Hello Everyone,

I am new to this site, but I am having issues with my 98 Camry. This car is like my family I have had it for 17 years now and I have recently been having more problems with it.

To start it has 278,000 miles on it. About 1 month ago, it left me stranded and it had to be towed to a mechanic. He diagnosed it with having a bad fuel pump, so he replaced it. Its worked wonderfully for about 3 weeks no problems, was running fine. Until yesterday when I was driving on the highway, the instrument panel light up and it turned off. I was not able to re-start it. When I turn the key it tries to turn on but it wont start up. I don't believe it is a battery problem, fuel pump was replaced. I just had an oil change done on it. I am pretty confident that it may be the timing belt but the mechanic who checked it said it was fine?

Its hurting my heart to get rid of it , it has sentimental value to me. Any ideas on what it may be?

Thank you in advance for all your help.

 

No crank/no start could be a number of things, so you have to rule out some conditions. I am hearing you say that the starter is turning over, but the engine is not catching? If you turn on the headlights, on high beam, and crank over, do the beams dim?

Ignition is air, fuel and spark plus the starter. If the starter is weak or dead you can't get the engine going. If the battery on the car is too low to provide cranking amps, you can't get the engine going. If the spark is to weak you can't get proper ignition, etc. etc.

Start with the easiest, which is battery. If it will turn over with a jump, then it is battery. If not, you can focus in on starter, fuel or spark (plugs, coils, things like that). Autozone will test your battery and your starter for free, but you have to have them out of the car to bench test. Might be worth it to rule those two components out (after you check a few easier things first, rather than tearing out the starter right away).

Since you had a fuel pump issue, do you hear it engage when you turn the key to the ON position (before cranking over)? What was the reason the pump was changed? If clogged or something like that, you may have debris in the filter or at the injectors.

Keep the Camry, starting issues are not typically expensive to fix!

Things to check:

Crap gas
Battery
Plugs
Distributor/coils/plug wires
Starter
Neutral Safety Switch
Fuel injectors (power to them and flow rate through them)
Fuel Pump

I would consider getting a few handy tools to make testing easier in the future:

Good OBDI scanner (hundreds to choose from) ScanGauge - Trip Computer + Digitial Gauges + ScanTools
Remote Starter Switch 12 Volt Remote Starter Switch
Voltmeter (get any you like, but helps if it tests Amps, Ohms, continuity, and has alligator clip leads)
THIS THIS THIS!! ->

 

@DIYDad
I am not sure why the fuel pump was changed, that's what the mechanic said was wrong the last time it didn't want to turn on. The battery is fine it does turn on, all the electrical components turn on, the lights do not dim. My dad described it as turning really fast which was not normal, when you turn the key to try and start it. I will try the spark plugs. Thank you so much for all your help, I appreciate it. I will get on trying to start up this car. Thanks again!!

 

One thing to note about the battery is you can't diagnose it's efficiency to start the car based on the lights and all the power stuff working. Starting the car requires serious amps and pulls a big load off the battery, and if it is too small it won't get it there. Everything else can be fine - in fact just testing the volts on the battery is not really sufficient.

The high beam lights or interior cabin light should dim when you crank over, due to the load draw for the starting. Generally speaking, if you do not get a dim them you are not shunting the power to the ignition circuit. But usually you would get a no click, no start kind of thing if the ignition circuit has no power (nothing happens, no cranking noise, nothing).

Something that just came to my mind is ground: if it died on you mid drive, then maybe you have a ground problem in your fuel electric circuit. Or a blown fuse. Did you check all your fuses, including the engine fuse box for the starting circuit? I would check the fuel circuit ground and fuses. But talk to the mechanic if you can about what was wring that required the fuel pump to be replaced. They do go out, and at that mileage it could just be normal part wear, but seems suspicious to me this close together.

 

Have you checked for ign spark?