Camry Stalling

[ecleek]

Problem found and resolved on my fiancés 92 Camry: coolant temp sensor.

After exhibiting all the same symptoms as you all, I went down to the Toyota dealer who misdiagnosed the distributor and igniter as being at fault. After they charged and arm and a leg, it stalled at the next stop light on the way home. Furious at Toyota, but tired and wanting to get home, I waited for the car to cool enough for it to start again and carefully drove home, doing the gas/brake deely with both feet.

I then took the car to a friend of a friend, a trusted non-Toyota mechanic that came highly recommended. He had the problem figured out and solved in 2 days. As I came to pick up the car, he explained to me what he did and how he figured it out. He had a snap-on computer, just smaller than the size of a laptop hooked up to several sensors in the engine compartment; he actually drove the car with wires hanging out of the hood going through the window to his computer, which acted like a real-time analyzer and data logger. As soon as the symptom arose, it was the temperature sensor that caused the fault.

As most of you may know, temperature sensors are just over-sized thermistors, which are devices that output a change in resistance in proportion to the heat that is detected. The ECU measures this resistance to determine the temperature of the engine, and based on such, gives the appropriate amount of fuel to cylinders to combust. The problem is that over time (at least so I've been told with Toyota temp sensors), they can fail after getting to a certain temperature. They would function cold and as they get hotter and hotter, they short/open and produce a false reading to the ECU. The ECU then sees this as a malfunction, and thinking that the motor is cold in an effort to avoid detonation, dumps WAY more fuel than needed and basically floods the engine. This is why after the car stalls and you try and start the car unsuccessfully, you can smell a heavy gas odor in/near the engine compartment. It's putting too much fuel for the temperature of the motor/air and stalling the motor. This is also why it stalls only when coming to a stop: because you don't have your foot on the gas to let more air in to balance out the extra fuel that is being sent into the engine.

Apparently, this is something of an issue with Toyota coolant temp sensors after a long period of time (at least told to me). I'm so ****** off with the Toyota dealer you cannot imagine. They cringe whenever I go down there because they couldn't fix my problem and charged me for something that wasn't even causing the issue. As far as I'm concerned, dealers can only fix problems to which they know the cause of, and do not know for the life of them how to troubleshoot issues! For this they can all go :censor:.

I tried all the other suggestions here before sending it to my friend's mechanic friend, with no resolvement. And no offence to anyone that offered such suggestions, but I was skeptical of them to begin with because none of them really seemed to be affected by heat, which our problem does. I did find comfort knowing we weren't alone in this, and thank you all for this great site and thread - in which I found by google.

After replacing the sensor, not only did the problem go away completely, but our gas mileage got considerably better, and the car exhibited a lot more power when hot. I hope this info will give you some insight to your dilemmas of the same nature, and provide you with much needed relief - and a good nights (worry-free) sleep!

Kind Regards,

Ive

Vancouver, BC

P.S. If anyone needs a perfectly working used distributor and coil, courtesy of my local Toyota's misdiagnosis, email me as I have one for sale. :)

Thanks for this info! Wish I'd found this post before spending $300 on a tune up for my daughter's '91 Camry. It was exhibiting all the symptoms of yours and the $18 coolant temperature sensor, which it took about 3 minutes to replace, fixed it!

[oh_pook]

Problem found and resolved on my fiancés 92 Camry: coolant temp sensor.

After exhibiting all the same symptoms as you all, I went down to the Toyota dealer who misdiagnosed the distributor and igniter as being at fault. After they charged and arm and a leg, it stalled at the next stop light on the way home. Furious at Toyota, but tired and wanting to get home, I waited for the car to cool enough for it to start again and carefully drove home, doing the gas/brake deely with both feet.

I then took the car to a friend of a friend, a trusted non-Toyota mechanic that came highly recommended. He had the problem figured out and solved in 2 days. As I came to pick up the car, he explained to me what he did and how he figured it out. He had a snap-on computer, just smaller than the size of a laptop hooked up to several sensors in the engine compartment; he actually drove the car with wires hanging out of the hood going through the window to his computer, which acted like a real-time analyzer and data logger. As soon as the symptom arose, it was the temperature sensor that caused the fault.

