Hey guys, I have a 1986 Toyota Camry. We converted it over to a demo derby car and removed the stalk fuel tank, removed the fuel pump and put it in a marine tank where the back seat was. Car ran and drove perfect but once it got to the derby, our rubber hose slipped off of the fucl pump causing the car to get no fuel (our fault lol) Anyway, my girlfriend who was driving it kept cranking it over until the battery eventually died. Never made it into the ring to compete. We brought the car back home and it sat all winter. We finally pulled it into the shop a cuple weeks ago and fixed the fuel line. The car started up right away but only ran for about 8 seconds or so then conked right out. Turned it over again and fired up for about a second then died. Cranked it over a third time and got nothing except a bit of sputtering. We figured it was bad gas so got rid of the old stuff and put in the new. Put in new gas and got the same result - runs for 8 seconds then dies. Runs for another second then dies. Next we tried the plugs. Brand new NGK's. While the plugs were out we did a spark test (screwdriver in each wire and crank it over while close to the engine block. It's got good spark. Replaced the plugs and got the same results. Removed the plugs, cleaned them and replaced them. Same results. We then checked the timing and it appears to be good. After that we figured the fuel pump may just be weak so drained the gas and replaced it with a fuel pump from a 94 Chevy Cavalier. Removed the plugs and cleaned them at the same time as well. After that, same results.

Each time we pulled the plugs, they were dark brown/black and damp. We cleaned the plugs AGAIN, put them in and let it run for the 8 seconds. When it died, we took quick start and it will run on quick start for 2 or 3 seconds. I'm stumped!:banghead: Someone please help! Thanks a lot guys, Deven.

I see some similarities to what you describe with your 86 that I had yesterday with my 95 Camry 2.2.

The car would not start, but crank and spin. At first I thought it might be the timing belt or internal coil that is in the distributor. I was pressed for time to solve it or tow it, as the car was in a public lot and the owners expressed that they did not want to have my car parked overnight.

I figured it was either gas or electrical related. I had the fuel pump replaced two years ago, so I was leaning towards electrical, but I did chance the wires, cap, rotor with OEM Denso parts last year.

I had a spare igniter, so I swapped that out and still the same problem. Tested a spare plug for spark clamped with a vice grip to the engine hook. There was spark, but I’m no expert and it seemed to be weak. Opened up the distributor and wanted to see the rotor moving to rule out the timing belt was broken, but that was changed out last year as well. The rotor was spinning which was a good sign, but the belt could have jumped a tooth. I pulled the rotor and dust cover off and tested the primary resistance of .55 ohms and secondary 14k ohms which were in spec.

I’m running out of ideas at this point, so I figured that I would take a quick run to Autozone and pick up some starter fluid and while I had it opened, up I would change the cap and rotor before calling the tow truck. Something bothered me about the look of the rotor I took out in that it had this bi-metal tip, which I thought was some sort of special OEM type that I put in a year ago. I didn’t give it much thought, but to find out, I had the problem in my hand all the time and was not aware of it.

Got back from Autozone and since I had the air intake hose off to get at the distributor, I sprayed starter fluid directly into the intake and the car fire up until it burned off. Similar to your 8 second burn that you were experiencing. At least that told me that the timing was fine and I was now thinking it was fuel related.

Put the new cap and rotor on and the sprayed the starter fluid into the intake. The car started!!

It was the rotor all the time. The bi-metal tip of the rotor was actually the aluminum from the tips of the cap that were being deposited onto the tip of the rotor. I put my ohm meter on the tip and top strip of the rotor and guess what, it measured a perfect insulator at 1.0

Change the cap and rotor and let us know what happened.

OK sounds like a plan! I'll run out to Carquest tomorrow and grab a cap and rotor. Thanks a lot and i'll let you know what happened!

Try replacing the coil next...

don't know exactly what a marine tank is, but try replacing/putting a vent or check valve on it

can check if you need one by taking off the gas cap on the tank and then turning the car on. if it runs no problem, you have vent issues. the damp plugs don't really support this, but it's easy to try.

is the current tank much higher is the top of the tank? raising the tank/pump might increase your fuel pressure (depending on the design of the pump, not sure how your pump works). water pressure increases by 1 psi for every two inches you go up, likely similar for gas. with a 3 foot tank, you might have 18 psi extra pressure depending on how much gas you have in it. To test this, bring the highest point of your gas level down to about where it was for the original tank and turn it on.

so you got either too little fuel due to pressure loss, or too much due to increased pressure.

Just an update, I replaced the cap, rotor & spark plugs and the car didn't even run period. Fed it either and it ran for a cuple seconds. We noticed that there wasn't fucl comming from the return hose so I turned the fuel pump off then reached down to the fuel rail and pulled off the return hose. Turned the fuel pump back on and nothing comming out. (I'm not exactly sure the name of this part, but it's held on to the fuel rail by two bolts and the top is a cylinder-shaped, almost like a filter of some sort) When I took that off, fuel flew out. Like there was a lot of pressure in there! Turned the fuel pump on again and it came out of the hole in the fuel rail. I un-plugged all of the injectors, hooked them up to a test light and turned the key on and they are all getting power. I don't know, i'm about to give up on this car. I dont really want to put any more money into it. It's not a daily driver and I originally got the car for free to begin with! Lol.

xfeejayx, here is a picture of the fuel tank that's in the car now:
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w191/demo_deven/HPIM6988.jpg
BTW Fuel pump is from a 1997 Pontiac Sunfire 2.2L

My only thought is a clogged fuel filter or faulty fuel pressure regulator.