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Hey Ladies and Gents
I have a very annoying issue.
My 93 Toyota Camry has a random habit of randomly stalling out. whether it be driving on the road/highway, coming to a stop or at a stop or just plain sitting somewhere while in park to stall out. Mind you this happens randomly if I was to give it an occurrence rate per week I’d say average 2 to 4 times a week depending on if I use the car that week. They’re becoming more frequent in the past this rarely happened once or every 2 months it would occur but start right back up on most occasions.
Now I took it to a shop on last week and I explained the following: “The car randomly stalls out while I’m driving or just sitting there doesn’t happen everyday since I don’t use the car every single day” “When I try to start the car back up it cranks and cranks but no start sometimes I get it to go on the first try but other times I’m not so fortunate sometimes it would crank sounds like a weak turning engine sound so I would stop and try again to see if it would start” (I would repeat this process until the car eventually starts back up)
After I told him the above they said ‘well it could be a bad fuel pump’
Then I told the following to see if they would have a Co-relation;
“Twice in my life time with the car while I would be driving the RPM gauge/dial would drop to 0 then quick pick up right back to where it was previously at with the car running fine after wards the check engine light would come on and turn off quickly after this has occurred” (I believe this to be a separate problem)
Then the diagnosis was that it was Bad distributor
The car showed no trouble codes when hooked up to scanners after a road test didnt die out sadly. and also let it sit there to see if it would stall but to my luck it did not. They sprayed water on the wires to see if that would cause the engine to stall but no.
They then said ‘lets look at the distributor’ upon opening the cap they found a bit of oil on the inside not much but a little after this find they were sure that this was the problem.
So I went out and bought a brand new Distributor job was done 7/27/15 fast forward to today (7/28/15) payed for my car and repairs and drove it back home. On my way back home my car stalled out on me again. I really would like to know what is causing my car to stall out randomly.
My mechanic said there’s no guarantee on the Distributor since it was one I bought but I don’t believe that the distributor is the problem. In my honest opinion I do not believe the distributor was the issue in the first place but since I was running out of options I decided to just go with the mechanics advice a get the job done. My reason to believe this was that I’ve had this car for awhile and if it truly was oil in the cap then shouldn’t it happen all the time since to my knowledge oil or water with electricity isn’t a good mix so if oil was seeping into the cap wouldn’t it happen every time I use the car.
Please help me fix this issue I need this car to get to work although I’m trying to make it last until I’m able to buy a newer car This car has well over 240K miles on it but it runs very well its just this issue that’s making my life a gamble especially driving in NYC where having a car stall out in traffic isn’t the safest thing in the world
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Sounds like an ignition coil issue to me. Oil in the cap is usually a sign that the shaft seal is failing, so the new distributor might not have been a bad idea even if it wasn’t the cause of the issue.
But wouldn’t a new distributor fix the issue since the ignition coil comes inside the distributor or am I mistaken and its a completely separate part?
The ignition coil does mount inside the distributor, yes. Some come with the coil, others do not and the old coil is transferred over to the new distributor. I have no way of knowing which. Also, new aftermarket ignition components like coils and sensors are commonly bad or out-of-spec straight from the box, so just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s working right. The clue for me was the RPM dropping to zero.
Now, a long-shot guess. The engine coolant temperature (ECT) sensor may be going bad. Computers work on micro and milliseconds, engines and humans don’t. If the ECT is sending bad information to the computer, even if just for a fraction of a second, the computer could be reacting oddly. Sometimes what can happen is the sensor can tell the computer the coolant temperature is below zero degrees. The computer is programmed to respond to that condition by cutting out the ignition. That could cause both symptoms of the RPM dropping to zero and the stall. You could take a chance on that and replace the ECT sensor, they aren’t difficult or expensive. Otherwise, a scan tool and oscilloscope to check sensor and computer data may ultimately be the only way to track this one down.
[quote=”cap269″ post=143317]Sounds like an ignition coil issue to me. Oil in the cap is usually a sign that the shaft seal is failing, so the new distributor might not have been a bad idea even if it wasn’t the cause of the issue.[/quote]
+1 here… The coil cracking/going bad is a common problem on this model and year vehicle….. Follow this thread… If they did not replace the coil when they re-did the distributor, it could be your issue…
Look at the crack on this one (the yellow part)
-Karl
I had a similar problem in a Tundra once that ended up being an oxygen sensor. If you have access to a scanner that reads live data, check out what the O2 sensors are doing. The fuel pump could in fact be the issue, you can get a fuel pressure gauge for $30 on Amazon or have someone else check it, but I don’t see a highly intermittent electrical issue being a good reason to rule out the fuel pump as your stall problem.
