91 Camry barely starts, engine misses & knocks

[RDMaddox]

I have a 91 Camry with around 40,000 miles on it. Bought it from my mom recently, it was your typical only driven to the store, garage kept old lady car. I use it now for my long distance commuting to work. It has ran fine for the last month but when I cranked it yesterday it took three turns for it to start and when it did it missed badly and had a loud knock sound from the engine. I tried it once more with the same results so I am worried about doing further damage so I am not attempting to start it again. It is parked on an incline and I wonder if this has something to do with my problem. I am going to pull it up to level ground since I may only have a 1/4 tank of gas in it. It ran great the day before with no problems. It has also begun to get cool here in the morning for the first time this year so maybe this is related. Has anyone experieced anything like this before. The car has been well maintained with all fluid in good shape and full. I appreciate any help anyone can give me.

[Brian R.]

Welcome to the AF!

'91 Camry with 40K? That's cherry.

Your problem could come from alot of sources. 1st thing I'd do is check the compression. Your timing belt may have slipped a couple of teeth. If so, your compression will be low on some or all cylinders.

4-cyl or 6 cyl? Any Check engine light showing when it's running?

[RDMaddox]

Problem solved. Stuck Lifter. It seems the Camry I have does not like to be parked on an incline with its back end down. Just needed to run it for a minute or two until it loosened up. Poor car. Went from being driven only a few miles a month to now 180 miles a day, 5 days a week. I drive down out of the Blue Ridge in western North Carolina down to Charlotte every day. Can't give up my hillbilly life.

[Brian R.]

Thanks for the feedback.