1998 Camry 2.2 wont run. - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

freeline95 · 07-01-2010, 07:36 PM

I got a 1998 camry with a 2.2L engine and i was leaving work today pulled out of parking lot up to a red light and when i took off i made it up to about 45mph and then she just started slowing down like i turned the car off it sputtered once or twice during the period that i coasted to a stop and now she wont start. when cranking it if i flutter the gas it will hit a couple of times but wont start. it will run off of either but dies immediately and i can hear the fuel pump running when i let it die and no it is not out of gas i put about 2-3 gallons of gas in it upon arriving to work this morning. any advice on what might be the problem would be greatly appreciated.

93celicaconv · 07-01-2010, 07:43 PM

I would see if you can borrow a scanner and put it on the OBD-II connector and see if it has thrown any codes.

You say you can hear the fuel pump running. Is it possible you just hear the fuel pump, but don't really know if it is pumping fuel at the proper pressure? Low fuel pressure could be the problem.

Ether can combust w/o ignition, so I'm not sure if you have spark to the spark plugs or not. You could open up the throttle body and put a few squirts of gasoline in there and then try starting it to see if it first up for a few seconds. That way you will know if your ignition is good or not.

You could have a timing belt that jumped a few teeth. When was the last time you had the timing belt changed (how many miles ago)?

freeline95 · 07-01-2010, 08:01 PM

dont know how many miles is on the timing belt just bought the car about 3 months ago. wouldn't the car try to start even if the timing belt just jumped a few teeth? The car has almost 200,000 miles on it, but has a new crank, oil pump, new bearing's, and some other thing's.

93celicaconv · 07-01-2010, 08:37 PM

If it jumped just one tooth, you may not even notice, except for running a little rough and a slight loss of power and a slight loss of fuel mileage.

If it jumped a couple of teeth, it will run very rough, may stall out when idling, will not have much power at all.

If it jumped 3 or more teeth, it probably will not be able to start at all.

If you don't know how many miles since the last timing belt change, and if there is no sticker notifying you of the date and mileage when the timing belt was replaced on the timing belt cover, then you would have to assume the timing belt was never changed. Normal change intervals for the 2.2L 5S-FE is every 60,000 miles, but you should be able to get up to 100,000 miles on a timing belt. If your car has more miles on than this, I would be looking at your timing belt about now.

freeline95 · 07-01-2010, 08:44 PM

just checked timing belt and it is fine and is still in time and hasn't jumped any teeth at all.
Do you think that i may have got some water when i got gas when arriving to work this morning?

93celicaconv · 07-02-2010, 06:33 AM

If the engine has a new crank, oil pump, bearings, etc., it was recently rebuilt. If it was, I would certainly expect that a new timing belt, water pump, tensioner & idler pulleys, crank and cam seals, oil seals, etc., were also included.

Has anything like this ever happened before, or has some problems gradually developed over time that got worse to lead to what you now have? Or did this just happen suddenly?

Anything you can think of that was done to the car just prior to this happening? You mentioned water in fuel - if this involves the purchase of bad gas, you would know it real soon, with how quickly fuel circulates through the system. Can't rule it out, but if you drove 1-2 miles already since putting gas in the tank and nothing happening, I doubt bad fuel is the cause.

500KCamry · 07-02-2010, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freeline95

just checked timing belt and it is fine and is still in time and hasn't jumped any teeth at all.
Do you think that i may have got some water when i got gas when arriving to work this morning?

How did you check the timing belt?

AlmightyCamry777 · 07-02-2010, 01:51 PM

i would check for:
-one or more bad fuel injectors
-The alternator could be going dead,
-clogged up EGR valve
-bad MAF sensor
-bad camshaft or crankshaft sensor (if fitted)
-worn out distributor cap and rotor (if used)
-one or more bad coil packs (if no distributor fitted)

***fenixus*** · 07-02-2010, 04:47 PM

all i can say is that one completely unplugged fuel injector will NOT cause the engine to die. it will run rougher yes, but others 3 can compensate (via ECU fuel trims) for the missing cylinder. of course that would throw a code P030x.

however i don't know how this would behave with 2 or more dead cylinders (e.g. clogged fuel injectors, too low fuel pressure, broken/seized pistons or so).

does OP has the CEL on ? if yes then first thing to do is to scan obd2 to see what problem the ECU reports.

5s-fe doesn't have the MAF sensor, only MAP and those really rarely go bad (unless there is a vacuum leak or popped off vacuum hose somewhere around engine or from map itself).

also if the alternator was going dead and battery was still good then car should still be able to start and run until battery drains out (seen that on my old buick).

'98 5s-fe is a distributor less system (unlike gen3 camry). when was the last time new spark plugs were installed ? i would pull them out to see how they look.

however since engine was somewhat rebuilt I'd rather suspect an internal engine failure ? was there any clunking sound coming from under hood right before car died ? seen one of those busted crankshaft on my ol '97 Alfa Romeo couple couple years ago... once it's worn out or something else like valve bucket gets broken loose completely engine will not start (it will clunk when turning though)... however car illuminated oil pressure idiot light right before the engine went dead.

fuel pressure can be tested at IGN ON with an Actron Fuel Pressure tester (with appropriate banjo fitting for toyota fuel filter).

Amazon

i think the best hint here is that car tried starting (it "catches") temporarily when gas pedal is depressed (throttle opened), so maybe a dirty clogged air filter (doubt it though) ? or maybe crap in the fuel filter ? when was it changed last time ?

stuck open EGR valve is a possibility also (can cause engine dying at idle).

i think there is still too little information to troubleshoot precisely.

freeline95 · 07-02-2010, 10:44 PM

hey guys sorry for the long delay in a response it's almost the 4th and it's always busy on holidays in my family. Turns out that i bought about 3-4 gallons of water at a local store instead of gas and i told them about it and they said that they test the gas all the time and that their is no way that happened so ya. Thanks for all the great advice.

***fenixus*** · 07-02-2010, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freeline95

hey guys sorry for the long delay in a response it's almost the 4th and it's always busy on holidays in my family. Turns out that i bought about 3-4 gallons of water at a local store instead of gas and i told them about it and they said that they test the gas all the time and that their is no way that happened so ya. Thanks for all the great advice.

i don't get it ... so you bought 3 gallons of water from a local grocery store and poured it into the gas tank or what ? how did that happen ?

do grocery stores around you sell gasoline in bottles ?
don't you always fill up the car at some gas station? or a gas station has a distributor with water ?

freeline95 · 07-03-2010, 12:12 AM

no i filled the car up just like i always do at the gas pump at the gas station and some how water got into their tank and it was pumped into my gas tank and when i drained all of my tank their was about 3 gallons of water in it.

Noku · 07-03-2010, 12:14 AM

LOL.........a story for future generations. Can't wait to hear an explanation for this

***fenixus*** · 07-03-2010, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freeline95

no i filled the car up just like i always do at the gas pump at the gas station and some how water got into their tank and it was pumped into my gas tank and when i drained all of my tank their was about 3 gallons of water in it.

wow! I see now. sounds like very poorly serviced gas station then. I usually stick to Shell around here (we don't have Chevron). I used to run on Getty/Delta/Valero/etc in past, but after i pulled injectors and saw how badly one of them looked like I'd rather stick to better gasoline for future.

freeline95 · 07-03-2010, 12:20 AM

ya i was mad because the gas station told me that their was no way that it came from them and i told them that it had to because i got gas and only made it maybe 1/4 mile away and the car just died. oh and the station was just a little knock off personally owned gas station called the Kountry Mart.