Camry difficult restarting when warm. Gremlins?

[asirkot]

I really could use some help figuring out a problem with my 95 4 cyl Camry. It’s driving me bonkers.

When I drive the car a few miles and turn it off for five minutes it doesn’t want to restart. It sounds like it’s trying to turn over but I don’t smell any gas. After several tries, waiting a few minutes in between each attempt, it eventually starts. Once I get it going, it runs rough for a few minutes then it clears up (it wants to stall, so I have to drive with the brake and the gas).
What’s really weird is the fact the car will start great after being off for one minute, but it doesn’t want to start if it’s been off for five or thirty minutes. The car starts and runs great cold.

Ten days before this problem began, my car quietly stalled while driving 45 mph down the highway. It would not start at all. It had to be towed to my mechanics shop. He diagnosed the problem as the distributor which he changed along with the cap.

Ever since then I’ve been having the warm starting problem. Also, one new quirk that my car has - whether the engine is warm or cold , when I put my foot on the gas a little bit and take it off, the car keeps going (it will go for miles, creeping along at 1 or 2mph), It will even climb up some hills, again without my foot on the gas pedal. (This quirkly thing doesn’t bother me at all, just not sure if it's pertinent info.)

Last week I took the car back to my mechanic, left it there for three days and he could not duplicate the no start problem. Then I took it to Toyota, and after wasting $120, they were unable to duplicate the problem too. They said from what they have seen the problem is most likely the EGR, but they were not sure. Rather than throw away $800 I took the car back to my mechanic and he disconnected the top hose fitting on the EGR. That didn’t solve the problem; it continued to stall, so I reconnected it.

Now I’m at a loss on what the problem is, I cleaned out the throttle body and IAC (about six times) with Seafoam Deep Cleaner. It was very dirty, but it’s clean now. I also changed the fuel filter and air filter. Had Sears test the battery and cables. All my fluids are good, no check engine light.

Does anyone have an idea on what might be going on? I’m starting to believe in Gremlins.

[95PimpingCamry]

When the distributor was changed, was the coil also changed? If not try checking that. Also check the plug wires. A Haynes manual will describe how to check those things.

Did you actually remove the IAC to clean it? If not try removing it for a better cleaning.

You could also try removing the EGR valve and cleaning it up to see if it helps.

[b2p1986]

I have the exact same car as you and had the exact same symptoms. If you did your research and searched online you'd realize it's more than likely your ignition coil. It is located inside the distributor. I would suspect this is why you are stalling. If there is a crack in the coil, your car will run very weird and often stall and die when the car is hot..for some reason cold the car doesn't show any symptoms. Check coil for crack and I bet you'll find one.

Take care

[Mike Gerber]

^ I agree with b2p1986, the most likely cause is a derfective or cracked coil. If that checks out OK, I would then check the engine coolant temperature sensor. It may be out of spec and telling the computer the car is cold when it is actually warm. If that happens, it will create a fuel mixture that is too rich for a warm engine. Have your mechanic check those 2 things in that order.

Mike

[asirkot]

Just want to thank everyone for replying. I think the problem is probably due to a hybrid of reasons listed here. The IAC and EGR are most likely dirty (the throttle was nasty before I cleaned it). I will take them off and give them a good cleaning (still reading up on how to do this).

In the meantime I'll get the coils and the ECT checked out and the ignition wires replaced (it's time anyway). I will post followup when there's news to report.

[Jason.MZW20]

It's also a good idea to check the fuel pressure up VSV. I forgot exactly where it is on the 5SFE, but it's somewhere near the back of the intake manifold.

The VSV bypasses the engine vacuum reference on the FPR to provide full fuel pressure for 2 minutes after a hot restart. The reason being is that while the engine sits still after being shut off, the fuel rails heat soak and portions of the petrol liquid turn into a gas, and it reduces fuel pressure - leading to hard restart issues when heat soaked.

You can run your engine without the vacuum reference on the FPR, but your engine will run a bit richer during idle and part-throttle conditions. Though as a quick test, it might help you.

Otherwise, you might have an intermittent connection somewhere. The wires on the distributor provide the cam/crank signals to the ECU. Check the condition of those, esp. at the connector as oil can drip onto them and eat away at the insulation.

Also remember that with heat, a wire's (and/or electrical component's) resistance increases.

[asirkot]

My mechanic could not diagnose the problem so he offered to replace the distributor at no cost. Sure enough, that solved the stalling and starting problems. It runs great now. Thank you to all in this forum who helped.

[JohnGD]

When you said the mechanic initially changed the distributor and cap, do you mean the rotor and cap? And then when he finally fixed it did he changed out with a rebuilt distributor? (the entire assembly)

[b2p1986]

personally I think the guy just got lucky and because he replaced the whole distributor assembly, it included what I feel was the culprit, the ignition coil. I think had this guy known 100% what he was doing, he would have narrowed it down and figured out it was the ignition coil. When mine went bad, my mechanic was stumped as to what it was. I told him to check the ignition coil along with EGR system to make sure it wasn't clogged. First place he checked was the ignition coil and that was the last place he had to look after we found a crack from one corner to the other on it...BINGO!!