Mom Tired Of Waiting For Son Changes Plugs & Wires Herself! Now Here's The Problem!

[fishkro]

While waiting for my dear child to help me with my 93 camry. I got pretty familiar with the Haynes guide. Searching the troubleshooters and posting on this site, I had a pretty good idea what work was needed.
Several hundred dollars later and the help of a good friend and the front end was dialed in...COOL!

But she was cutting out when I gave her gas. So my Son promises me he'll tune her up.
Days turned into weeks...And being a tightwad (I prefer the term frugal) I wasn't about to pay a professional (no offense intended). It had got to the point that I was worried about making it from point A to B.
So I threw on a Hoodie and some jeans and did it myself. All went well until the pain in the neck three on the firewall. Even they weren't so hard with the right tools.
So now she has a new front end. Cap, Rotor, Plugs, Wires, Air Filter, Oil, Oil Filter...and because my buddy thought he was draining the oil, but was actually draining the transmission fluid...new trans. fluid!
But guess what?
She still cuts out!! It is only from a dead stop. When I push the gas it stumbles along like something is clogged. Once past the initial acceleration, she rocks. It doesn't happen when I slow down, then speed up. Like for traffic or a turn. So I try to coast up to lights hopeful they will change before I come to a complete stop. It can really rattle my bones at times and instead of a slooow even pedal, I find myself JAMMING the gas just to get through it faster. Which, Can't be good for her.
Unfortunately we had below zero weather last week and I had to get a jump-start in the morning. I guess when the battery lost it's juice it also lost the codes that were stored.
So I need some help deciding on what's next. Bare in mind, I'm a poor single Mom who blew her savings on what I've already fixed.

Next in line, in order of cost....Fuel filter??!?!?
Any thoughts would be a great help...
Thanks,
Ryan's Mom

P.S.
Remember the part about draining the tranny fluid instead of the oil?????
Welllll...Thinking he had drained all the oil out, he poured my 5 qt. jug of Valvoline in...So... that's close to 10 qts. of oil in there at one time. It was only about 20 minutes, but could that cause me even more problems? W e never drove it , but did start her up to get the oil circulating...maybe 5 minutes total.

[RIP]

Well at least he knows the difference between the oil pan and transmission pans now. -sorry. I didn't know you could even get 10 quarts in it. Wow. Probably didn't do any damage. If it overpressurised you might see leaks but, 5 minutes probably wasn't long enough to cause a problem.

First, I have to give you a pat on the back for giving us one of the most discriptive posts I've seen in a while. Not only about the car but, the emossional tugs that motivated you to "get it done". Good for you! Have you thought about writting a book?

The fuel filter is a good choice. It's one of the 5 areas to look at in the Haynes manual. Beyond that, an injector cleaning might be in order. Make sure your distributor hasn't turned a tad and thrown the timing off a whisker. With your engine running spray brake cleaner around the intake manifold gasket. RPM increases indicate an intake gasket leak. Something that just came to mind I've seen in posts here is this stuff called Seafoam. It appears to be a good option for cleaning the throttle body and its' butterfly valve. The posts are either here or over on the Dodge Caravan forum. Try "seafoam" in the search block. In fact, I'd try the Seafoam before the filter. Cheers! Please let us know the fix.

[InstallTech]

I had a very similar problem a while back with my 93 4 Cylinder. Turned out to be the ignition coil inside the distributor. A 40 dollar part that wasn't too hard to change out at all. I, too, found this out after new plugs, wires, fuel filter, EGR valve, distributor cap and rotor. Mine only did the sputter after the car warmed up a bit. Was fine after a cold start, but once the engine reached operating temp, then the problems started. Replaced the coil, and not a problem since. Hope that helps.

[kcg795]

I second the thought of ignition coil. With a weak coil, it may seem fine on light load or idle. But give it too much throttle and the air rushing in will blow out that weak spark and make it stumble. 200,000 miles is about how long a Toyota coil usually lasts.

[Toysrme]

Sweetheart you've got a vacuum leak. Check for broken / disconnected hoses. The main air hose between the AFM & throttlebody normally get's splits all over it. Take it off & inspect it. If it's dead you can buy a new one, or build one using a 2 2/4" to 3" silicon adapter off ebay, and a MAF adapter for about $20 & get a couple of extra horsepower out of it. (Not to mention for the most part it'll have an intake sound a few hairs above what a Porche would sound like in terms of intake sound quality.)

