sounds more like a crank position sensor to me , but your not getting P0016 so thats not likely the issue.

The fuel pump will not prime unless you are in the Cranking position.

I would suggest to purchase a Chilton or Haynes manual and follow the steps on the no-start section of the book. It will walk you through step by step what to check. All you should need is a few tools, and a multimeter to accomplish the steps.

The book is $15-$30.00 depending on where you purchase it.

The P1300 is related to the signal from the computer to the igniter / ignition coils. You will need to confirm the wiring between the ECM and the igniter (IGF/IGT) Signals are correct. Some people have also gotten away with replacing the ignition coils.

But really ... just get yourself a book

Good Luck

 

sounds more like a crank position sensor to me , but your not getting P0016 so thats not likely the issue.

The fuel pump will not prime unless you are in the Cranking position.

I would suggest to purchase a Chilton or Haynes manual and follow the steps on the no-start section of the book. It will walk you through step by step what to check. All you should need is a few tools, and a multimeter to accomplish the steps.

The book is $15-$30.00 depending on where you purchase it.

The P1300 is related to the signal from the computer to the igniter / ignition coils. You will need to confirm the wiring between the ECM and the igniter (IGF/IGT) Signals are correct. Some people have also gotten away with replacing the ignition coils.

But really ... just get yourself a book

Good Luck

Thanks for the reply Perkins.

I've found that Chiltons/Haynes manuals are very lacking; espcially in the electrical department. I may be able to get access to AllData however.

I doubt I'd be able to "get away with" replacing just the coils because when the car does run, it runs perfectly; it doesn't miss on any cylinder. Now when it runs it'll run fine for 30-40 seconds then sputter for a second, regain for a couple seconds and then die.

Really all I need is the pinouts and the voltages/signals I'm looking for. For what it's worth, I have a lot of automotive experience and a lot of tools.

 

Get a spray can of Starting Fluid.
The next time it doesn't start, spray some in the intake.
This will tell you if its a Fuel or Spark issue when it dies.

No CEL(check engine light), means nothing is out of spec, which can make problems harder to track down.

You are not getting the P1300 code now so I wouldn't replace ignitor.

Google: camry94wiring - scribd

Clink on that link, no need to download anything, just wait as it loads, very detailed shop manual for wiring and locations.

 

Get a spray can of Starting Fluid.
The next time it doesn't start, spray some in the intake.
This will tell you if its a Fuel or Spark issue when it dies.

No CEL(check engine light), means nothing is out of spec, which can make problems harder to track down.

You are not getting the P1300 code now so I wouldn't replace ignitor.

Google: camry94wiring - scribd

Clink on that link, no need to download anything, just wait as it loads, very detailed shop manual for wiring and locations.

Thanks for the tip. I'll google it. I may download it for kicks and giggles just to have it.
Do you know if it gives more than just schematics? I need to know what to look for.
I was going to try the starting fluid trick today, but I didn't have any and didn't want to use brake cleaner in its place.

 

I have a 1997 Camry and used a 1998 wiring manual from scribd, it had a nice troubleshooting guide at the end, step by step tests for Toyota service techs

 

Ok so a little update.

My GF asked a friend of hers, who's a "professional" mechanic, to come over and "help" me. Mind you, I've been working on cars for over 20 years (since I was 13). Kind of a slight to me, but whatever.
The guy comes over and determines the fuel pump is bad. I knew it wasn't because I had accessed it already and could feel it working while cranking. Couldn't hear it because it's really quiet.
So I humor his assessment and replace the pump (used a Denso unit) and the strainer. Guess what? Car still doesn't run. :facepalm: So then I remove the fuel filter and drain it. The fuel coming out of it was mud brown. Replaced the filter, car fired right up and kept on running. Mind you I don't ever deem a part bad until I can verify that it's bad.
I really want to give this guy a huge thumbs up! :facepalm:

So now her car is running and she's . However, it's still doing this weird sort of bucking at higher RPM. When you floor it, as soon as it reaches about 4250 RPM, It bucks like it's starving for fuel. And yesterday the car died once on her (after sitting all night), however, it restarted relatively easily and didn't have any issues for the rest of the day, even after sitting for approximately 6 hours.

So now I'm starting to think that there's something wrong with the fuel pressure regulator or the vacuum hoses going to it. The next step I'm going to take is to check all of the vacuum hoses and the metal tubing that goes to the regulator for leaks.

Does anyone know if there's a check valve or an anti drain back valve in the fuel feed line?

NOTE: This car is a California car so it's rust free and all of the fuel/brake lines are in excellent condition.

Just wanted to keep you guys updated on my progress. Hope this may help someone in the future.

 

Yes fuel pressure regulator would be my first stop on the symptom.
Check vacuum line for the smell of fuel, if smell is there then leaking diaphram.

A stuck open regulator would reduce pressure so engine would have less fuel at higher RPM, but I would think it would give you a "lean" code CEL.
But at WOT(wide open throttle) the O2 sensor is not used by the CPU.

