88 camry intermittent fuel cut off problem..

[brawl623]

Hello all! I can't seem to figure out why my 4 cyl., auto camry will randomly cut fuel off, usually on start up, and once while driving. If I wait for 10 minutes to a half hour, it will start as if nothing was wrong, and start and run fine for 2 - 3 days, then does it again. Seems like some sensor to me....any ideas?

[Brian R.]

How do you know that it is the fuel that is cut off and not the ignition voltage?

[jdmccright]

I'll agree with Brian. Loss of fuel flow won't stop the engine immediately then resume w/o problems. It'll usually lug & chug after restart. I'd eye the cap & rotor for wear, cracks, or damage first, then the ignition coil.

[brawl623]

Thank you for the advice, and good point, because it does cut right out with no chugging at all. I will look into that..just figured it was cutting fuel, because when I would repeatedly try to start it, it would not smell for gas at all, as it would if it were getting gas but no spark...however would the ignition system electronically cut the fuel as well as spark? This would make sense. Would a bad coil act like this?

[Brian R.]

I would bet a significant amount of money that it was a bad coil. That malady is going around. Must be a virus.

[7polly7777]

Check your ecu codes - I had something similar where the car would suddenly (and randomly) cut out without warning and refused to start again for 5-45 minutes.

It turned out I had a bad coil in the distributor (code 13 (crank angle sensor); even though the dizz was only 10,000km old!). The coil was heating up and at a certain temperature losing connectivity temporarily -> if the engine was below 1000rpm (or so) at the time it would keep running.... above 1000rpm it would become a traffic hazard...

[brawl623]

Well...if the coil is not too spendy then I'll just buy one and put it in and hope for the best! The check engine light does not come on at all when running, so I didn't check the codes naturally, I'll do a scan anyways. Thanks for all the advice! I'll report on the outcome.

[7polly7777]

Originally Posted by brawl623

Well...if the coil is not too spendy then I'll just buy one and put it in and hope for the best! The check engine light does not come on at all when running, so I didn't check the codes naturally, I'll do a scan anyways. Thanks for all the advice! I'll report on the outcome.

yeah - the check engine light on mine works (see it on starting) but never indicates a fault code has been logged Just had that problem (no check engine light) with what felt like a slipping clutch (auto trans) around the kickdown point at 60kph - flushed the gearbox with fresh oil and cleaned the filter and changed speed sensor 2 (as its been dodgy for 3 years) and the fault seems to have magically vanished

[brawl623]

Well here's an update: I disconnected the wiring harness that plugs into the ignition module, plugged it back in and so far it has been trouble free for a week! Hopefully it was just a bad connection and will last!!