Guys,
I am rather stomped and do not know what to do "OR" even if I have to do anything at all.....:frown:
About two weeks ago, I had noticed a slight miss-fire at idle when I got out of the car to re-open the garage door as I had forgotten to get something before leaving the house. It was not that bad and thought it was just the engine warming up or bad gasoline.
Well, last week (Friday, November 21st) I attempted to drive my old beater (465,000+ original mile without any Engine Rebuilt history) to work instead of taking my Van Pool vehicle and I did not get too far as the Engine started to Lose Power and at the same time the CHECK ENGINE light came on in a momentary manner. In other words seconds later the ENGINE POWER came on and CHECK ENGINE light disappeared. As continue to drive it continue to do this so, I quickly made a U-TURN and came home and about four houses from my house, the ENGINE completely quit and quickly slipped the Automatic Transmission to Neutral and coasted the car up my driveway with just the last remaining momentum. I could not believe it!:surprise:
THINGS I DID:
1. I took out all Spark Plugs and 3 out of the 4 were full with Oil at the top.
2. Tightened the 30mm Nuts securing the Valve Cover (I had done a recent Valve Cover Gasket Replacement and never re-checked for re-tightening!)
3. Purchased premium Spark Plugs (NGK Platinum) and installed.
4. Sprayed Sea Foam Throttle Body Cleaner into Throttle Body during start up.
5. NOTE: At this point, I Never checked the inside of the Distributor Cap or Rotor).
6. After run up that night (Stationary) and at idle it ran very good.
7. Subsequent Test Drive resulted in the same exact conditions, except worse, the car at a STOP light just didn't have any power and no matter how much I depressed the Accelerator Peddle, it just didn't want to move. Only by waiting about one full minute did the ENGINE POWER come back again and wasted no time and came back to the driveway and yes, it quit two house away and brought it back up the driveway with just momentum.
NEXT DAY ITEMS:
I left my beloved Camry at home and took daughter's car to work and when I came back:
8. Purchased from Auto Zone a brand "NEW"complete Distributor and not a re-man distributor.
9. NOTE: By this point, I had ample opportunity to check the Distributor cap and rotor and yes, significant wear on the contacts, especially the middle post was observed to be very worn.
10. Well, I had the new Distributor in hand so, I went ahead to replace it anyway.
11. HERE IS THE RUB: Noting that you should always test-drive your vehicle, I did so, and almost the same type of issue raised its UGLY HEAD, meaning the momentary LOSS of ENGINE POWER along with the CHECK ENGINE Light coming ON.
12. Once again, I left the car at home and when I came back my family friend who is a retired mechanic came to the house and the freaking car NO LONGER exhibited any symptoms whatsoever and instead ran like new!!!:surprise::laugh: While he was at my house, I performed the Diagnostic Connector procedure by shorting out TE1 and E1 terminals together and then, placing the ignition switch to ON without starting the ENGINE and both CHECK ENGINE and Automatic Transmission O/D lights continually flashed noting NO ERROR CODES!!!!:surprise:
I DO KNOW NOW!
Yes, I have received Private Messages telling me that I need to replace my Camry's valve cover gasket and tube seals again since this person suspects that I didn't replace the Tube Seals when I replaced the Valve Cover Gasket, Plugs and PVC about two (2) years ago (11-27-2012): (He was correct!)
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...-you-do-your-camry-today-251.html#post4015682
Its no wonder after 49,000+ miles later the 3 plugs were covered with Oil.
=====================================================
SUMMARY:
My Camry is running normally and without any LOSS of ENGINE POWER and worse NO ERROR CODES registered. I certainly DID NOT disconnect the Battery during all of the above work and perhaps I should have but, I did not.
My BIG mystery here is WHY???
Does anyone out there can tell me with certainty why after Replacing a brand NEW distributor and Spark Plugs did the Engine momentarily lose Power (Not as bad as before)? Could the Main Computer be at fault doing its adjusting to the new Distributor?
Thank you and so sorry for the VERY LONG WINDED Post!
