1996 Camry having trouble starting - Any ideas?

[Yelena]

Hi all,

Background: Camry is old but has only 68,000 miles on it. Was uncle's car, but he passed away and can't ask him how it was taken care of. I don't think he ever did much to it other than oil changes. The car's had minor problems, but never with running or starting. I just came back from a 5000 mile road trip down to FL about a month ago, and during that trip it died for a second once but started right back up, and was puttering a few times while starting in the extreme heat.

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So I was about an hour and a half away from home over the weekend in Western WI. Nothing was wrong with the car prior to the trip. It sat un-used from Fri. evening to Sat. late night. When I went to go leave for home, my car wouldn't start normally. It took a couple of tries, and finally I started it successfully while pushing on the gas. It ran fine the entire way home.

The next morning it did the same thing, and I had to start it by pressing down on the gas for about 30 seconds. There was no clicking noise, but I went to Checkers and had the battery looked at anyways. The charge was at 100% (so it's not an alternator issue?), but the quality of the battery is low. However, the guy that looked it over said he was fairly certain it's not a battery issue.

I've driven a few places around here since then, and also to work this morning, and the car has been starting just fine. But I have a feeling the problem just didn't go away.

Does anyone have any ideas for me?

Thank you!

[somick]

I would start with the basic maintenance items:


Check out the air filter. It should not be clogged.

Pull the spark plugs and see their conditions. Replace if they are in a bad shape or at least regap them to the correct specification.

Remove the distributor cap. It suppose to be clean inside without any carbon deposits there.

Inspect ignition wires. You cannot do much here if you do not have a tester but at least the insulation should be intact.

I hope this helps.

Good luck,

Sam

[Mike Gerber]

You need to provide more information on what the car is actually doing when it is difficult to start. Is the battery and starter combination cranking over (also called turning over) the engine at what sounds like the normal speed? If not, are you hearing any clicks? If clicks, do you hear 1 click or multiple rapid clicks?

If all this is normal and it is still difficult to start, I would start by cleaning out the entire throttle body, paying particular attention to spraying the cleaner liberally down in to the square or diamond shaped hole in the base of the throttle body. That port leads to the idle air control valve and that valve may be gummed/carboned up. That can give you the problems you mentioned. Be sure to clean all over the throttle body and the butterfly valve inside of it. Be sure to also clean the back side of that butterfly valve. Here's a link to an article about cleaning the throttle body. It's for a V6 engine but the 4 cylinder 5SFE engine is similiar:

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/mainte...throttle_body/

Try this procedure. If it doesn't help, then report back here and we can make some other suggestions.

Mike

[Yelena]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Mike, I don't hear any clicks. The car sounds normal, as if it's about to start, and then just goes back down to zero.

I will examine everything suggested below, and clean out the throddle body once I get home from work. As I said, it started ok this morning, and we'll see what it does in an hour once I leave. I'll report back if the cleaning didn't work.

Thanks again!

[somick]

Originally Posted by Mike Gerber

... are you hearing any clicks? If clicks, do you hear 1 click or multiple rapid clicks?

If all this is normal and it is still difficult to start, I would start by cleaning out the entire throttle body,

Mike

Originally Posted by Yelena

Hi all,
There was no clicking noise...

Thank you!

Cleanning out the throttle body is a good thing but I would start first with simple things:

The ones I listed in the post #2

[Yelena]

Originally Posted by somick

Cleanning out the throttle body is a good thing but I would start first with simple things:

The ones I listed in the post #2

Yep, I looked over everything suggested yesterday. Took some air in a can and sprayed out the throddle body as well as everywhere else that looked dusty.

I don't have a tester for the ignition wires, but the insulation is intact.

It hasn't done anything out of the ordinary since Sunday morning, but I will schedule a tune up, and try listening for noises or anything odd. I will update the board if anything else occurs.

[Yelena]

To update you guys, the car's been starting fine ever since Sunday. I guess just a general cleaning/dusting worked. I'll schedule a tune-up as soon as I get a chance. What's odd is that one of my lights started coming on recently - the one telling me that my tail-lights are going out. They still look fine to me, and i don't know if the two situations are related.

[xfeejayx]

I don't think a "tune-up" is really a good investment. There really isn't such a thing anymore, you'll just end up paying money for a 'yep, it looks okay to me'.
All you might really need to change is the plugs and their wires, and the 5sfe, from what I've seen, is one of the easiest motors in the world to do that on. Buy $15 worth of tools so you can pull the plugs, take a look (you didn't list checking that above). for $50 you could change the wires and plugs yourself with decent quality NGK brand (OEM) stuff. I'm not sure what else someone might do for a tune-up other than check belts and hoses, and you could do that yourself in five minutes.

[Mike Gerber]

Yelena,

Took some air in a can and sprayed out the throddle body as well as everywhere else that looked dusty.

You didn't really clean the throttle body by spraying some air in a can in to it. You must use a spray throttle body cleaner or some spray O2 safe carb cleaner. You must remove all the oily gunk mixed with dirt and probably some carbon. You must also do this on the back side of the butterfly valve inside the throttle body. If you are really interested in doing this, here is a link to an article with good pictures on how to do it. It is shown for a V6 engine, but the procedure for the 4 cylinder is virtually identical:

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/mainte...throttle_body/

Mike

[Yelena]

Originally Posted by Mike Gerber

Yelena,

Took some air in a can and sprayed out the throddle body as well as everywhere else that looked dusty.

You didn't really clean the throttle body by spraying some air in a can in to it. You must use a spray throttle body cleaner or some spray O2 safe carb cleaner. You must remove all the oily gunk mixed with dirt and probably some carbon. You must also do this on the back side of the butterfly valve inside the throttle body. If you are really interested in doing this, here is a link to an article with good pictures on how to do it. It is shown for a V6 engine, but the procedure for the 4 cylinder is virtually identical:

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/mainte...throttle_body/

Mike

Mike,

Yes I admit I didn't do the thorough job you had originally suggested, due to time constraints and also because the car has been starting fine. Thank you for providing the link. This weekend when I have a bit more time, I will make sure to buy the proper solution and do it. Car maintenance is important even when nothing is wrong.

Thanks again!

[lmei007]

Please don't go away. I need your help. I have simiar but worse situation. I put my post here: http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=753619

It started few week ago and became worse and worse. I cannot start it today.

I will do all you guys' suggestions, but the hard brake pedal worry me a lot.

thanks,