Nightmare '92 Camry v-6 XLE 3vz-fe

[happy420]

this is a long story so bear with me.

Back in '05 I purchased this Camry. I made it 19.6 miles from the "dealer" when the engine blew a piston thru the top of the motor.

Purchased a used engine with 46,000 miles to put in the thing. After many troubles getting my mechanic to put it in the dumb thing wouldn't start. spent 2 years figuring out what was wrong. Ended up being the distributor and MAF. Got running FINALLY only to find out the head gasket was "folded" causing an over-heating problem.

Had that replaced and the "Mechanic" left off a couple of plug wires. Took back to him to have him check timing due to lack of power. He eventually got it to run 1/2way acceptable, but still lacking the GO!! it should have. Couldn't get him to do any more at this point.

Drove car for 7 months in '09 before it started flashing the o/d light while going down the road and running at 4000 RPM at 50 mph. Parked car for the night and when getting back into it the next morning, it still ran at a high rpm for about 1.5 miles then it was ok for a minute. Actually rode at a lower rpm than usual at 55 mph for about 1-2 miles at which time the thing died and now will not start. Couldn't get any spark from the distributor so I checked the coil and wasn't getting spark there either.

Now I am stuck with the decision of where to start with the replacement of components. Anyone with any ideas?

Thanks in advance for any help in this matter.

Hopefully I don't have to blow it up!! LOL

This is a U.S. car.

[PortugalFocus]

At this point I would cut your losses and crush it. The price of scrap is up right now. You can probably get around $275-300 for that car in scrap alone.

[hill8570]

If you disconnect the ignitor from the primary side of the coil and then mimic an ignitor by attaching / detaching 12V to the primary side of the coil, do you get spark then?

[happy420]

No I haven't tried to "mimic" that with the igniter.

And scrapping it is out of the question since I have probably 6-7000 in it already. Just want a RUNNING car!!!

Could you describe how here?

Or post a pic of how?

[hill8570]

Originally Posted by happy420

No I haven't tried to "mimic" that with the igniter

Well, try it then -- good way to determine if the coil is good or not.

[rusty9]

i think you should find a new "dealer" and "mechanic"

[EEngineer]

bad purchase from day 1

sucks but salvage is proly best idea

[chronoti]

well pull the codes from the ecu, search the site and you will find the procedures

also test resistance on the coil to make sure it's still good.

then we can talk about junking

[happy420]

Thanks for the input. How can you get the codes without a diagnostic computer without paying the dealership a fortune? Last time we took it to the dealer to have the codes checked they told us it was $65.00 for the diagnostic but tried to hold the car unless we paid $350.00. Had to get our atty. involved.

If reasonable prices on a handheld diagnostic tool I will consider buying one if we are going to keep the thing.

Otherwise, anyone know who wants a 3vz-fe motor? Or a whole vehicle?

LOL

[chronoti]

http://www.off-road.com/toyota/tech/codes/

you have an obdi computer you can jump 2 pins and watch the check light flash

[chronoti]

http://autorepair.about.com/library/faqs/bl911g.htm

for the trans code

[happy420]

Thank you chronoti for your input/suggestions as well as the links. It will probably be a while before I can let you know if I found the problem. I am in Darwin, MN and right now it is as warm as we will get for a while at 1 degree F.
As soon as I can handle the chill I will get out and check those codes. I have checked the resistance of the coil and found it to be .02 off of what the Haynes manual says it should be.

is about what I think of this car!!!!!

[happy420]

As for those calling for a "scrap job" of the car, I have too much into it now (or even after it broke down the first time to let it go for less than $3000.00. which is $5.00 more than I paid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) would just not work. Going to try getting her going and hope to get my moneys worth out of it . Figure I'll have an almost new car by the time I'm done. LOL

[Eye8Pussies]

at this point, I wouldn't cut my losses completely, but I would go to a junkyard or find a donor car for 500bucks and swap both the tranny and the motor in

unfortunately, there isn't much that we can help you with until you pull the codes.


also, I would get a new mechanic. if he can't even transplant a motor into a car and make it run, it's time to bail on him

[happy420]

Okay, now I feel like an idiot for asking so much for nothing.

Went out the other day to try and pull the codes from the dumb thing and lo and behold, the check engine light wouldn't even turn on. so I started looking around under the dash for a loose connection. saw that the ECU had fallen down as it wasn't mounted after getting it to run initially. after trying to put it back into place I noticed that the "top" connector had come completely out. Once I plugged it in, I turned the key and it fired right up!!!!!!!!!!

Like I said, I feel like an IDIOT for not looking there to begin with.

Thanks for all your help,

Happy420