This is old Distributor is there anyway that I could test the ignition coil now that it is out of the vehicle?
Since now the problem seems to be happening more frequently or it could just be a bad day type scenario that it hit me 4 times today.
What other issues could cause this?
Im hearing mostly things that point to distributor BUT if it is not that then where else could I look?
I might go to Autozone tomorrow to see if they could test the ignition coil from my old distributor if possible if not ill buy a multimeter and scan tool and use the scan tool whenever it dies out on me to see what it tells me
How would I be able to test the Coil?
I posted a picture on my other responses of my old Dist. and there appears to be no crack but would I be able to test this since its out from the vehicle?
I might go to autozone tomorrow and buy a scan tool and use it whenever the car dies on my to see what codes come up to see if that helps
How would I be able to test the Coil?
I posted a picture on my other responses of my old Dist. and there appears to be no crack but would I be able to test this since its out from the vehicle?
I might go to Auto zone tomorrow and buy a scan tool and use it whenever the car dies on my to see what codes come up to see if that helps.
The coil can be checked with Ohms (resistance) however, that is not always the best way… Sometimes Coils fail only after they have heated up… It looks like yours is at least in good physical condition.
Another thing I would check is the Crank position sensor. It is located next to the crank pulley… Without a sensor signal, the fuel pump will not operate. These old 2.2’s had the wiring running down the side of the front of the engine and sometimes get frayed when they got loose by the belts… I would check that line for any damage… Another sign is that if you have a tach on the instrument panel and when you are cranking the engine, you do not see the RPMs go up (move at all), this shows most likely you have an issue somewhere with the crank positions sensor or the wiring.
Also, before you throw a fuel pump at it… Check fuel pressure… Toyota OEMs are pretty robust….
-Karl
‘Would it be a good idea to get the scan tool and use it whenever the car dies to see what information i get?
I have the 1997 version of your car with the same 2.2 engine. Pre 96 have bad luck not showing codes, obd1 I think back then.
It sounds like the EGR is sticking or stuck. There is also a solenoid that controls the EGR. There vids on cleaning, checking and replacing the EGR all over YouTube.
You might need it cleaned, replaced or maybe even the EGR solenoid replaced too. Mine acted like it was overheated even though it wasnt. Had to let it sit for hours before it would start again.
[quote=”EngineStallz” post=143383]Would it be a good idea to get the scan tool and use it whenever the car dies to see what information i get?[/quote]…
As Peshewa pointed out… SInce this is a pre 96 vehicle, It is OBD I ( FWIW some 95’s had OBD II)… So a scanner is not going to be much use…
As for the EGR situation, there are a LOT of vids about this, A simple way to check the EGR valve itself is to use a hand operated vacuum pump and apply vacuum to the EGR valve…. If the engine stalls, then the EGR valve is working properly, but there are some VSV’s (Vaccum switching valves) and a modulator that control the flow of vacuum to the EGR…. Additionally, there are some vacuum hoses that come from the throttle body to supply vacuum… the plugs from the throttle body can get clogged with carbon, so they should be checked/cleaned out every so often (small drill bit)…. It is a very antiquated EGR system, but if you watch a few videos, you can see how it works..
-Karl
OK so so far you guys have givin me
the EGR valve
The Crankshaft position sensor
The Fuel pump as a last resort
and the distributor ignition coilI will have to consider replacing the top 2 parts to see if that remedies the issue……im going to test out the coil. How would I go about testing the coil after i let the car run for some time
IGNITION COIL RESISTANCE
1 . Disconnect wiring from ignition coil so ignition coil is isolated from system. Using ohmmeter, check primary resistance between ignition coil positive (+) and negative (-) terminals.
2 . Check secondary resistance between ignition coil positive (+) terminal and high tension wire terminal (coil wire tower).
Replace ignition coil if resistance is not within specification.
IGNITION COIL RESISTANCE (4- CYLINDER) – Ohms @ 68°F (20°C)
Primary = 0.4. – 0.45Secondary = 10,200 – 14,300
Good luck
-Karl
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