RatFink Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 My son's 94 Camry (approx. 100000 mi, AT, 4cyl.) was running fine until recently. It starts up fine and idles well in neutral and park, but idles rough when you shift into drive. It then bogs down badly when accelerated, and eventually stalls. The engine runs fine as I said, in park and neutral, and doesn't bog down when accelerated like it does when transmission is engaged. So I was thinking that it may be the fuel filter because he runs it nearly empty all the time. Or maybe it could use a tune up or a fuel pump. I would appreciate any suggestions from those who may have experienced similar problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leighcm Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 My son's 94 Camry (approx. 100000 mi, AT, 4cyl.) was running fine until recently. It starts up fine and idles well in neutral and park, but idles rough when you shift into drive. It then bogs down badly when accelerated, and eventually stalls. The engine runs fine as I said, in park and neutral, and doesn't bog down when accelerated like it does when transmission is engaged. So I was thinking that it may be the fuel filter because he runs it nearly empty all the time. Or maybe it could use a tune up or a fuel pump. I would appreciate any suggestions from those who may have experienced similar problems. It could easily be the fuel filter...eventually, you have to replace those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFBonnett Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 How many miles since it has had new plugs, wires, cap, rotor, air filter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RatFink Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 How many miles since it has had new plugs, wires, cap, rotor, air filter? We have only had the car less that a year. It had pretty low miles when we bought it but looked as though it hadn't been very well maintained. So I would guess that it could use a tune up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFBonnett Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 With 100K on it it sure may need a tune-up now. I'd replace the parts mentioned to establish a baseline then post back results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RatFink Posted February 6, 2009 Author Share Posted February 6, 2009 With 100K on it it sure may need a tune-up now. I'd replace the parts mentioned to establish a baseline then post back results. We will begin this weekend and let you know the results. Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RatFink Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 We will begin this weekend and let you know the results. Thanks for the help. We replaced the fuel filter, plugs, wires, distributer cap and rotor. The car definitely ran better after that, but began hesitating occasionally, sometimes stalling or nearly stalling at idle. It ran good at high speeds, seemed to have lots of power. Going on some advise from other posts, we sprayed the throttle body thoroughly with carb cleaner (about 1 full can), and it seemed to help with the hesitation on acceleration and rough idle. My son felt confident enough to drive the car home, and said that he was going to try another can of carb cleaner and see if the problem clears up. Thats all for now. I would appreciate any further advise, and thanks for the feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFBonnett Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 ...but began hesitating occasionally, sometimes stalling or nearly stalling at idle. Do a search for how to clean the IAC (idle air control) valve. It sounds like that is your problem now, especially since a general hosing out of the TB helped. There is a specific procedure on the 4 cyl. and I've seen it on many boards but didn't pay too much attention as I have the 6 which is different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RatFink Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 Do a search for how to clean the IAC (idle air control) valve. I was hoping that by spraying cleaner into the throttle body it would take care of the IAC valve, but maybe not. Here is an excellent post by a chap that explains the procedure pretty well: I work in a fleet that has Toyota camry. Today we fixed a stalling problem and the way we fixed it might be worth a try for you. He took the throttle body off the plenum chamber/intake manifold (big french bread shaped, aluminum casting the throttle body attaches to) to clean it. I think you could do an acceptable job with out removing it though. The mechanic showed me a part of the throttle body that regulates air, its the idle air control valve. There is a small valve on this part and it was dirty. After a while it gets clogged by carbon etc. from the PCV blowby and doesnt let enough air pass at idle. So you have to clean it off once in a while. The mechanic used spray can carb cleaner to clean the throttle body. To find the throttle body trace the big plastic tube from the air filter and it is the first metal part it clamps to. Its the part with the throttle linkage in it. Remove the big plastic tube from the air filter. (You should be able to see the butterfly valve) and use a whole can of spray cleaner in there. Clean the throttle butterfly, and remove all the fuel and vauum hoses on it and spray in there too. Use a rag to clean it as much as you can in there. Compressed air is good if you have it, it will save a lot of work. Just soak everything you can get to on the throttle body to clean it. And prop the butterfly open to let the solvent evaporate. Then put everything back together. It might run rough for a minute as the spray cleaner gets burned off but after that it should idle smoothly (if the dirty IAC valve wass indeed the problem and not something else) There it is if anyone is interested. I'll try to remove the IAC and clean it separately and see if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceti Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Did cleaning help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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