Engine Rough Start - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

McAwesome3 · 11-07-2011, 05:01 PM

I have a 1996 Toyota Camry Station Wagon V6 and it is having problems starting. When you turn the key the starter truns the motor over but it takes several seconds before it catches and when it does finally catch it starts very rough and occasionlly will release a large cloud of smoke out the back (this really only happens if the engine is cold/ if the engine is hot it starts fine.). I took it to a mechanic who discovered that the fuel injecter for cylander six was flooding the engine with fuel so he was saying that would explain the rough start because the engine has to burn off all that excess fuel. So he replaced the fuel injector and the engine worked the first day. But on the following day it returned to its normal self except this time it would sometimes start OK and sometimes not. The mechanic couldn't figure out what it was but he said that the last time he saw a similar problem it was in a Corrolla and it was a bad computer. Also my O2 sensors are intermittantly working so he says.
Any thoughts??

***Mister_Perkins*** · 11-07-2011, 05:11 PM

have you tried to seafoam the engine yet?

McAwesome3 · 11-08-2011, 08:30 PM

The mechanic said he did but I'm not totally sure. The car runs fine once it starts and you drive around. It just has a rough start and can sometimes be rough (almost like a diesel) when the engine is warmed up and idling.

***JohnGD*** · 11-08-2011, 08:52 PM

And checked the resistance of the engine coolant temperature sensor (2-wire deal)?

McAwesome3 · 11-08-2011, 09:35 PM

Why would the coolant temperature sensor have an effect? Wouldn't the O2 sensors be more of an issue?

***JohnGD*** · 11-08-2011, 09:46 PM

ECT sensor is used for fuel calculations. It's a common problem along with gummed up IAC for some stall problems.

In addition, when the engine is cold the ECU is in open loop. So oxygen sensors are not used immediately and can't be the reason. But when warm they clearly work ok, that's when the sensors are most likely to be in closed loop operation and giving ECU useful info.

Also when was the last time the coolant was changed? Did you use Toyota Red with 50% distilled water? If coolant gets old and > 0.4v it can interfere with ECT sensor as well.

McAwesome3 · 11-08-2011, 10:04 PM

I just used plain old coolant (greenish/bluish looking stuff) from the store. Nothing fancy. I have to see if I can find the records but the last time the coolant would've been changed would've been about 1 year ago. Also just so you know the car history. I bought the car in 2008 and it had only 52K miles on it. So I'm not sure if it was stored or not. Not sure if improper storage would play a role.