I recently purchased a used Camry with 52K on it. In the two weeks I have had it, this morning has been particularly cold compared to the rest. I pulled onto the main feeder road from my house and barely had any power. I have to rev 1st gear past 3K to get enough power to not get rear-ended. I then shifted into 2nd with the same problem. The problem seemed to continue until the car was warmed up.

I have read about the TSB associated with the 5-speed Autos, but wtf is happening to my car? I check all fluids regularly, and can do simple repairs on the car if necessary, but I dont even know where to begin on this one? Seems like it could be anything from an electronic glitch to bad spark plugs.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

This engine has an electronic throttle that sometimes fails. Does the engine respond to inputs from the gas pedal?

Lack of power as if pulling a very heavy trailer. The engine RPM rises up with gas pedal input but the car does not accelerate very well?

The engine ran normally when warm?

Any chance there is a problem with the clutch slipping, not fully engaging, etc.

Plugs should last a lot longer then 52K.

 

Yes, it was as if I were pulling a heavy trailer. It DID eventually respond, but it took awhile. Once I was above 2.5K RPMs, it was fine again, but then i shifted into 2nd and had the same sluggishness, and happened again with 3rd gear. I had to stop after this for traffic so I didnt experience 4th and 5th gears until a little later, and it happened again (but of course its tough to tell in the higher gears because they are natually sluggish anyway)

The engine RPM does not rise up with the gas pedal, it remains very low and SLOWLY builds until it kinda jumps out of the sluggishness and returns to normal. In other words, I do not have a slipping clutch, this seems to be a general lack of power altogether.

I did seem to run normally again when it was warm, with just a few spotty lags. By the end of my drive (15min later), I think it was completely normal again.

Since I bought the car, I always notice a split-second hesitation after pressing the gas pedal, but I understood this to be completely normal, cause it is. But this new problem seems to delay it MUCH longer.

I agree the plugs should last a lot longer. I had a 2002 Camry SE before this one and new plugs helped it to run better at stop lights, when idling, etc.

thanks again for the help!

maybe ill take it to the dealer for a quick diag. i consider this a powertrain issue, so it should be covered (the car was purchased Jan 2007).