98 camry LE 2.2L 159,000Miles
Alrighty so I've asked another forum page and ran into dead ends on that one. So my issue is a week ago I drove my car home from work everything's fine, sat in it and idled it for a few minutes and cut it off. That Sunday I went to start it and it started for half a second then cut off. Ever since then it will on crank not start, wont run on brake clean/ether either. From then ive:
changed plugs and wires and coils(spark was weak and I ohmed out wires and they were at their limit). I used my matco OBDII scanner and i can see my crank signal and how much RPM the engine is spinning so i know thats working aswell. NO CODES EITHER. I checked my timing belt to see if it jumped. It has not, and the marks line up. I removed my valve cover and the cam is turning so it didn't shred pin I checked with a screwdriver and cylinder 1 is at TDC and exhaust and intake valves are closed when timing marks are lined up. Across the bored my compression on all 4 cyl is 50PSI. I removed the upper O2 sensor and air is being pushed out of it. Every once in a while when I stop cracking the engine I would get a little backfire out of the hole.
I also noticed that air is being pushed out of my throttle body instead of sucked in. I'm though roughly confused how I lost all compression and air is being pushed out after a normal 40min drive and then parked it.
thanks in advance for any help!

 

How was the engine running prior to quitting as in MPG, gas fumes out the tailpipe, lack of performance or poor acceleration? Any chance this 50 psi was “normal” and you only now are finding out?

Too low of compression and the engine may not start.

Check for a plugged exhaust system. Emissions converters can and have plugged up or the internals collapse. Sometimes a plugged exhaust can be to the point the engine will not start.

Did things look normal when you borescoped the cylinders? Did the cylinders appear glazed? Might test one cylinder by doing the add engine oil to better seal the rings better method. Determine if the compression increases substantially. Should be looking at 120+ psi as OK.

Any prior loss of coolant or engine overheating. It happens on this engine the head can crack from overheating and leak coolant into the oil. The coolant seal in the IAC valve can also fail introducing coolant into the air intake manifold as a coolant line runs to and from the IAC valve.

How does the oil look? Normal, milkshake appearance?

 

thanks for your reply it has been raining non stop.
My MPG was around 34. Oil is fine, golden/brown (just changed it 500 miles ago and that oil was normal aswell) No coolant issues prior. No loss of power or acceleration. No prior starting issues. Doing a wet test on the cylinders still kept it at 50psi. No so change after adding oil to the cylinders. (Did each test twice) I've removed the upper o2(one off manifold) sensor and it still wouldn't fire nor off brake clean. I can smell fuel when trying to start it. Air still blowing OUT of the throttle body not sucking in. I've checked the timing multiple times. It's right. Absolutely 100%. I've checked and made sure each cylinders piston is moving up and down (screwdriver in spark plug hole) both cams are turning. The two cam gear dots are lined up (hole and dimple in cover) the lower timing gear is lined up with its notch and raised portion on the timing cover. Neither keyway is sheered off.

 

Make sure the throttle body is fully open when doing the compression test. Make sure tester is working OK.

If possible do a cylinder leak down test to isolate the issue as in ringa, valve, etc for air leakage.

 

Tester is a new Mac compression tester. I did take it to work and hook it up and it read the same reading as the air compressors regulator. I did the compression test(s) woth the throttle WOT. Today i removed the exhaust downpipe from the manifold and now it sometimes pops when cranking. I rechecked all 4 plugs and they have good spark.
A leak down test is pretty much the only test I can't do, I live in a apartment and where I parked the vehicle there is no possible way for me to hook it to a air compressor. However since all 4 where low compression and they all 4 didn't change with oil in the cyl.

 

For the leak down test perhaps you can borrow a compressed air tank from work. These are tanks that are filled with air from a compressor. The leak down test uses 100 PSI and the tank can be compressed to whatever he air compressor tops ot at which is typically close to 180 PSI. This combination has been used before.

When you scoped the cylinders did you check the for burned, bent valves or glazed cylinders?

 

Thanks for the reply
Cylinders look fine. I removed the exhaust manifold to really look at the exhaust valves. There is definitely some carbon build up on the valves but no burned holes or cracks that i can see(not to see they arent hidden under some carbon). I hand spun the engine over by hand and watched all cyl the valves moved up and down evenly and they looked like they sealed(no air gap).
im going to remove the intake tomorrow and look at those valves specifically closely. If I don't get anything from that then I'm just going to remove the head. It's got to be something in the valve train as I know for absolute fact the timing is coreect and it never jumped. At that point I'll see 100% every bit of the valves. I'll be able to see if I got so lucky that my head gasket went on all 4 Cylinders as well.
my work doesn't have any extra air tanks for me to fill to try and do a leak down test sooooo this is my option to go for. I've been trying to figure this out for the last 4 weeks and I'm tired of just looking at this car sitting. It's more frustrating that it died after I drove it home just hunky dory.

 

I have done valve jobs and head replacement on a 5SFE a view times. If you need help post back.

I have sent a private email with some info.