A friend asked meto look at his 94 Camry stranded in a gas station parking lot near our house yesterday. The starter cranks fine but does not catch. I saw it still has the traditional ignition with the high tension coil and a distributor. I pulled the high tension coil lead from the distributor. Asked him to crank the engine while I place the tip of the coil leadclose to theengine block. There were no sparks. So I told him the high tension coil is bad.

Today he has the car towed to a shop. The shop says the timing belt was broken.

Since I know nothing about the Camry, I have a few questions.

Is the 94 Camry engine an interference engine? If it is not, would a broken timing belt prevent sparking at the high tension coil lead?

Thanks in anticipationof your reply.

 

No, for 4 Cyl'd, maybe also 6 of that year. What engine, 4 or 6?

Yes. To confirm brokenTB belt remove distributor cap and watch rotor. If it turns as you crank the engine the belt is ok, if it doesn't the belt is broken.

 

Thanks. It is a four banger. The problem is out of my hand. So the shop correctly diagnosed it. The car has 166k miles.