Camry wont start. Cold weather?

[flexysteve]

Hi everyone,
I have a 93 camry with the 5sfe engine. It ran ok until the really cold weather/blizzard we just had in Boston. I started it up once during the storm and it lagged a little (almost didn't start until about 5 seconds on the starter) and then it finally fired. After the storm it wouldn't fire at all. You can hear the starter going and every so often it'll fire once.

My first thought was a frozen fuel line but dry gas didn't solve that. So I changed out the plugs and wires but that didn't change anything. I sprayed starting fluid into the line to see if I even would get it to fire (testing if the gas was my culprit) and no effect. So thinking it might be the distributor, I pulled a plug and wire and let it fire to a jumper cable attached to ground. It fired a golden/yellow spark that didn't seem very powerful or long.

I'm thinking it has to be the electrical system somewhere, but i'm not sure why the cold would affect it that much. Is there anything else I can test/change before I bring it to a shop and undoubtedly get ripped off.

thanks
Steve

[dna59]

Try doing a search. There has been countless amount of threads about cars not starting especially camrys.

[Davee]

My 97 4 cylinder started at -35C with only help being a warm battery. I don't think it is cold related in Boston. Possibly losing spark to damp wires. Try someone watching wires for jumping spark in dark area while you crank

Originally Posted by flexysteve

Hi everyone,
I have a 93 camry with the 5sfe engine. It ran ok until the really cold weather/blizzard we just had in Boston. I started it up once during the storm and it lagged a little (almost didn't start until about 5 seconds on the starter) and then it finally fired. After the storm it wouldn't fire at all. You can hear the starter going and every so often it'll fire once.

My first thought was a frozen fuel line but dry gas didn't solve that. So I changed out the plugs and wires but that didn't change anything. I sprayed starting fluid into the line to see if I even would get it to fire (testing if the gas was my culprit) and no effect. So thinking it might be the distributor, I pulled a plug and wire and let it fire to a jumper cable attached to ground. It fired a golden/yellow spark that didn't seem very powerful or long.

I'm thinking it has to be the electrical system somewhere, but i'm not sure why the cold would affect it that much. Is there anything else I can test/change before I bring it to a shop and undoubtedly get ripped off.

thanks
Steve