I have a 1995 Camry, 4 cylinder, with 208,000 miles. A month ago, the car would not start. The engine would turn over without a hint of catching. The shop diagnosed “no fire” and replaced the distributor. Two weeks later, the car stalled while driving, and, again, would turn over without starting. The mechanic installed a new battery, A week later, same stalling mid-flight. The mechanic replaced the fuel pump. The problem remains.

The car will run fine and accelerate smoothly, but will eventually begin to cough, RPMs decrease when I give it gas, and eventually stall. The past 2 times, I have tried to start it intermittently for maybe 4 or 5 minutes, and, eventually, it will start, and drive fine for maybe 50-100 miles before the problem starts again.

The mechanics tell me no error codes are being generated.

Any theories? I’m getting desperate!

 

In all honesty you need to start with the cheapest easiest method and then move from there, I would start with cleaning your throttle body, get a little throttle body cleaner and a toothbrush and clean it out, it will crank for a little bit after you finish and take a minute for the idle to settle down, but don't worry, and even if this isn't the problem it is always good to do

Now also take a look at your air filter, a clogged air filter is a simple yet big problem sometimes, if it's neither of those and you have replaced what you said already replaced, my best guess would be one of three sensors starting to go bad, and I have seen these go bad on my own cars and cause the same exact issues, 1. camshaft sensor, 2. crankshaft sensor, and 3. the mass air flow sensor

The first two are cheapest, and the last is usually the most, but start with what I told you and then i would try replacing those two sensors, they are fairly easy to replace and fairly cheap, you can look it up in a haynes manual or a youtube video. Keep me up-to-date so we can solve this, I know I hated the feeling of not knowing if i'll have a reliable start

 

Thank you for your advice, I really appreciate it. I'll try that tomorrow and will definitely let you know the outcome. This car crap is very frustrating. Too top it off my other daughter just got into a car accident and smashed the right side of her fender, so that has to go into the body shop. Talk about luck!