My wife has a Camry 1998 LE automatic that has just started acting up. The problem is it sputters and is hard to start in the morning especially when it is cold. It only does this first thing in the morning and then is fine the rest of the day. I would suspect a sensor is going out. I first tried some injection cleaner and it seemed to help a little but it's back to doing it again. Does anyone have some stuff for me to check, replace or change?

Thanks,
Brian Cravens

 

I had similar problem with my 91 Camry few years ago. I had to pump the gas pedal every morning to get it started and it just got worse.
Eventually, I had to take it to my mechanic and he replaced a 'Cold Start Injector' and it was fine. It cost me around $200 and it was worth it.
Hope this helps,

Keith

 

theres a part that goes bad with camry's that affects it start ups. problem is easily adapted by flooring the gas pedal once before start up. this makes sure that any parts there that may have gotten stuck over night gets freed up. My mechanic told me to do this and its helped a lot.

you can always clean your throttle body and your idle air hole which is also a part of your throttle body. All this will help you without replacing any parts.

try to pump the gas pedal once or a few times before start up tomorrow. By the way, dont worry about gas build up etc...all these new cars wont be affected by the amount of times you pump the gas pedal, unlike old cars with manual fuel injection.

 

Do you have a name and or discription of the part you mention that always goes out?

 

it's been over a year since my mechanic told me this, and he also told me those parts are constantly backordered...but i do believe it has something to do with the throttle body...lifter or something.

did gasing it in the morning before cranking it help?

 

Yes she pumped the pedal and it helped. My concern is that it will get worse and leave her stranded one of these days. My line of thinking is to replace whatever is going bad instead of just band-aiding it.

 

well thats good news. tons of car owners actually face this problem with older cars and pumping the gas seems to work just fine. if you do want to get the part replaced, take it to your trusty mechanic that hopefully works on japanese cars/toyotas and he/she should get you on the right track.

Did you want to try cleaning out the throttle body first?

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/mainte...throttle_body/

If your car is a 4 cylinder, it's still going to be the same process, it just looks slightly different.


Please do not be concerned if you have troubles initially starting up the car. It will take a while to crank it up, and once it does crank up, give it just a little gas to make sure it doesnt stall. Once any left over fluid is cleared out of its 'throat' the car will perform normally, if not better than before. cleaning the throttle body is basically like blowing your nose to clear the passage way to your lungs

 

could be a whole bunch of stuff.

try this simple fuel system test. in the morning, turn the key on then off several times without starting the car. this will prime the fuel system, building up the pressure as the pump kicks on everytime you turn the key to the on position. if this resolves the problem you need to take it to a mechanic and have a propper leakdown test performed.

otherwise, check your battery, plugs, and get clean the **** out of the throttle plates and everything around it.

 

I have a 98 Camry LE 4 cyl. and have experienced this same problem a number of times. It is the Idle Air Control Valve (IAC Valve). It is a common problem with the 5S-FE engines. Vapor gases from the PCV causes gunk build-up and makes this valve sticky and it gets stuck. The IAC controls your idle speed depending on the engine temp. It has coolant lines flowing in and out of it.

It is a simple problem to fix. You will need to get a spray carb cleaner...ones that won't harm catalytic convertors or oxygen sensors ($10?). Make sure that you have that little tube or straw to spray into small openings. It's the same kind of tube/straw that comes with WD-40 spray cans.

With the engine cold (unstarted), you remove the intake tube from the throttle body. There is also a gray electrical connector to the IAC that you will need to disengage.

You will see a small square hole right in front of the butterfly on the throttle body. Spray a good amount (about2 seconds) of the carb cleaner into this hole to loosen the gunk. Start the car and then push the electrical connector in and out to try to activate the valve. If it still idles low, spray more carb cleaner into the hole and pushthe connector in and outto get the gears moving in there. Don't let the engine get too warm or you'll have to wait until it cools down to repeat the procedure.

Once the IAC is freed, you should hear your idle rev high with the connector engaged, slow when you remove the connector. Push the connector all the way in and keep spraying into that hole. You will notice that your engine will sputter. When it does, let off the spray until it clears the carb cleaner out.

Once that is done, you're good to go. Shut the engine off and put the intake back on. You will need to do this procedure about once a year or so, or when you start having that same problem again. Clean it out at the first sign of the low idle on start up from cold. This will save you $$$ because the mechanics will tell you to replace the IAC valve when all you need to do is clean it out with a can of carb cleaner.

Good luck.

I have included a picture of what the IAC looks like.

[IMG]local://upfiles/1814/A07EA6C931144BD388BB13DDBF9737E7.jpg[/IMG]

 

Note: Remove and connecting ECU connectors while the engine is running, do this at your own risk, because this will introduce an a/c spike/pulse within an dc circuity of your computer. Some handle it better than others with diodes and such. Just be warned.
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