95 Camry won't start hot

[camry95_200k]

I have a feeling this is common among 95 Camry's since a coworker has the same car/problem. Hoping someone can give me a quick answer as to why: whenever the car is hot and then turned off for 10-15 min it is very difficult or impossible to start...any ideas?

[davemac2]

It could be a leaky injector. Pull the plugs after it sits hot like this before attempting a restart and see if any are wet. As well, you may want to check for good spark on each plug wire if all the plugs themselves look ok after being pulled.

dave mc

[RIP]

The good book says > clogged air filter > Fuel not reaching fuel injection system > Corroded battery connections, especially grounds

When it won't start check for spark at the spark plugs. If there's no spark, ignition coils are infamous for failing when hot. They cool off and magic - it starts.

[chrrmurp]

I was having this same problem on my 95 camry around 150k miles or so (I have 180k now). I'd go for a long trip and stop for about 15 or 20 mins then it would be really hard to start or it would start for a second and then die. Finally I'd just hold the gas pedal to the floor and it would eventually start up. I had all the spark plugs and wires replaced as well as distributor cap, tried fuel injector cleaners that go in the gas tank - nothing worked.

It was also vibrating pretty heavily when stopped while in Drive (ie at stop lights). To fix the vibrating, I increased the idle so it sits around 1000RPM when in Drive.

Now that it idles higher, I haven't had the starting problem since. So that's an easy fix if you're looking for something quick and free. In park it idles around 1500RPM, in drive it's around 1000RPM. Anything higher than that and it'll shift hard into drive.

[davemac2]

Originally Posted by chrrmurp

I was having this same problem on my 95 camry around 150k miles or so (I have 180k now). I'd go for a long trip and stop for about 15 or 20 mins then it would be really hard to start or it would start for a second and then die. Finally I'd just hold the gas pedal to the floor and it would eventually start up. I had all the spark plugs and wires replaced as well as distributor cap, tried fuel injector cleaners that go in the gas tank - nothing worked.

It was also vibrating pretty heavily when stopped while in Drive (ie at stop lights). To fix the vibrating, I increased the idle so it sits around 1000RPM when in Drive.

Now that it idles higher, I haven't had the starting problem since. So that's an easy fix if you're looking for something quick and free. In park it idles around 1500RPM, in drive it's around 1000RPM. Anything higher than that and it'll shift hard into drive.

Adjusting the idle higher is not really a good solution. You should check your injectors as well via the plug inspection method. If you need to start it sometimes by pushing the accelerator to the floor, then you may be clearing a flooded condition. Another possibility is a leaky head gasket. Are you losing any coolant at all?

dave mc