*Be wary of aftermarket plug wires. Many are very low quality & destroy themselves just sitting still on an engine.
*Take the entire upper intake air chamber off next time. Clean the inside of it, the throttlebody, IAC, and EGR valves by hand as general maintenece. They cake with carbon that will cause running problems as the valve stick, and the carbon build-up itself lowers power output by about 5-10 horsepower after a year, few years of running time on that engine.


Fuel supply itself is very unlikely, but if you want to do one of the biggest PITA's on the car, feel free to change it. (Toyota *accidentally* way over torqued the fuel filter. Some come off OK, some with lots of effort & penitrating oil, some jsut get cut-off).

[BlueFusion6851]

I have nothing substantial to add to this thread but i would love to say that you seem like an amazing woman to partake in such a repair.

[Shadetree Mechanix]

Sounds like the MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) sensor, even though you didn't mention the check engine light.

I wouldn't suspect the fuel pump because the "surging" only happens at idle rpm. Insufficient fuel flow would only manifest itself at higher speeds and higher load conditions. Neither should it be the coil because the "hesitation" would be consistent every time you accelerate.

Also, it wouldn't hurt to mix in some fuel injector cleaner product with a full tank of gas once a while.

[fishkro]

Thanks for all your great responses!
I must confess I did feel pretty powerful for a day or two after changing the plugs and wires myself!!
I have now changed the fuel filter. Actually my x did that one. I couldn't get the bolts to budge! There sure were a lot of 4 letter words being used when he did it too! But no change.
So I ran Techtron, which the guy at the parts store suggested when I went looking for Seafoam...Nothing changed
So I ran 44k, highly recommended by everyone.....No change
I even ran one of those cheap yellow bottles for less than 2 bucks that gets the water out of your lines.....you guessed it....Nothing!
I was thinking of the fuel pump, but holy crap they want almost $300.00!!!!
I'm liking the idea that there is a vacuum leak. I think that I'm going to check it out today.
I don't think I mentioned a couple of things I have noticed since I first posted.
1. There is no problem accelerating in reverse. It is smooth as can be.(don't think it hasn't crossed my mind to just drive in reverse!!)
2. When I put it in drive and hold the brake while giving it gas, it sounds and acts like I am pumping the gas pedal. The more gas I give it, it almost hops like I got hydraulics!
Thanks again everyone for your great ideas. I'll let you know when I get it figured out. Keep those ideas coming

Ryan's Mom

P.S.
My wonderful son is still M.I.A.! Can you feel the love?

[don24mac]

From the FAQ thread (At Top of page)

CAR RUNS POORLY AT STOP LIGHT AND WANTS TO DIE

Q: My car starts good, runs ok going down the highway, but at a light it runs like poo-poo and wants to cut out. Any suggestions?

A: I'll bet your EGR valve is clogged. To check: Get a common hammer, locate the EGR, make it run bad, rap the EGR with the hammer (don't break it). You should be able to get the valve to unstick and it will idle like magic! Clean out the EGR with a coat hanger and carb cleaner or replace.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=375652
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=201333
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=280858
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=194096

[Brian R.]

Here's the real links:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=375652
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=201333
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=280858
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=194096

You can't just copy and paste the text from the links and make them work. The elipses (dots) in the middle of the link tell you you are missing text. You have to "copy shortcut" (right click on the link)

[don24mac]

Originally Posted by Brian R.

Here's the real links:

Oooops,

Sorry about that. Thanks for correcting the links.

[fishkro]

My boy finally showed up today!! He did the little paperclip trick to read the codes and sure enough EGR!!! I can't tell you how happy I am to finally KNOW what the problem is!!! That's not all...when he pulled it off to check it out and clean it up a bit, he found a nice size crack in one of the hoses!!!

You guys were right on the money!! You are all my HERO"s for taking the time to try to help me out Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

It's a special order for the egr so I'm going to replace the hose first and maybe with the clean up my boy did to it and the trottle body, I might just be SMOOTHLY rolling down the road tomorrow!! Cross your fingers!!

I will let you know how this saga finally ends!!
Thanks again to each and every one of you.....
Felicia....Ryan's Mom

[Toysrme]

CGTS!
Vacuum leak 2 win!