As most of you may know, temperature sensors are just over-sized thermistors, which are devices that output a change in resistance in proportion to the heat that is detected. The ECU measures this resistance to determine the temperature of the engine, and based on such, gives the appropriate amount of fuel to cylinders to combust. The problem is that over time (at least so I've been told with Toyota temp sensors), they can fail after getting to a certain temperature. They would function cold and as they get hotter and hotter, they short/open and produce a false reading to the ECU. The ECU then sees this as a malfunction, and thinking that the motor is cold in an effort to avoid detonation, dumps WAY more fuel than needed and basically floods the engine. This is why after the car stalls and you try and start the car unsuccessfully, you can smell a heavy gas odor in/near the engine compartment. It's putting too much fuel for the temperature of the motor/air and stalling the motor. This is also why it stalls only when coming to a stop: because you don't have your foot on the gas to let more air in to balance out the extra fuel that is being sent into the engine.

Apparently, this is something of an issue with Toyota coolant temp sensors after a long period of time (at least told to me). I'm so ****** off with the Toyota dealer you cannot imagine. They cringe whenever I go down there because they couldn't fix my problem and charged me for something that wasn't even causing the issue. As far as I'm concerned, dealers can only fix problems to which they know the cause of, and do not know for the life of them how to troubleshoot issues! For this they can all go :censor:.

I tried all the other suggestions here before sending it to my friend's mechanic friend, with no resolvement. And no offence to anyone that offered such suggestions, but I was skeptical of them to begin with because none of them really seemed to be affected by heat, which our problem does. I did find comfort knowing we weren't alone in this, and thank you all for this great site and thread - in which I found by google.

After replacing the sensor, not only did the problem go away completely, but our gas mileage got considerably better, and the car exhibited a lot more power when hot. I hope this info will give you some insight to your dilemmas of the same nature, and provide you with much needed relief - and a good nights (worry-free) sleep!

Kind Regards,

Ive

Vancouver, BC

P.S. If anyone needs a perfectly working used distributor and coil, courtesy of my local Toyota's misdiagnosis, email me as I have one for sale. :)

Thanks for this info! Wish I'd found this post before spending $300 on a tune up for my daughter's '91 Camry. It was exhibiting all the symptoms of yours and the $18 coolant temperature sensor, which it took about 3 minutes to replace, fixed it!

We'll see if I figured out how to post this message :)

Wow! I'm so glad I found this message board... I'll be putting in the new temp sensor this weekend... Will let you all know if this too fixes my problem with stalling!

Peace

[jherentals]

Problem found and resolved on my fiancés 92 Camry: coolant temp sensor.

After exhibiting all the same symptoms as you all, I went down to the Toyota dealer who misdiagnosed the distributor and igniter as being at fault. After they charged and arm and a leg, it stalled at the next stop light on the way home. Furious at Toyota, but tired and wanting to get home, I waited for the car to cool enough for it to start again and carefully drove home, doing the gas/brake deely with both feet.

I then took the car to a friend of a friend, a trusted non-Toyota mechanic that came highly recommended. He had the problem figured out and solved in 2 days. As I came to pick up the car, he explained to me what he did and how he figured it out. He had a snap-on computer, just smaller than the size of a laptop hooked up to several sensors in the engine compartment; he actually drove the car with wires hanging out of the hood going through the window to his computer, which acted like a real-time analyzer and data logger. As soon as the symptom arose, it was the temperature sensor that caused the fault.

As most of you may know, temperature sensors are just over-sized thermistors, which are devices that output a change in resistance in proportion to the heat that is detected. The ECU measures this resistance to determine the temperature of the engine, and based on such, gives the appropriate amount of fuel to cylinders to combust. The problem is that over time (at least so I've been told with Toyota temp sensors), they can fail after getting to a certain temperature. They would function cold and as they get hotter and hotter, they short/open and produce a false reading to the ECU. The ECU then sees this as a malfunction, and thinking that the motor is cold in an effort to avoid detonation, dumps WAY more fuel than needed and basically floods the engine. This is why after the car stalls and you try and start the car unsuccessfully, you can smell a heavy gas odor in/near the engine compartment. It's putting too much fuel for the temperature of the motor/air and stalling the motor. This is also why it stalls only when coming to a stop: because you don't have your foot on the gas to let more air in to balance out the extra fuel that is being sent into the engine.