Another possiblity is a dirty TPS(throttle position sensor) the TPS has stages, at 3/4 throttle for example it may be telling CPU that the throttle is closed so fuel injectors are set at idle, causing your symptom.

 

Yes fuel pressure regulator would be my first stop on the symptom.
Check vacuum line for the smell of fuel, if smell is there then leaking diaphram.

A stuck open regulator would reduce pressure so engine would have less fuel at higher RPM, but I would think it would give you a "lean" code CEL.
But at WOT(wide open throttle) the O2 sensor is not used by the CPU.

Another possiblity is a dirty TPS(throttle position sensor) the TPS has stages, at 3/4 throttle for example it may be telling CPU that the throttle is closed so fuel injectors are set at idle, causing your symptom.

The throttle body, in general, didn't look very dirty. There was some staining but no real carbon buildup to speak of. Although, I suppose it couldn't hurt to clean it.

Definitely going to check the vacuum hoses. I was thinking of just getting a spool of vacuum line and replacing all of it since it's going on 19 years old.

Thanks for the tip about the fuel smell. I'll definitely look for that.
I may just replace the regulator since there's a u-pull-it lot not too far away, and I bet I can get it for super cheap. I picked up a corner marker lamp for her car there for $6.06 :rockon:.

distributor can cause those symptoms,, if the coils are intermittent/bad,, it can cause the ignition to be inconsistant.. bucking,,,

Camry's went distributorless in '94. It's all coil on plug. Already replaced the ignitor. Also, if the coils were bad/intermittent, it would misfire at any given speed, not just higher RPM. And most likely throw a code.
But thanks for your input.

you mentioned pulling that 'new' fuel pump you installed and the gas being nasty???(brown??? gas is translucent usually i'm sure you know....badd fuel/watermixture can give you sorts of issues like this..

The fuel in the tank was normal coloring, the muddy fuel was what came out of the fuel filter. She has a bad habit of running her car down really low, she usually doesn't refuel until the light comes on, so I bet it was sucking some nasty crap off of the bottom.

also wonder if you have a sticking injector.

It could, but wouldn't that cause problems at any given speed not just high RPM?
And for what it's worth, in the years I've been working on cars, I've seen very few injectors go bad; the ones that did were usually leaking externally.

as well if you are doing some testing check your MAF circuit as well for any inconstancy

Looks like I may have to get that 2 day subsricption to Toyota's manual. Or get AllData to get specs.

i'm not banking on it. but if you have bad maf readings or NOT normal the car will map itself poorly through the rev range... aka sputtering at higher rpm due to bad reading/poor mix

I wonder if there's a way I can force "limp home" mode to test this as it would go in the closed loop mode which would make the car run off of a set of preprogrammed parameters and thus remove any realtime input from the sensors.

 

distributor can cause those symptoms,, if the coils are intermittent/bad,, it can cause the ignition to be inconsistant.. bucking,,,

 

you mentioned pulling that 'new' fuel pump you installed and the gas being nasty???(brown??? gas is translucent usually i'm sure you know....badd fuel/watermixture can give you sorts of issues like this..

also wonder if you have a sticking injector.

as well if you are doing some testing check your MAF circuit as well for any inconstancy

i'm not banking on it. but if you have bad maf readings or NOT normal the car will map itself poorly through the rev range... aka sputtering at higher rpm due to bad reading/poor mix

 

I've run mine with bad O2 sensors & CE light on. It never ran like crap. Just down a little on power.

 

Ok, I'll give that a go.

However, it seems another problem has arisen.
Now the battery is dead and won't crank. :facepalm:

Guess it's time to check the alternator too.

 

Ok, replaced the battery and the car started right up, however, it started to sputter and died. It started up and ran ok, however, anytime the RPM was down it acted like it was going to die.
When she left work the car started up and ran; then died, started and died again. Each time it ran for about 3-4 minutes. Then it didn't start.

So back to square one.

 

When it dies, have you tried spraying some starting fluid into it? Does it fire then?

Also, you mentioned you were going to swap the fuel pressure regulator, is that done now?

One more suggestion: Check the ECT sensor resistance when it's hot/cold. Should be ~3,000 ohms cold, 300 warmed up. Assuming it runs long enough to get warmed up?

 

When it dies, have you tried spraying some starting fluid into it? Does it fire then?

Also, you mentioned you were going to swap the fuel pressure regulator, is that done now?

One more suggestion: Check the ECT sensor resistance when it's hot/cold. Should be ~3,000 ohms cold, 300 warmed up. Assuming it runs long enough to get warmed up?

Didn't try starting fluid this time --I'm out.

Fuel pressure regulator isn't done yet, will probably pick one up early next week.

ECT? Sorry too many acronyms from too many places. What's ECT?

 

Another update.

