[Leinad]

Hi all,

my Camry 98 has a peculiar problem. On a cold start, it doesn't seem to go on fast idle mode, the motor is barely turning. No DTC's show up.

This is my wife's car so i don't know when all of this started.

Does the ECU control all the idles, is there a fast idle switch or sensor somewhere ?

Input appreciated.

Thanks.

Daniel

 

[Mike Gerber]

You probably have a dirty(sticky) idle air control valve. You can clean it easily yourself. The port leading to it is located just inside and in the base of the throttle body. You spray throttle body cleaner or O2 safe carb cleaner liberally down that port. Then let it soak for 10 minutes. While you are letting it soak, you can clean the rest of the throttle body. Here's one good site for cleaning the throttle body on a V6 engine. If you have an I4, it's pretty much the same. The port leading to the throttle body is visible in this post in the picture with the toothbrush:

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/30_V6/throttle_body/

Mike

 

[Leinad]

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated :thumbup:

I'll keep you posted.

Daniel

 

[Davee]

Hi all,

my Camry 98 has a peculiar problem. On a cold start, it doesn't seem to go on fast idle mode, the motor is barely turning. No DTC's show up.

This is my wife's car so i don't know when all of this started.

Does the ECU control all the idles, is there a fast idle switch or sensor somewhere ?

Input appreciated.

Thanks.

Daniel

There is are cooling temperature sending units on the 4 & on the V6
I will describe the I4
It is on the block at the Drivers end vertical below the hoses . There are two electrical units sticking up The coolant temperature is the one closest to the engine. This feeds signal to dash gauge The one out from it is ECT sensor for engine control. You should have a code (check engine light) situation if it has failed. The resistance acoross the terminals should be 2500 to 3000 ohms cold & 250 to 300 ohms hot. It will screw up cold starting if it has failed

 

[BlueCam]

I'm having a similar problem with my 98 4 cyl. I was wondering if I was the only one...guess not.

I'm idling at like 600 RPM...and my car stalled twice...then I filled up, and it didn't amynore....but i'm still low on the idle.

Its a pain.

 

[RedPhoenix]

i have same problem, mine will idle fine, but it wont jump to 1600 or so and then drop, its like 1100 and doesnt sound healthy.

 

[Mike Gerber]

i have same problem, mine will idle fine, but it wont jump to 1600 or so and then drop, its like 1100 and doesnt sound healthy.

If your car goes to 1100 on a cold start and then drops to around 700+/-50 RPM's when warm, then this sounds about normal for your climate. You don't really have extremely cold mornings in Palm Harbor. If it was down to around 30 one very cold morning you would probably see something higher than 1100 on a cold start. I know it happens once in a while. I was in Tampa on Christmas day of 1983 when the temperature dipped to an all time record low of 22. That seemed mild to me. When we left Chicago about 24 hours earlier it was down to -26 with wind chills of -85. There were still some clumps of snow and ice stuck up inside my wheel wells when we arrived in Tampa.

That said, you may still benefit from cleaning your idle air control valve.

Mike

 

[Leinad]

I finally had time to do it last night.

I sprayed Deep Creep (Seafoam) and went to work with a toothbrush. I did this 3 times with a start up of the car between each.

This stuff works miracles, needless to say, everything is back to normal.

Very happy with the result.

Wanted to thank everybody.

Daniel