1. The car ran bad and died. It seemed like pressing the gas pedal made it worse. No check engine light.
2. Changed fuel filter there seemd to be plenty of fuel pressure.
3. Had a mechanic friend look at it. He said he found an electrical problem and pointed to the relay box.
4. Changed timing belt, water pump, distributor cap, rotor button, plugs, and wires.
5. Now the car runs great when it cranks but you have to wind the starter like crazy before it does.
6, When it first cranks it kind of stutters for a second or two and then runs like new. It even idles okay.
7. About 20% of the time it even cranks normally.
8. I think we still have the original problem and the car is just waiting till the worst time to stop again.
9. I took it to a shop to get a pressure test run on the fuel system. They didn't have attachments for a 95 Camry so they want to keep it till morning when the problem is worse. It was acting much better in the shop. I don't think I trust these guys. I just wanted a pressure test. I think they want an $800 repair bill.

 

V6 or 4 cylinder.

 

Sorry about that. It is a 4 cylinder 2.2 ltr

 

After the engine starts and is running well; what happens when you turn the engine off and attempt to restart?

Does the engine still start OK after setting for 10 minutes, hours, overnight?

Fuel pressure is something between 38 and 44 PSI.

 

It seems to be completely random. I took it to a shop. It was cranking fine. They kept it over night to test it cold in the morning. They cranked it all day long whenver they walked by. They could never repeat the problem. There were no codes on the computer. The guy admitted he didn't have a clue what the problem was. I brought it home and 2 hours later I had to wind the starter up three time for it to crank.

 

A few possibilities:

Intake Air Control valve (IAC). This valve controls engine idle via an air bypass system. It is controlled by a small electric motor.

Fuel pressure bleed off when the engine is off or fuel pressure regulator.

Coolant sensor for the computer. A bad sensor can cause all sorts of problems.

None of these issues would trigger a trouble code.

The next time this happens find a small box labeled "Diagnostic" on the passengers strut tower. Open the box and connect the FP and B+ terminals, this will by-pass the fuel pump relays when the ign switch is on. Turn on the ign switch for a few seconds to let the fuel pump run and build pressure then attempt to start the engine.

The Autozone website might have info on testing the IAC valve and coolant sensor.

 

Thankyou JoeyP,
Todays checkout:
The car didn't want to start at all. If it wasn't fuel injected I would have said it was flooded. It took several times and when it tried to crank it would cough and sputter.
I did the bypass test for the fuel pump relay. That didn't seem to change anything. The pump is really quiet so it is difficult to tell if it is running.
Before it cranked I measured the resistance of the coolant sensor. It was normal. After that I connected the sensor back. I got the car to crank. When it cranked you could smell gasoline in the exhaust.
I let the car warm up until the thermostat opened and measured the coolant sensor again. The resistance decreased as it should.
I tested the IAC valve with the procedure from the book. It passed the test.
Now it seems to crank normally.
1. The car seems to be worse when the temperature is cold.
2. I still haven't been able to get a fuel pressure test. Nobody has the fittings. I wish I had those numbers.
3. I am going to take it for a drive now and see what happens. If it doesn't malfunction I may drive it off a bridge into the water. This is my daughters car. I hate to send her out with intermittent problems.

 

Oh yeah,
Thanks for that Autozone suggestion. That is a nice web site.

 

You might try cleaning the IAC valve. The internet should have posts on how to do this on the 5S-FE engine.

On occasion the ign coil can crack, the result is starting/running problems when the air is moist.

The fuel system has a return line to the gas tank. Fuel rail pressure is regulated via the fuel pressure regulator can at the end of the fuel rail. Excess fuel gets returned to the tank. On rare occasions the regulator can fail. It is modulated via intake manifold pressure.

Any difference if your foot is on the brake, the power assist has a large vacuum hose going to the manifold. The booster can leak and loose vacuum the result more air into the engine.

Any back firing via the intake manifold or exhaust? This is typically a sign of fuel problems.

When the engine fails to start OK, might pull a plug and look for excess fuel on the electrode.

Sometimes engine oil can get into the spark plug tubes but assume the mechanic would have noticed this.

There is another great Toyota website, Toyotanation where you might get a larger response to this problem. You can also do a search of past problems. This car is a Generation 3 Camry, 1992-1996.