Need Help With An 89 Camry...

[chrsl02]

Hello,

I'm glad I found this forum. My girlfriend has a 1989 Camry that she's recently been having some problems with. There are two that are apparent, they may or may not be related.

She claims the car hesitates when she presses the gas, I have driven it many times and the hesitation is very, very slight. 1989 Camry with 120,000 miles, transmission is probably getting weak. She knows nothing about the previous owners or what they did to the car, so it may also need a tune up.

The main problem she had today, though, was a loss of total power. She was driving and I guess the car shut off, no power at all. She tried restarting it and she got it to go again. I'm not sure if the hesitation has anything to do with the power loss, but I'm stumped and I don't know where to start. What are some good places to start checking? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Chris

[chrsl02]

Update.

I went over to her house and inspected the car some more. It almost seems like it's not getting enough fuel. I press the gas and the car barely goes, when it idles it's chugging, sometimes it stalls- not all the time though. The idle seems very low, very lopey. Do the fuel pumps in these things gradually go bad? Would any kind of sensor cause this? I'm going to try and attatch my fuel pressure gauge somewhere to see if it's getting adequate pressure. There are no check engine lights on. Any ideas on this one? I feel bad for my lady, I am not sure what to do.

Side question, the transmission in this thing wouldn't cause the car to idle rough and stall, right? The shift out of first seems a bit firm.

Chris

[b.haugh]

does she get it serviced at all because it sounds like the injectors are clogged

[MyV6Flys]

I'm going with fuel problem also. When it gets fuel it runs, I dought the spark is coming and going. Spark for the most part is always there or not at all.

So check the fuel filter. It's letting enough gas get by to run, but not enough gas gets through to GO. I bet it's worse going up hills also.

[Toytech]

Fuel pressure regulators are usually a problem with that age of Camry. Pinch off the fuel return line and see if it runs.

[sdhartney]

Listen carefully......

Your ignition coil has stress/heat cracks and is leaking voltage to ground. This is common and commonly cunfused with fuel problems.

You will need to remove the distributor from the vehicle to replace the coil.

Things you will be replacing:

1) The coil

2) The "distributor to engine" ring seal

3) The gasket/seal under the ignition coil

[sdhartney]

I just realized this post is going on a year old, DUH....

I think Chris's girlfriend gave up on him by now !!

[jamesholden]

Well you never know they may still be trying to fix it.

BTW - I doubt the transmission is weak at only 120k, we are dealing with a superior Japanese vehicle here not a Fraud or Vauxhall.