Hi all, we have a 1996 Camry LE (4cyl) and the car died while driving the freeway. Got home & lifted he hood & found no obvious reason for shutdown (serpentine belt fine, cranks great-won't start). Years ago I had another car do this and it turned out to be the timing belt. Since this car is way overdue for a timing belt change I am figuring that the belt broke before I could change it. If I am correct and the timing belt did break, I am wondering if I will have to re-time the engine? How will I know if it jumped a tooth? My repair manual is not that informative. Anyone have any suggestions? Any step by step instructions anywhere? Thanks in advance for any assistance

 

If the ign system has spark but does not start it is possible (but rare) the belt has skipped a tooth. Typically the result of a tooth shearing off.

Remove the distributor cap. Have someone crank over the engine while you watch the rotor. If the rotor does on turn the belt is broken.

The rotor should be at the No 1 cap electrode when the crank pulley is at the 0 degree TDC mark and the No 1 piston is at TDC on compression stroke.


If rotor turns and no spark check all fuses.

 

Thanks everyone for the help & suggestions. I remembered one more thing today that happened the night the car died that I did not remember until it happened again today. After posting my question here I went outside to de-grease the engine a bit to make it easier to work on. Anyway, I tried to put the car in neutral l so that we could push the car off the driveway, since I didn't want the grease and oil all over the concrete. I turned the key to "ON" but it wouldn't shift into neutral, in fact it wouldn't come out of park. I tried several times turning the key off and back on and still stuck in park. After removing the key and putting it in back in and turning it a couple of times, that seemed to do the trick. Same thing happened when the car broke down on the freeway after pulling to the side of the road. We had to call AAA but a CHP unit came by & said to put the car in neutral so he could push us to a section of road ahead that had a wider shoulder. I had to turn the key on & off a few times & take the key back out & put it in before it would go out of 'park' that night - just like today. Don't know if that is connected to my trouble with the car dying but we never had that problem before. Figured I would mention it in case anyone knows what to look for or check, or if it could be related to my car dying while driving.

 

Don't know if the non-start and shift lock issues are related.

The next time the shift lock issue happens determine if the brake lights work. The shift lock system uses the brake light switch circuit (stop fuse).

Other fuses used are ECU-1G and Cig/Radio.

Do the wipers and retractable antenna work?

Washing the engine can cause a non-start condition due to water in harness connections (reasonable common event).

There is a shift lock by-pass. Lock at the front portion of the shifter arm gear indicator panel for a small rectangle plug. Remove the plug, insert a flat blade screw driver or other object to push the button while moving the shifter.

 

Hi all, trying to get the distributer cap off to see if the rotor turns when cranking the engine. Having trouble getting access to the lower screw that holds the distributer cap on. Does anyone have any helpful hints on how to get at and remove the lower screw out?

 

Trouble?

You can also take off the valve cover.