1996 Camry 2.2l starts then stalls when its cold outside

[asimons07]

1996 camry 2.2l
180k

New plugs, air temp sensor, battery, rear strut mounts and cv shaft.

Problem:
The car starts fine when the temp outside is above 60 degrees. When the weather drops below that the car begins to give me problems. It starts right up but either idles rough or slowing idles down until it stalls. If i give it a little bit of gas it runs perfect, i only need to do this for about 10 seconds. It then idles fine. during winter when temps are in the 30's or less, i sometimes need to give it gas for upwards of 30 seconds. I have cleaned the iac valve, installed a new battery, new plugs ad replaced the air temp sensor.

any suggestions? thanks in advance. Adam

[rsmichelutti]

My car ('96 camry wagon) does that too...well, kinda. When it's cold out my car starts very slowly and hesitantly. The engine turns over but then things take a few seconds to get going (i.e. the idling, dash lights, heater, etc), as of it doesn't quite wanna get there all the way. I was convinced my car was gonna start stalling and I freaked. After getting everything checked out by a trusted mechanic, they said everything seemed normal. I left it there over night so they could see exactly what was going on, and recommended getting the battery replaced. I did that but it didn't help either. It might be the same for you

[fenixus]

2 things to check/clean/replace:

a) IAC valve (most likely still dirty/sticky)

b) ECT for EFI sensor (less likely)

[icoben]

replace the coolant temp. sensor
it is a famous problem for gen3&4 camry and corrola
google "camry stalling" the first result shows how many people have the same problem.

[asimons07]

Originally Posted by icoben

replace the coolant temp. sensor
it is a famous problem for gen3&4 camry and corrola
google "camry stalling" the first result shows how many people have the same problem.

sorry, i had a typo. the sensor that i replaced was the coolant temp sensor, not the air temp sensor. that didnt help me at all. I know that it was bad because it was throwing a CEL. replaced it and it hasnt thrown that code since.

[asimons07]

Originally Posted by fenixus

2 things to check/clean/replace:

a) IAC valve (most likely still dirty/sticky)

b) ECT for EFI sensor (less likely)

ive sprayed the iac valve. used almost a whole can of cleaner. i was actually leaning towards the iac valve so i used a whole can of cleaner on it. seemed to get better but didnt fully resolve the problem. I may look into getting a new one to rule it out completely. I will also look into your second suggestion as that one didnt come into mind.