1997 Camry Squeal and Rumble

My boyfriend has a 1997 Toyota Camry with about 50,000 miles. He said that the car has had some trouble starting up and when it does start it squeals, which is most likely a belt, and then it rumbles when he steps on the gas. Does anyone know what this could be?

ok when you say rumble, do you mean you feel a rumble when you depress the gas pedal, or it sounds like a rumble?

It rumbles after he gets it started and more when he presses down on the gas.

ok, well i just had the same symptoms with my truck, i know this is the camry forum, but my truck is an 87 toyota. I replaced the alternator belt on mine as well, and the squeal went away naturally. I was also getting a rumble the harder i depressed the gas pedal, and lost alot of power, and also lost gas mileage too. It turned out cylinder #3 was misfiring b/c the ignition cable was burnt through. I suggest replacing all the ignition cables along with cap and rotor, this should clear up your problem, if you need any assistance for installation, you can email me at iwannathrowabomb@hotmail.com. Let us know how it works out.

Jay

Your problem sounds very similar to this. His gas mileage has also gone down significantly. He is getting the same mileage that I do on a 13.5 gallon tank! He used to get like 400 miles on a full tank and at half has only 130 miles. He said that the car has stopped doing what it was doing the other day, but I am a firm believer that something like that doesn't fix itself. He should be bringing it into the shop soon. Thanks!

ya, my truck stopped doing it for a few days as well, when this problem first started, it was intermittent. it would be there one moment, and the next, it drove fine. but im most certain it's one of the ignition wires, when they replace these, they usually replace the cap and rotor too, which, in turn, will help too b/c they'll reset the timing to the manufacturer's timing for that vehicle. Hope everything works out at the shop.

Jay