I drive a 1994 Camry 2.2L Automatic transmission. The car has a stalling problem when it is hot.
Back story:
About two weeks ago, I had to tow my car home for the first time because it stalled on the road. I had just come back from a three week long vacation (the car is parked outside in the driveway). The car first stalled after barely being driven out of a hot parking lot. I kept driving it until it stalled on the freeway and I had to pull over. After waiting several minutes and multiple tries, I was able get the car started and I drove for a few miles. Once the car gave a check engine light as a warning sign that it was about the stall, I tried to exit the freeway, but the car stalled at the traffic light, and failed to start for 15-30 minutes. I was able to drive it to a parking lot, and after letting the car rest, the car stalled when I tried to back out. Then I had it towed home.
Symptoms:
The car appears to stall when it is hot. There are no problems when I drive the car early in the morning, when the temperatures are sub-85 degrees (Texas weather) and there is little to no sunlight. However, in the afternoons, the car begins to stall (with no AC) near the end of my hour long commute. The car is parked in a shaded parking garage during the day. When the car is parked outside under the sun (or in a hot garage) for more than an hour or so, the car would either fail to start, or stall after a short drive. Before the car stalls out, a check engine light comes on. The trouble code is 22 (which is a coolant temperature sensor code). I have not had any stalling issues if I turned the air conditioning on the drive back home.
A few months before the stalling, after more than half an hour of driving, the car would occasionally disengage torque converter lock-up, and would not re-engage with normal driving until it would randomly work again.
Diagnosis:
I initially thought the problem was an ignition coil since I read that those tend to fail in heat. I replaced the ignition coil, and nothing changed. 1996 Camry Stalling
I then thought that the issue might be the ECU capacitors, since I didn't replace them with low-ESR nichicon capacitors over a year ago (my car was giving me idle, shift, and occasional stalling problems that were fixed by replacing the ECM capacitors). This could be the problem, but it doesn't make too much sense since I read that ESR tends to get lower in heat and the capacitors still seem OK when I tested them.
I replaced the ECU with a used one, and it gave me the same check engine light and nearly stalled out near the end of my commute back home (I turned the air conditioning on, and the problem went away immediately).
I tried to replicate the symptoms by blow drying the ECM, which worked with limited success. I was able to get the car to fail to start after heating the ECU to what must have been over 140 degrees (I could barely hold on to the ECU mounting bracket), but I couldn't get the car to stall out while operating or reproduce a check engine light. The stall out appears to be a fluke. The car ran normal even after I continued to blow the ECM with hot air.
Since both ECU are giving me the same code, it seems that the problem is most likely: A). Not the ECM or B). Both ECMs have the same flaws and weaknesses that show up after thirty years.
Turning the air-conditioning to prevent stalling tells me that either: A). the A/C cools the ECU enough to operate comfortably, or B). the A/C idle up prevents the engine from stalling out.
I originally turned the A/C on because I assumed "A", but after seeing the A/C "fix" the stalling issue immediately when the car was about to die, it suggests to me the problem is not the ECM (since the A/C can't cool the ECU immediately).
I've heard that the problem could be a bad distributor (since I replaced the leaking factory distributor with a cheap chinese distributor). I could try putting the original distributor to see what happens.
ECU Repair/Replacement?
I still have no idea about the coolant temperature sensor code 22, since the sensors tests OK.
I'm lost. I don't want to pull out the parts cannon.
Back story:
About two weeks ago, I had to tow my car home for the first time because it stalled on the road. I had just come back from a three week long vacation (the car is parked outside in the driveway). The car first stalled after barely being driven out of a hot parking lot. I kept driving it until it stalled on the freeway and I had to pull over. After waiting several minutes and multiple tries, I was able get the car started and I drove for a few miles. Once the car gave a check engine light as a warning sign that it was about the stall, I tried to exit the freeway, but the car stalled at the traffic light, and failed to start for 15-30 minutes. I was able to drive it to a parking lot, and after letting the car rest, the car stalled when I tried to back out. Then I had it towed home.
Symptoms:
The car appears to stall when it is hot. There are no problems when I drive the car early in the morning, when the temperatures are sub-85 degrees (Texas weather) and there is little to no sunlight. However, in the afternoons, the car begins to stall (with no AC) near the end of my hour long commute. The car is parked in a shaded parking garage during the day. When the car is parked outside under the sun (or in a hot garage) for more than an hour or so, the car would either fail to start, or stall after a short drive. Before the car stalls out, a check engine light comes on. The trouble code is 22 (which is a coolant temperature sensor code). I have not had any stalling issues if I turned the air conditioning on the drive back home.
A few months before the stalling, after more than half an hour of driving, the car would occasionally disengage torque converter lock-up, and would not re-engage with normal driving until it would randomly work again.
Diagnosis:
I initially thought the problem was an ignition coil since I read that those tend to fail in heat. I replaced the ignition coil, and nothing changed. 1996 Camry Stalling
I then thought that the issue might be the ECU capacitors, since I didn't replace them with low-ESR nichicon capacitors over a year ago (my car was giving me idle, shift, and occasional stalling problems that were fixed by replacing the ECM capacitors). This could be the problem, but it doesn't make too much sense since I read that ESR tends to get lower in heat and the capacitors still seem OK when I tested them.
I replaced the ECU with a used one, and it gave me the same check engine light and nearly stalled out near the end of my commute back home (I turned the air conditioning on, and the problem went away immediately).
I tried to replicate the symptoms by blow drying the ECM, which worked with limited success. I was able to get the car to fail to start after heating the ECU to what must have been over 140 degrees (I could barely hold on to the ECU mounting bracket), but I couldn't get the car to stall out while operating or reproduce a check engine light. The stall out appears to be a fluke. The car ran normal even after I continued to blow the ECM with hot air.
Since both ECU are giving me the same code, it seems that the problem is most likely: A). Not the ECM or B). Both ECMs have the same flaws and weaknesses that show up after thirty years.
Turning the air-conditioning to prevent stalling tells me that either: A). the A/C cools the ECU enough to operate comfortably, or B). the A/C idle up prevents the engine from stalling out.
I originally turned the A/C on because I assumed "A", but after seeing the A/C "fix" the stalling issue immediately when the car was about to die, it suggests to me the problem is not the ECM (since the A/C can't cool the ECU immediately).
I've heard that the problem could be a bad distributor (since I replaced the leaking factory distributor with a cheap chinese distributor). I could try putting the original distributor to see what happens.
ECU Repair/Replacement?
I still have no idea about the coolant temperature sensor code 22, since the sensors tests OK.
I'm lost. I don't want to pull out the parts cannon.
