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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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To verify the car would need to be on the on position for the reading to be done without it being ran. Or could I do both a cold test and hot test (after it has died?)
Also I cant seem to find a Crankshaft position sensor part online im only getting a throttle position sensor??
Does a bad ignition coil contribute to a weak start……since my car just died while in park and i couldnt start it back up again. The engine sounded like wanted to start but couldnt
First, I would not be so quick to condemn the distributor. Aftermarket distributors aren’t the best these days and you might end up with other problems down the road as a result. I’d consider that a last resort. Second, as Toyota Karl has already pointed out, checking resistance on coils is not always conclusive. Especially with intermittent problems. Coils fail under load. Resistance checks do not use enough current to show a problem. A bad coil can easily read good. I don’t even bother with that test anymore as I consider it a waste of time. However, it is the only test you can perform with the coil out of the vehicle.
With problems like this you really have to catch them in the act if you can. I’ve driven around for days at a time with a fuel psi gauge taped to the windshield to verify a faulty fuel pump problem in the past. This may be the direction you have to take. If nothing else, you’ll know if fuel psi is a contributing factor to the problem. If it isn’t, then you can take a closer look at the ignition system for the issue.
Intermittent problems are the worst. It makes diagnosis difficult, but in the end, it will save you from throwing parts at it hoping you solved the problem.
More info here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-performance-issues
Good luck and keep us posted.
I guess this problem is a little out of my reach to do on my own :/ with my lack of tools and workspace….. I guess the best bet for me to do is to take it back to the mechanic and tell him to put his Distributor on since that’s what he wanted to do in first place he wanted to rebuild the old one and put it back on. I bought the distributor myself since of course it would’ve been 70% cheaper than what he would’ve charged me for a rebuilt one. But would it be wise to ask them to conduct a fuel pressure test.
The only benefit to me going back for another distributor is that if he puts in the one he gets I’ll get a guarantee if the car shuts off again something I didn’t get previously because I bought my own dist.
what a drag wish I coulda done it myself
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