Went and got a new fuel pressure regulator, and an air filter (hers was pretty filthy). Was about to install the regulator when I noticed that the PCV valve was broken in half (enormous vacuum leak there). The top half, still stuck in the tube, was detached and sitting about 1/4" above the bottom half. I know a lot of these fuel injected cars are really picky about that kind of stuff and will stall when the PCV system isn't hooked up.
Tried to remove the bottom half of the PCV valve but the grommet, which used to be rubber, had turned into hard plastic basically; it was coming off in chunks.
So I went and got a new PCV valve and had to go to the dealer for a new grommet ($10.71!!!!!!). Installed it and the new air filter......and the car runs perfectly. Super smooth idle, and I swear, it has more off the line pick up than it did when she bought it. She actually has had a difficult time not spinning the tires when she takes off.
So I'm inclined to believe that because the grommet had hardened so much, it was constantly causing a minor vacuum leak. But the car is driveable and she can get around with confidence.

However, still not completely out of the woods yet. The car still has the higher RPM stutter (still no CEL).
So I'm thinking my next step is, cleaning out the throttle body and the various components attached to it, and replacing all of the vacuum tubing. To me, the grommet having hardened into plastic basically, is an indicator of the condition of the rubber components on the engine.
If that doesn't change anything then I'll replace the regulator anyway.

Still can't believe the difference just changing the PCV valve and grommet made. And I still can't believe that it caused so many headaches. :facepalm:

Will update the thread once I figure out what the high RPM stutter is.

 

Hey there everyone! Back again!
So the gremlins have reared their ugly heads again.
In April the car started doing the stalling problem once again. :facepalm: Did some diag on it and found the crankshaft position sensor was flaking out when it was getting hot; replaced it. Car ran fine until July then started crapping out again. Was too busy at work to mess with the car so I let my ladyfriend use my winter car.
Well one thing led to another and never got around to checking the car until now.
So I've been driving it to work every day (I work about 10-15mins from home), no problems. Decided to take it for a longer drive to see if I could get the car to stall. Had to drive it for 30-35 mins to get it to stall out. Wouldn't restart. Too cold outside to mess with it and had it towed to work.
Next day, idled the car for ~half an hour and it died again. Thinking that the cheap Chinese CPS sensor went bad, I warrantied it. Car ran fine for another 15-20 minutes and died. Before it died out I noticed that the engine would miss hard for a second and then go back to normal. Like the ignition was cut for a split-second.
It did this two or three times in 5 minutes. Hooked my scanner up to it to watch the data feed; all is normal.
Also, while I had the car running I was wiggling all of the wires under the hood to see it if perhaps it was a short in a harness somewhere. Found nothing.
After the car died, I went to see if it threw any codes, came up to "LINK ERROR" on the scanner. Tried to re-establish communication with the ECU multiple times, nothing. Still had power to the scanner just no data transfer. *My scanner is powered by the OBDII port.
Crank.... no start. Multiple attempts, same result.
Decided to check fuses and relays. Found corrosion on some of the fuses. Specifically checked the fuses marked ECM 1 and ECM 2. Both fuses looked OK. However the blades were slightly discolored so I decided to replace them anyway. Then the craziest thing, as I was replacing the ECM 1 fuse, I audibly heard a relay click from what sounded like the passenger side dashboard area (about the same area where the ECU is). After hearing this click I knew that something in the system had reset itself (ECU relay perhaps?) and I presumed the car would start and run.
My presumption was correct. The car started right up and ran perfectly fine. Let the car sit and idle, and idle, aaaaand idle. It sat idling for almost an hour and a half without a hiccup.
Drove it home ran fine. As a matter of fact, it ran amazing. I was screwing around and getting on the throttle a little heavy -- the car lit the front tires up while I was driving at 25 MPH. :surprise:
Even though changing the fuses and resetting the relay/ECU corrected the problem, for now, I'm starting to think that the ECU is bad. When the ran was running and I was poking and prodding at things under the hood, I disconnected the camshaft position sensor, the car didn't throw a CEL.

Just thought I'd update this thread with more of my misadventures with this car.

 

BO, i think you're onto something. losing comms with the ecu/ecm is one of the symptoms of a bad one. also, not throwing codes when there's obviously supposed to be a code or two. hard starting/no starting until ecm reset and worse than normal gas mileage are a couple others that have me looking hard at replacing my computer.
tony

 

Ok just wanted to update this thread again.

Since I posted last the car has been running fine. Drove it for over half an hour and it still runs fine.
Also switched jobs. I work for a Toyota dealer now.

Anyhoo, so I figured out exactly what the issue was. The relay that clicked and made everything start working again is called the on/off relay. It sits in the same area as the ECU and turns the ECU on and off. Sometimes the connections/ground gets corroded and causes this strange issue.
So there's the actual fix for this. The on/off relay.

Now to fix the other issues with this car. :/

 

does your 94 v6 le have a moon roof? mine has one and it leaks whenever it rain, passenger side front foot well always wet, I highly suspect the water ran down the pillar and cause oxidation on electrical wiring.