97 Camry LE wont start after running out of gas..

[TheEther]

97 Camry LE 4 Cyl.. I don't drive my Camry much, it's pretty much our third car if we're having trouble with our other two. I do almost all of our auto work so when time's an issue with a repair on one of our other cars we drive the Camry. Every now and then I start it and let it idle for 30 minutes or so and take a quick spin around the block to smooth out the rotors. Well last weekend I started it and forgot about it. It ran out of gas idling in my driveway. So I put some gas from my garage gas can (about 1 1/2 gallons in) the gas was old (about 2 years) and I knew that but I thought it might start well enough to get me to the gas station. The car didn't start after copious cranking. So I pour 5 gallons of new 89 octane in, loosened the 17mm banjo fitting on the top of the fuel filter to make sure the fuel pump was working, yep fuel everywhere when cranking. I let a bit of fuel run out of the fuel filter to let some fresh fuel down the fuel lines. Cranked and cranked, not dice. So I pulled the spark plug from the far left cylinder, it was fuel/oil soaked and the anode looked pretty rough. I checked it for spark and it did. It has probably been at least 100k miles since a plug/wire change. So I bought 4 new plugs. Pulled the existing plugs. I immediately noticed the plugs had quite a bit of carbon on them, some of it flaked off. I pulled the plugs from cylinder 1 and 2 (left 2) had fuel on them and plugs from Cylinder 3 and 4 (right 2) were dry. Suspecting something was up I covered the 4 empty plug holes with a paper towel and cranked the car. And.. interesting.. the left two cylinders had wet fuel/oil spots and the right two were completely dry. I'm kind of shaking my head at this point and figure I have 2 clogged/non firing injectors and the computer is over fueling the other 2. But I'm not sure..

Advice is needed and of course appreciated. This thing ran like a sewing machine the last time I started it. It doesn't make much sense to me what's going on..

Thanks in advance..

Ether..

[chronoti]

could also be a problem in the fpr, try checking the fuel pressure with the car off should be around 45 psi

then check the injectors are working by using a screwdriver to hear if they are clicking

[carsrus]

Change the fuel filter at least. Maybe those 2 injectors got plugged but I doubt it.

But definitely check fuel pressure. Running out of gas on a car that old usually will kill the fuel pump.

[TheEther]

Whats the best way to check the fuel pressure? I don't currently have tools for that but don't mind to pick up what I need.. Where do I hook up the gauge?

[lemegacool]

Originally Posted by TheEther

Whats the best way to check the fuel pressure? I don't currently have tools for that but don't mind to pick up what I need.. Where do I hook up the gauge?

usualy you hook it up on the banjo bolt on top of the fuel filter

[chronoti]

and you can rent it from any auto part store, if you want to buy one to keep i would say harbor freight

http://www.harborfreight.com/master-...kit-97706.html

oh my quite expensive ..... there should be a 10-15% off coupon somewhere there always a coupon

[TheEther]

Thank you all very much, I'll try and source the gear I need today then see what's up with the FP..

[TheEther]

Fuel Pressure is square between 45-50 psi on initial crank of the engine. Looks like fuel pressure and fuel pump is good. Now on to the two cylinders that aren't getting fuel. Dead/Plugged fuel injectors? Still cant get my head wrapped around how that might have happened or what else it might be..

[chronoti]

only thing i can think of is that it is in the front of the fuel rail so the dirt may of deposited there 1st and was just enough to clog the injectors, easy test will be to swap the injectors and see if your having the same issue, also you can try and do the screw driver stethoscope to see if you can hear the injectors clicking

[JohnGD]

As mentioned are the #3 and #4 injectors clicking? The other two may be flooded and cause some starting problem as well. So you're describing one possibility there.

Consider injector cleaning from RC Engineering:
http://www.rceng.com

They will check and pattern the injectors for you so you know what's wrong with them.

Originally Posted by TheEther

I'm kind of shaking my head at this point and figure I have 2 clogged/non firing injectors and the computer is over fueling the other 2. But I'm not sure..

[TheEther]

I removed the injectors and checked them. I pulled a vacuum on the cylinder side with a mityvac and popped the injectors open with 12 volts. Every one sprayed. I reinstalled with new iridium plugs and plug wires (cause the originals broke when I pulled them out). Cranked the car.. nothing.. ugh

I even tried starting ether into the air intake to try to get it to fire, nothing. Heck it should at least hit from starting ether I would think.

I'm beginning to question everything at this point. The funky truth is.. it was running great when I started it, it ran out of gas and now..... it hates me..

[carsrus]

Are you sure your firing order is correct? Might be something simple that might have gotten buggered up.

Check for spark on each cylinder. If 2 are out maybe one of the coils decided to conk out. Also pull the neg. battery cable for 5 min and see if that does anything. I dont think the camry has a fuel reset switch just in case it gets rolled, but im not 100% sure.

[Mister_Perkins]

Try spraying some ether into the throttle body. Just a small amount. If it starts this will rule out the ignition system, spark, and compression.

[TheEther]

I will check those things this weekend, I'm currently out of town and wont be back until Friday.. will let you all know what happens..

Thanks so much!

[JohnGD]

In addition, try drying out the cylinders' fuel before starting?