap, so it seperates the wires from the distributor, then remove two 12mm bolts, one at 10 o'clock, one at 6 o'clock, remove the old distributor, put another working distributor, but keeping the old rotor, put everything back, crank the engine with the spark plug boot on engine hook, strong spark now, put boot back in the spark tube, crank engine, crank, but no start, tried adjust the distributor in almost in every possible position, cranks, still no start. the tachometer raise to 200 to 300 rpm while cranking.

[bronzemaxell]

i went to walmart, bought a can of starting fluid, remove the air intake hose at the throttle body, then spray the starting fluid while the butterfly open, then close the air hose, get in the car and start the car, the engine start for 0.5 seconds, then shut off, i repeat the proceed, and it did the same thing.
but without spraying, it wouldn't start at all.

[ColombianMax]

Originally Posted by bronzemaxell

i went to walmart, bought a can of starting fluid, remove the air intake hose at the throttle body, then spray the starting fluid while the butterfly open, then close the air hose, get in the car and start the car, the engine start for 0.5 seconds, then shut off, i repeat the proceed, and it did the same thing.
but without spraying, it wouldn't start at all.

Sounds like fuel isnt being delivered... do you hear any sound from the fuel pump when you're about to start the car?

[johnfrisco]

Yeah sounds a bad fuel pump or maybe a fuel pump relay, which activates the fuel pump.

I have had the relay problem on my 92 Accord--same symptoms.