Hi I have a 2002 camry xle 2.4L with check engine light for awhile and one day while i was driving my car made a pop? Noise and a lil smoke/steam came out from under the hood (i wanna say from the right-ish side) and i got to where i was going in the next minute or so and turned the car off and ran an errand and came back out 1 hour later and started the car to drive home. On the way home i could feel there was something terribly wrong but i didnt know what to do so i drove home anyways and barely made it home. I had to really step on the gas pedal to maintain 40-45 mph... rpm was really high at 35-45mph. And everytime i stepped off the gas pedal I heard a "tick tick tick" and the engine stalled.. so whenever i slowed to a stop at a light it stalled...with that ticking noise...and that happened 4 times before i finally got home...my boyfriend said i overheated and tried to fix my car but I think he's just making it worse because now the car won't start. ..it cranks or turns over ? (Not sure if im using the right terminology) but it wont start... I used a code reader and am overloaded trying to interpret any of the info/data on it....and my bf won't listen to me because he thinks that I don't know what I'm talking about even though I'm just trying to tell him what codes I got and wanted him to start there... but he's adamant that it's a blown head gasket or cracked block...oh I forgot to mention that my cars been leaking oil for a few months too..there's a lot of engine sludge and at one point water in the cylinders from when he changed an ignition coil plug pack?...After that it did start for a minute but was throwing steam and he told me to keep pressing the gas pedal slightly because the car wasn't idling well and eventually stalled after about a minute... tried to start it again and it wouldn't start so he checked the ignition coil and found water in all 4 cylinders...???and thats when i was convinced he had no idea what he was doing...used a Cen tech 60694 and I have 10 dtc and 4 pending... (generic codes) P0300, P0302, P0303, P0100, P0101, P0110 and (Toyota codes) P1300, P1305, P1310, P1315


Oh and there was an issue with the radiator too... I guess there was a hole in it so my my boyfriend used that gray tire sealant stuff to patch the hole and drove a nail through the stuff to "hold it in place"... any help or thoughts/comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Did you notice the temp gauge climbing when you were driving it back from your errand? I wonder about the patch job on the radiator and if it had enough and blew out. The coolant system does run under a significant amount of pressure and I've never heard of anyone patching a radiator with tire patch and a nail!? Water (coolant) in all cylinders is definitely a sign that the head gasket is blown. It doesn't take much overheating to destroy the head gasket. The head can also warp and crack if temps get really high. If coolant was spewing in to the combustion chambers then it is no wonder why the car was struggling.
Also, if the car overheats, you can get all kinds of CEL codes.
I suggest getting a cylinder pressure gauge and measure the PSI in each cylinder. If you don't have a gauge, you can rent them from some auto parts stores for pretty cheap. You can also take it to your local trusted mechanic and have them do a pressure test. I would not drive the car, have it towed.

 

Did the BF state the engine had run out of coolant due to a leak he attempted to fix with then patch job and that's why the head gasket blew?

This engine is also known for blown head gaskets due to head bolts pulling out of the block.

All these codes could be due to the engine running out of coolant, water in cylinders, etc.