98 camry shakes 2-3 min on cold morning

[rubs]

Hi,

I have a 98 camry with about 143k miles, recently it was giving me problem on cold morning and one day it finally didn't started at all and mechanic chaned the ignition coil and now it startup fine but for first 2-3 min car almost keep shaking with very low rpm and check engine flashing and afterwards it goes into normal mode with normal rpm and no more check engine flashing. What can be the possible issue?

Thanks
--rubs

[RIP]

I've read a flashing check engine light indicates a misfire on one or more cylinders. That points to the ignition circuit again. Plugs, wires, coil, ignitor, cam/cank sensor, or ECM.

I would take it back to your mechanic and have him troubleshoot. He could have put a bad coil in it. If you want to work it, your first move should be a trip to Autozone to have them read any fault codes that may have been stored. They do it for free.

[rubs]

I showed the car at auto zone and it didn't came up with any code. So if the check engine light only flash in the morning, should it still show code or i have to take the car there in the morning when it is actually flashing.

[RIP]

I've never heard of having to do that but, if you want to go back again I think it's worth a shot. Before you go double check the spark plug, coil pack and igniter connections. If a bad connection is the problem I'd think it's got to be something subtle since after three minutes the problem vanishes. Could be the metal prong contacts have spread just enough to create a problem. As it heats up it finally makes good contact and your CE light goes away.

OBTW - A misfire can eventually damage the cat converter so you should get this fixed soon.

[rubs]

For last 2-3 days this problem is not happening since it is getting warmer, I am not sure why this only happens on cold morning, so car use different mechanism to start when start on cold weather etc. I am not sure hoe to reproduce this to mechanic now.

[rubs]

so today the check engine finally come as constant and i took the car to advance auto for the code and it comes out to be p0300 (multiple engine misfires), and this start happening since mechanic replaced the spark plug and igntion coil, now it is difficult to know whenther the new parts were faulty or car need something else to change. I will take the car to mechanic and hopefully he can fix it properly.

[davemac2]

Make sure the mech did not use Bosch plugs but used the NGK iridium plugs or whatever is spec'ed in the manual. Same thing for the wires. I have seen this reported before.

dave mc