Hi, im new here and seeking some information about a particular problem with my 1999 Camry Touring v6, Manual, MCV20R.

a little car history in case it is relevant:

Located in Australia
200k km's mostly country driven untill i purchased it.
second owner.
regularly looked after, serviced.
broken valve seal, spurts smoke out when turned on
only after market upgrade was the sound system i installed. head unit, splits and sub.

Now my problem here is it has no power and the performance is terrible around 1st and 2nd gear, a bit better at 3rd and perfectly fine at 5th

Usually its fine when first started, drive like a dream, then about 2-5 minutes in the engine light comes on and it loses power and drives terribly.

I cant pin point what causes it to happen. i used to think it was when i turned a corner or something but it doesn't seem like it turns on just after turning any more.

When it is driving terrible i put it in first and almost instantly have to put it into second because the revs are to high. then once in second i have to pretty much put it straight into third because again the revs are to high.

Il try go into more detail but im located in Australia so i hope its not difficult to interpret the speed difference in KM's. Basically first gear gets me to about 15-20km/h at about 3-3.5k revs, 2nd gear gets me to about 40-45km/h. sometimes when in second the revs get higher but the speed barley increases and the car sort of kicks back n forth, or hops back n forth.

When i change gear the car sort of kicks back a bit like iv dropped the clutch, even though i haven't.

I hope that info helps


Also iv taken it to a place and they used a thing to try get an error code but since the engine light goes off when you turn off the car they found nothing. They also said that it could be a faulty knock sensor...

I would take it to another place but im a student and need my car to get to university and cant really leave it at a workshop. Also being a student im broke

Im looking for any info that i could bring up next time i can afford and have time to take it to a workshop to help them determine the problem as i also live in city and require the performance to get onto busy roads safely.

 

Perhaps the problem resets itself.

This is a stick shift?

How does the engine idle (light on or off)?

If you turn off the ign and restart does the car now drive OK for those 2-5 minutes? Engine hot and cold.

Replacing a knock sensor is expensive due to the price of the part AND amount of labor needed to remove other parts to get to it.

 

Correct it is a stick shift.

If i turn the car on and leave it to idle the light will not come on.

If i turn the car off, then start again the engine light goes away but the car doesnt perform any better and the check engine light will come on in a matter of seconds/minutes, only after i leave it off for a goood amount of time will i perform better.

Yeah i realise that if it was a problem with the knock sensor i wouldnt be able to afford to get it fixed due to the location of it.

Iv asked some friends and they suggested that possibly the clutch is damaged in some way. Or possibly due to the car leaking oil and burning oil the catalytic converter is damaged in some way.

is there a cheap way i can get a engine error code myself?

 

I don't know about Aus, but there is no place that'll do it for free to check the engine code? A lot of parts stores in America will do it for free like discount auto, or autozone.