92 Camry with No spark! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Branden_Atl · 03-07-2010, 10:27 AM

I'm trying to help a friend with his Camry. It flat out died while he was driving it and wouldn't start back up. The battery and starter check out fine, so next thing I did was check for spark, got nothing.

So I pulled the distributor, and we found the condenser exploded on the inside, as well as the wire that runs from the condenser to the coil to be severed.

I helped him replace the distributor with a reman aftermarket unit, and now the car still won't crank, and there is _still_ no spark. I'm totally stumped here. I thought for sure his car would fire back up after we replaced the distributor. We have not replaced the distributor cap or rotor button, but they didn't look cracked or melted.

I figure 50/50 the reman unit is bad, 50/50 the blown condenser blew up something else, but I'm really not sure. Anyone have any ideas? I don't have a factory service manual, unfortunately, so I'm not sure if maybe there's a separate spark module (ignition control module separate from the ECU) that I could check out.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Mike Gerber · 03-07-2010, 10:42 AM

There are Toyota factory service manuals stickied at the top of the Camry forum over at AutomotiveForums.com. These are free downloads. Download the generation 3 manual. It should have the information you are looking for.

Mike

bdy0003 · 03-07-2010, 10:50 AM

Manual

http://www.automotiveforums.com/

hill8570 · 03-07-2010, 12:07 PM

I'll assume this is the 5S-FE (four banger) unless you tell me otherwise...

I see you've been pointed at the FSM. With that in hand, I'd next check the ignitor -- it's up on the driver's side fender -- the FSM will have the test procedure.

Stillrunning · 03-07-2010, 12:37 PM

Did the new dist. come with new coil? I'd check rotor and cap for continuity. Are you getting primary voltage to coil? I have not yet seen a test for ignitor, just if all else checks out - replace ignotor. I doubt ignitor at this point.

Branden_Atl · 03-07-2010, 12:45 PM

I'm downloading the manual now and will check it out. Thanks Mike, bdy for the links. That's huge!

It is a 4 cylinder.

Is there a reason I can't find "ignitor" on autozone online? Where would I go to actually source a replacement for that if necessary?

The new distributor did come with a new coil. Literally the rotor and cap are the only pieces left in the distributor (minus the dust cover!) that have not been replaced. I have not done any electrical tests yet. With the manual handy, I should be able to try some multimeter tests to the actual connectors on the distributor.

Thanks to all for the quick responses and great suggestions!

hill8570 · 03-07-2010, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Branden_Atl

Is there a reason I can't find "ignitor" on autozone online? Where would I go to actually source a replacement for that if necessary?

Might be listed under "igniter" -- I've seen both spellings used. Or maybe "Ignition Module", or "Ignition Control Module". Lots of ways of referring to the same part. Push come to shove, you should be able to cross-reference the Toyota part # ( 89621-16020 ) or score a junkyard pull (pretty much any of the 5S-FE from 92-95 is going to use the same ignitor).

Branden_Atl · 03-17-2010, 09:03 AM

Update:

I had a chance to step through the entire electrical / ignition troubleshooting guide yesterday. I found nothing out of spec whatsoever. Everything tested within tolerance, so I decided to take a look at the distributor cap and button, which looked pretty beat up. At that point, I decided to try to run one plugwire directly from the distributor itself, and put the other end of it with a sparkplug attached near a ground, to essentially bypass the cap and button. No spark.

Then I noticed something far worse. The distributor shaft itself was not turning while the motor was turning over. So I pulled a bolt on the timing cover. The timing belt still appears to be attached to the cam sprocket. However, when the car is cranked, neither the belt nor the sprocket move...

The serpentine belt _does_ move. I can't see far enough down into the timing cover to confirm, but at this point, I believe that the timing belt broke at the crank, and has some how managed to hold on up top at the cam sprocket, allowing the serpentine belt and bottomend to rotate, but not the cam/valvetrain/distributor... so no spark!

If anyone else has any thoughts, please let me know. At this point, I believe it's timing belt replacement time. I've read that this is a non-interference motor, so I don't expect to see any carnage upon further inspection, and my friend said he didn't hear any catastrophic noises when the car died... it just rolled to a smooth stop.

hill8570 · 03-17-2010, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Branden_Atl

Update:

I had a chance to step through the entire electrical / ignition troubleshooting guide yesterday. I found nothing out of spec whatsoever. Everything tested within tolerance, so I decided to take a look at the distributor cap and button, which looked pretty beat up. At that point, I decided to try to run one plugwire directly from the distributor itself, and put the other end of it with a sparkplug attached near a ground, to essentially bypass the cap and button. No spark.

Then I noticed something far worse. The distributor shaft itself was not turning while the motor was turning over. So I pulled a bolt on the timing cover. The timing belt still appears to be attached to the cam sprocket. However, when the car is cranked, neither the belt nor the sprocket move...

The serpentine belt _does_ move. I can't see far enough down into the timing cover to confirm, but at this point, I believe that the timing belt broke at the crank, and has some how managed to hold on up top at the cam sprocket, allowing the serpentine belt and bottomend to rotate, but not the cam/valvetrain/distributor... so no spark!

If anyone else has any thoughts, please let me know. At this point, I believe it's timing belt replacement time. I've read that this is a non-interference motor, so I don't expect to see any carnage upon further inspection, and my friend said he didn't hear any catastrophic noises when the car died... it just rolled to a smooth stop.

When it rains, it pours. Yeah, sounds like something honked up the timing belt. If you've got the time, replacing the water pump and crankshaft / camshaft / oil pump (2) oil seals (4 seals total) is worth doing while you're in there.

BTW, yes it's a non-interference engine, so no worries there.

Michael503 · 03-17-2010, 11:01 AM

Just so we all know, how many miles on this belt?

If there's no sticker under the hood near the belt case, then we can assume its original.

Branden_Atl · 03-17-2010, 11:18 AM

I asked my friend that same question, and it's kind of an unknown. There is no sticker. The car itself has almost 210k on it. According to him, the motor itself was actually swapped out when the car had around 130k on it, and he doesn't really know the specifics of why it was swapped out or how many miles the donor had on it. Suffice to say, I'm sure that belt had _well_ over 100k on it, combine that with the vicious heat we get here in Georgia, and you've got a recipe for this exact kind of disaster.