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I have confirmed that there is no power getting to the pump. Zero volts at the fuse. I swapped all the relays around again, but still no power and the fuses are intact. Any other ideas?
From my experience, a cam sensor wont USUALLY keep an engine from running. ETCG has videos on tests of many sorts just for this issue. If you know the fuel pump connector near the pump is not getting voltage but the fuse & relay are good, then you have a faulty wire(s) leading to the pump.
There could be trash blocking it. the blend doors are plastic, and sometimes the pin part at the top or bottom that acts like a hinge can snap off, causing it to flop around instead of solid movements. I had a field mouse crawl into my HVAC & expire. That blocked it, but I lived with it until I ran the system, then I had to remove the dash & bleach all the vent tubes. That was a yucky smell!
Most body shops are willing to do only part of the work. That means if you already have the body panels removed for easy access, they can do only the frame stretching for a lot less than the full cost. I am a retired auto body man btw. The frame stretcher you seek wont give you quite the result you want, unless you expect the new fender hood grill etc not to line up correctly afterward. In a shop setting, the vehicle is bolted to the floor very securely with supports under it to make sure it does not wiggle at all. The body shops have measurements that tell them how far up, out or around each corner of your exact vehicle section is supposed to go, so you have a very strong chance of the thing being straightened to the right spots instead of eyeballing it then getting really frustrated when you try to hang new panels on it later. If the metal does tear some, you could weld in patch panels under or inside if your a decent welder of thinner metal. Good luck!
Sometimes problems pile up. A clogged or unresponsive egr can cause it to die at the first stop. The misfire codes may be unrelated and coincidental.
Many dealers big and small love to shove that Carfax thing in on the deal. They will wax on about how its never been in an accident solely because of the Carfax. Carfax is pretty worthless for many reasons. I am a retired auto body man. Most accidents are front end. Raise the hood. See the bolts that hold each fender on? They were painted from the factory after it was all assembled. If those bolts have paint scratched off as if a tool had removed then reinstalled them, then its definitely been wrecked before. If you have a code scanner, take it with you or stop by any Autozone since they scan for trouble codes for free. When you first turn the key on, the check engine light should come on for a couple of seconds then go out. If it never comes on, then the bulb for that was removed by the seller to cover up issues. After the engine has been driven for 10 or more minutes, park it with the engine running, pop the hood. Remove the oil fill cap. Is there a blue like smoke coming out of that spot? Is there a milky sludge under the oil fill cap? Those things spell engine work in the thousands. Don’t be afraid to have it checked. Good luck!
New info today guys. In neutral, but almost clicked over into drive, it started cranking and even nearly started and I heard the fuel pump spool up. I took the neutral start safety switch off, there are maybe one or two detents when I turn it with my finger. New nsss going in as soon as the owner gets the cash for it. I’m thinking now that will start it. I will update soon.
Actually, every auto that I’ve worked on and owned will start the fuel pump for a bit when the key is turned on, that’s normal. This van used to do that too, but does not now. Fords (love them or hate them) use a lot of safety features for the occupants and for motor longevity. They have a fuel pump cut off inirtia switch that sometimes has to be reset if there is an impact. I checked that too BTW, that button was already down. Chevy does not have that feature. I removed parts off a c5 vette that caught fire after a head on collision that killed both occupants. Even the wires for the seats melted away as did the engine intake, valve covers and tons of other stuff in it. Some Ford owners get pissed if the gas stops flowing if they hit a curb or take a speed bump too hard because the engine dies then they have to push the inirtia switch back down. At least the Ford won’t squirt fuel on an already burning vehicle.
The axle (CV) issue would pop more while turning also.
Unrelated, but a friend pulled a prank on me once. He put a loose bowling ball in my empty trunk. Every stop, go and turn made a low rolling sound then a hard thud. Nearly gave me a heart attack. Make sure there are no pranksters involved in this.
Also, my lights would sometimes go dim, then the ac light started blinking. The compressor was bad and dragging down the drive line in my Camry. With the engine running, I held my hand under the compressor pulley wheel, it was dropping shiney metal flakes in my hand. I’m going to replace that next week.
I did the gear selector jiggle thing in neutral, no cranking. Cranks over like a champ in park, but no gas flows. I swapped out all the relays and triple checked all fuses under the hood and in the cab, all good. Also, no trouble codes to read at all. I wonder if the crank sensor can be checked without removing it? I was going to get a can of starter fluid and spray it in while it cranks to see if that will get something going later today too.
Test the drive axles aka CV joints. Go to an empty flat parking lot. Turn off the air and radio, roll down both front windows. From a complete stop, turn the steering wheel all tje way left, put it in gear and allow the car to pull itself around in a full circle. Then repeat this with the wheel turned all the right. If it makes the popping noise the most there, or even if it acts like its going over speed bumps that aren’t there, then its definitely a drive axle. Reman ones are usually around $65 each with exchange and they aren’t so hard to change.
I also own a 97 Camry. Had the same issue in mine and a friends gm sedan. His car started fine with no odd noise, but the starter bench tested bad with an internal short, that fixed him. Mine had some great looking yet bad battery cables. I purchased mig welder grounding cable and made all new ones. The positive cable goes from the battery to the fuse box, the starter, alternator. The negative cable goes to the body and the motor for system wide ground. Either end of any of those connections can be loose or corroded, so check those too. We are lucky that all this can be done under the hood without jacking it up and crawling around under it. I’m very familiar with this car. Ask me spicifics and any part of it if you like.