2009 Camry Sportivo Cold Start Issue
 

About 3 weeks ago my 2009 Camry Sportivo started having an issue on cold start where it would rumble a bit then finally kick over. I had a 45,000km service two days after this started and advised the Toyota Service technician of the issue. When i picked up the car he said they were not able to detect an issue and to try using a higher octane fuel. I mostly use 98 octane unleaded so I don't think that is the issue.

It works perfectly fine for the rest of the day, when turning the car back on. After some research on the internet two things come up but i'm not sure if it's related or not. These are to check the battery and that it could be the cold start valve (if that makes any sense). Would this be correct? Any advice would be much appreciated.

you can try it out, there is not harm in trying... after all it might work.

Rumble?

Engine turns over but does not start, does not turn over, etc.

Did the dealer keep the car overnight?

No, the dealer didn't keep it overnight. Although at the time I thought it may have been intermittent. It turns over but struggles to do so, when the issue occurs.

I might book it in again since I have a warranty job with the boot to do.

Struggles as in slow cranking?

The problem does not happen consistently when the car sits overnight?

The car does it every morning now. Excuse my poor choice of words. The rumble also shakes the car a little, but once it kicks in it goes back to being smooth. Only lasts about 2 to 4 seconds.

If the problem is now consistent if possible leave it at the dealer overnight.

If you have a video camera and can document the problem this might help the dealer know what to expect.

buy $1.90 worth battery terminal cleaning tool, remove cables and clean terminals and poles. WELL. then lubricate them with dielectric grease, reconnect, and spray over with battery terminals sealant. sort of purple spray.
total cost - about 10 bucks.
make sure your battery is well charged. see what happens and report back.

also, when you'll be resetting cable terminals back on poles, make sure they go all the way down, until they touch battery lid. if you have gap between the 2, terminal will slowly work its way up the cone shaped pole, gap will be created, and you will have gap resistance, resulting in poor power supply to starter - and possibly hard starts.