94 Camry quit running
 

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to the forum and I need some guidance.
I was driving our 94 Camry and it just quit running.
I managed to coast off the main street.
It would not restart.
It cranks but does not fire.
Gas tank is full.
I'd be out there right now hunting the problem but it's right at freezing with the wind blowing and I'm cold.
Obviously it's either fuel or spark.
I hear good compression hits so I know it's not the timing belt and I know it's less than 10,000 miles old.
So where do I start?
Jumper the fuel pump relay and see if I have fuel pump pressure at the injectors?
Pull the plug wires, plug in a spark plug and crank it looking for a spark?
All of the above?
I'd like to have a plan before I go out there again.
Thanks for any help or advice
Paul Dornburg
Owensboro, KY

RE: 94 Camry quit running
 

What is it they say about answering your questions?....
I didn't get any replies so here's what I found.
When the car first quit and I would try to restart it would fire once on one cylinder.
That reminded me of the days when the HEI ignition system was first introduced on the GM cars.
On those cars the ignition module would die and the car would stop running.
When trying to restart it would fire on one cylinder and that was all.
My hunch was that this was a similar problem so I ruled out the fuel system.
I pulled the spark plugs and they smelled of raw gas so that made my hunch seem even more correct.
I got out the service manual, that I download sometime ago, and read through the ignition system information.
In that section it gave measurements for the ignition coil and pickup coil.
I went to my local auto parts store and picked up a cheap ($16) mulitmeter and also a coil. ($47)
After I got the distributor out I checked the resistances of the coil and it was out of spec.
I bolted in the new coil and installed the distributor and it started right up.
I had previously marked the position of the distributor so I was able to set it close enough to get it started. Then I checked the timimg with a timing light and adjusted it slightly.
I threw in a set of plugs while I was at it and now I'm motoring merrily along like nothing happened.
Paul D

RE: 94 Camry quit running
 

was this an i4?

good job on fixing the problem tho.

RE: 94 Camry quit running
 

Yes it is an I4.

Paul

RE: 94 Camry quit running
 

ah okay, then what happend to you has recently happend to many with i4's. As the cars age, apparantly the coils do go bad after a while. of course this problem happens with all cars over time/miles, but i've just been reading a few forums and it seems ur definately not alone.