Here are some pictures of my dealings with my 465,000+ Camry XLE from 1992! (Sorry no pictures of my work with Distributor)
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I am rather stomped and do not know what to do "OR" even if I have to do anything at all.....:frown:
About two weeks ago, I had noticed a slight miss-fire at idle when I got out of the car to re-open the garage door as I had forgotten to get something before leaving the house. It was not that bad and thought it was just the engine warming up or bad gasoline.
Well, last week (Friday, November 21st) I attempted to drive my old beater (465,000+ original mile without any Engine Rebuilt history) to work instead of taking my Van Pool vehicle and I did not get too far as the Engine started to Lose Power and at the same time the CHECK ENGINE light came on in a momentary manner. In other words seconds later the ENGINE POWER came on and CHECK ENGINE light disappeared. As continue to drive it continue to do this so, I quickly made a U-TURN and came home and about four houses from my house, the ENGINE completely quit and quickly slipped the Automatic Transmission to Neutral and coasted the car up my driveway with just the last remaining momentum. I could not believe it!:surprise:
THINGS I DID:
1. I took out all Spark Plugs and 3 out of the 4 were full with Oil at the top.
2. Tightened the 30mm Nuts securing the Valve Cover (I had done a recent Valve Cover Gasket Replacement and never re-checked for re-tightening!)
3. Purchased premium Spark Plugs (NGK Platinum) and installed.
4. Sprayed Sea Foam Throttle Body Cleaner into Throttle Body during start up.
5. NOTE: At this point, I Never checked the inside of the Distributor Cap or Rotor).
6. After run up that night (Stationary) and at idle it ran very good.
7. Subsequent Test Drive resulted in the same exact conditions, except worse, the car at a STOP light just didn't have any power and no matter how much I depressed the Accelerator Peddle, it just didn't want to move. Only by waiting about one full minute did the ENGINE POWER come back again and wasted no time and came back to the driveway and yes, it quit two house away and brought it back up the driveway with just momentum.
NEXT DAY ITEMS:
I left my beloved Camry at home and took daughter's car to work and when I came back:
8. Purchased from Auto Zone a brand "NEW"complete Distributor and not a re-man distributor.
9. NOTE: By this point, I had ample opportunity to check the Distributor cap and rotor and yes, significant wear on the contacts, especially the middle post was observed to be very worn.
10. Well, I had the new Distributor in hand so, I went ahead to replace it anyway.
11. HERE IS THE RUB: Noting that you should always test-drive your vehicle, I did so, and almost the same type of issue raised its UGLY HEAD, meaning the momentary LOSS of ENGINE POWER along with the CHECK ENGINE Light coming ON.
12. Once again, I left the car at home and when I came back my family friend who is a retired mechanic came to the house and the freaking car NO LONGER exhibited any symptoms whatsoever and instead ran like new!!!:surprise::laugh: While he was at my house, I performed the Diagnostic Connector procedure by shorting out TE1 and E1 terminals together and then, placing the ignition switch to ON without starting the ENGINE and both CHECK ENGINE and Automatic Transmission O/D lights continually flashed noting NO ERROR CODES!!!!:surprise:
I DO KNOW NOW!
Yes, I have received Private Messages telling me that I need to replace my Camry's valve cover gasket and tube seals again since this person suspects that I didn't replace the Tube Seals when I replaced the Valve Cover Gasket, Plugs and PVC about two (2) years ago (11-27-2012): (He was correct!)
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...-you-do-your-camry-today-251.html#post4015682
Its no wonder after 49,000+ miles later the 3 plugs were covered with Oil.
=====================================================
SUMMARY:
My Camry is running normally and without any LOSS of ENGINE POWER and worse NO ERROR CODES registered. I certainly DID NOT disconnect the Battery during all of the above work and perhaps I should have but, I did not.
My BIG mystery here is WHY???
Does anyone out there can tell me with certainty why after Replacing a brand NEW distributor and Spark Plugs did the Engine momentarily lose Power (Not as bad as before)? Could the Main Computer be at fault doing its adjusting to the new Distributor?
Thank you and so sorry for the VERY LONG WINDED Post!
Here are some pictures of my dealings with my 465,000+ Camry XLE from 1992! (Sorry no pictures of my work with Distributor)
