the reason behind having to tow '92 camry

[y13supio]

the night before last i washed the car and pressure washed engine compartment and under the front end so i might find my oil leak over the next couple days. when i was done with the water, i pulled the cap off and blew out what little moister was in there and made my rounds throughout the engine compartment with the air to remove any puddles which developed. hit the key and it fired right up, juist like it always does. the next morning i was on my way to work and got about 6 miles from my house and the motor died. the radio and heater remained on so i turned everything off and coasted to the side of the road. i put it in park and turned it over and it didn't sound like there was any chance it'd fire. i pulled the cap back off and remove the little moisture that had developed, and still nothing. i ended up calling a tow truck and got it back to my house. took the cap back off hit it with air, pullled the plug wires and blew out the tubes and plug wires.....didn't change a thing. could i have fried an electrical componet? have i overlooked something? any help or point in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Thank you, Jon

[93celicaconv]

I don't think you fried anything. But, by using a pressure washer, you probably got water into something that is otherwise sealed from normal situations (that water has quite a force coming out of the nozzle). Sounds like things were fine until the engine heated up a bit, which probably caused the water to evaporte and then condense out somewhere else within whereever it got into, and is now causing an open circuit somewhere.

I've washed engines many times myself, and usually, if there is a problem, it is with water getting into the distributor cap. Empty that out, and was always good to go.

Except one time, on a 5S-FE, it died and wouldn't start. I had to wait a half-day, then it finally started, ran very rough, but got it back home. The next day, it ran fine.

Maybe disconnect your wiring harness connectors at your distributor, make sure they are dry, reconnect them, do the same at the igniter. Then see if the engine will start. Otherwise, might just have to let it sit until whatever is still wet dries out by itself.

[y13supio]

thank you 93celicaconv, for some reason or another your reply seemed to lift a weight. i have pressure washed many engines in my day and the worst thing that ever happened was that it ran rough til i got the water out of the cap, and they were v-8's. i'm kinda new to the 4cyl cars and sometimes it takes a few to get through my thick head that when a v-8 loses 1 cylinder, lets say, it's got seven more where as these 4 cyl's only have 3 left so "minor" issues can stop the whole ball of wax. i'll let you know what the outcome is...... that would be a huge relief if you are right.

Thank you, Jon

[y13supio]

i did some checking earlier and the fuel pump isn't kicking on and there is no spark. a buddy of mine thinks it's the ignition coil, but i don't see how that would effect the fuel pump. checked out the fuses and relays and we didn't find any bad ones. thanks, Jon

[jdmccright]

Ignition coil is a common failure with this gen Camry. You don't mention the mileage, but the original died after about 150k miles in mine. Test the primary and secondary coil resistances...even if they are barely within spec, it's probably bad. If this is it, to save you money and time in the long run, and prevent another need for a tow a year from now, go buy an OEM Toyota coil...trust me. Good luck!

[y13supio]

it's got 270,000. but i have apsolutely no idea what repairs have been made. the fuel pump doesn't kick on either though. but over the years i've kinda dubbed myself "The Stool Magnet" (you know what i mean by stool.....right?) simply for the reason that with my luck a couple other things went out at the same time the coil and fuel pump, i just won't know until dump a bunch of money in it. thanks for all the suggestions and imput i'll post what the problem was, or i'll be asking more questions.

Thanks Guys, Jon