2000 Camry Shifts/Runs ok cold; When hot: loses pwr 2-3K rpm, CEL Blinks, trans slips

[robl_aggressor]

2000 Camry
4 cyl auto with air
80 K miles
This has stared a few weeks ago with a little bit of a feeling at 65 mph like the front struts are shot and car was porpoising a bit. Now it has progressed to the point where the engine has very poor power from 1800-3000 rpm and I have to downshift the auto trans to get the rpm's past 3000 for the engine/trans to run smooth.

It is particularly terrible on inclines and does not run too bad at light throttle but it is consistently tied to engine and transmission temperature. It seems as if heat has to conduct a bit before it starts to have problems at normal temperature, or there is slippage in the transmission when hot - but fluid seems not so bad for 80K miles. I noticed on the way home tonight up a hill that I could rev the engine in 3rd or overdrive up to 4500 - 5000 rpm and the engine felt fairly strong but no change in forward acceleration. The transmission does seem to have the right shift points when shifting on its own during light throttle conditions when starting at the top of a hill for example.

There are also times at low rpm in first gear and a tight slow turn at an intersection that I hear and FEEL a hard knocking noise from the lower front of the car.

The timing belt has not been replaced and the car was bought used at 60K miles from a Toyota Dealer - It passed Toyota Certified tests and I somehow wisely bought the 100K mile extended warranty at time of purchase.

The Check Engine Light now stays on all the time, and it flashes for 10 seconds when a severe loss of power occurs from 2000 to 3500 rpm on the tachometer.

My ideas are fuel filter, camshaft speed sensor, transmission filter plugged, throttle sensor for transmission needs to have slack removed, bad plugs and wires, etc. Any ideas?

Thanks, Rob

[Brian R.]

Get the codes from the computer

[robl_aggressor]

How to do so without an ODB reading device? Some of my other vehicles had the ability to flash a lamp on the dashboard in a number sequence to provide the code.

[Mike Gerber]

If you have Autozone stores in your area, you can take it to them and they will read the codes for free. Then, report back here with the codes and someone on this forum will be able to give you some advice.

Mike

[robl_aggressor]

Got the ODB codes ! They are 300 and 303. Misfire on cylinder 3.

Replaced all the plugs and engine runs much better but still has hesitation problems when at temp for some time, idle in Drive is crappy - it bounces around under 1000 rpm. I have a feeling it may be the wires or a coil next. Not a bad gain for a set of NGK plugs for 7 dollars :-)

The plugs I took out looked fairly clean - no oil or spaltter and worn electrodes. There still is a problem from 2-3K rpm at times where I get the flashing warning dash light, but overall recover and power past 3000 rpm is better. I now suspect the wire set (56 dollars UGH!) or a bad coil. I know I can swap the wires for the cylinders on the same coil head since they 'fire' at the same time. However it does look that the improvement in the electrical spark side of the system with new plugs indicates something else electrically is still wrong. I wonder what the wires should measure with a meter to test them as being OK. The car does have 80K miles on it !

[Mike Gerber]

Have the codes read again. If you are still getting a misfire code on cylinder 3, then change out the plug wires.

Mike

[robl_aggressor]

Went out and bought a spark plug wire set - FIXED the problem! Now I wish I could reset the error to get rid of the CE dash lamp.

I bought the set in the morning and wanted to put it in but it was POURING rain - wished I had some sort of garage or car port to change it under at work ...

... Found the perfect solution! Remebered there was an open stall car wash on way to work about a mile away. Had no other customers in the 6 bays and I had overhead lights! Done in 10 minutes!

It looks like I made the condition worse when I changed the plugs because the idle was terrible and th engine still skipped. My theory is that the fiberglass carbon core had breaks in it and it was aggrivated as the wires heated up because they expanded, increasing the distance in the gaps of the carbon fiber core. Changing the plugs meant I stressed the wires a bit which messed up cylinder # 3 to always being bad.

Thanks for your help all !

Now ... onto adjusting the auto trans thottl sensor for better performance... any ideas?

[Mike Gerber]

Glad your problem is solved.

If you took it to Autozone to have the codes read, you can take it back there again to have the check engine light cleared.

Mike

[robl_aggressor]

Thx Mike - will do ! And thanks for logging in here and helping so many people out.

[Mike Gerber]

You're welcome.

Mike