Apparently, this is something of an issue with Toyota coolant temp sensors after a long period of time (at least told to me). I'm so ****** off with the Toyota dealer you cannot imagine. They cringe whenever I go down there because they couldn't fix my problem and charged me for something that wasn't even causing the issue. As far as I'm concerned, dealers can only fix problems to which they know the cause of, and do not know for the life of them how to troubleshoot issues! For this they can all go :censor:.

I tried all the other suggestions here before sending it to my friend's mechanic friend, with no resolvement. And no offence to anyone that offered such suggestions, but I was skeptical of them to begin with because none of them really seemed to be affected by heat, which our problem does. I did find comfort knowing we weren't alone in this, and thank you all for this great site and thread - in which I found by google.

After replacing the sensor, not only did the problem go away completely, but our gas mileage got considerably better, and the car exhibited a lot more power when hot. I hope this info will give you some insight to your dilemmas of the same nature, and provide you with much needed relief - and a good nights (worry-free) sleep!

Kind Regards,

Ive

Vancouver, BC

P.S. If anyone needs a perfectly working used distributor and coil, courtesy of my local Toyota's misdiagnosis, email me as I have one for sale. :)

Thanks for this info! Wish I'd found this post before spending $300 on a tune up for my daughter's '91 Camry. It was exhibiting all the symptoms of yours and the $18 coolant temperature sensor, which it took about 3 minutes to replace, fixed it!

We'll see if I figured out how to post this message :)

Wow! I'm so glad I found this message board... I'll be putting in the new temp sensor this weekend... Will let you all know if this too fixes my problem with stalling!

Peace

Problem found and resolved on my fiancés 92 Camry: coolant temp sensor.

After exhibiting all the same symptoms as you all, I went down to the Toyota dealer who misdiagnosed the distributor and igniter as being at fault. After they charged and arm and a leg, it stalled at the next stop light on the way home. Furious at Toyota, but tired and wanting to get home, I waited for the car to cool enough for it to start again and carefully drove home, doing the gas/brake deely with both feet.

I then took the car to a friend of a friend, a trusted non-Toyota mechanic that came highly recommended. He had the problem figured out and solved in 2 days. As I came to pick up the car, he explained to me what he did and how he figured it out. He had a snap-on computer, just smaller than the size of a laptop hooked up to several sensors in the engine compartment; he actually drove the car with wires hanging out of the hood going through the window to his computer, which acted like a real-time analyzer and data logger. As soon as the symptom arose, it was the temperature sensor that caused the fault.

As most of you may know, temperature sensors are just over-sized thermistors, which are devices that output a change in resistance in proportion to the heat that is detected. The ECU measures this resistance to determine the temperature of the engine, and based on such, gives the appropriate amount of fuel to cylinders to combust. The problem is that over time (at least so I've been told with Toyota temp sensors), they can fail after getting to a certain temperature. They would function cold and as they get hotter and hotter, they short/open and produce a false reading to the ECU. The ECU then sees this as a malfunction, and thinking that the motor is cold in an effort to avoid detonation, dumps WAY more fuel than needed and basically floods the engine. This is why after the car stalls and you try and start the car unsuccessfully, you can smell a heavy gas odor in/near the engine compartment. It's putting too much fuel for the temperature of the motor/air and stalling the motor. This is also why it stalls only when coming to a stop: because you don't have your foot on the gas to let more air in to balance out the extra fuel that is being sent into the engine.

Apparently, this is something of an issue with Toyota coolant temp sensors after a long period of time (at least told to me). I'm so ****** off with the Toyota dealer you cannot imagine. They cringe whenever I go down there because they couldn't fix my problem and charged me for something that wasn't even causing the issue. As far as I'm concerned, dealers can only fix problems to which they know the cause of, and do not know for the life of them how to troubleshoot issues! For this they can all go :censor:.

I tried all the other suggestions here before sending it to my friend's mechanic friend, with no resolvement. And no offence to anyone that offered such suggestions, but I was skeptical of them to begin with because none of them really seemed to be affected by heat, which our problem does. I did find comfort knowing we weren't alone in this, and thank you all for this great site and thread - in which I found by google.

After replacing the sensor, not only did the problem go away completely, but our gas mileage got considerably better, and the car exhibited a lot more power when hot. I hope this info will give you some insight to your dilemmas of the same nature, and provide you with much needed relief - and a good nights (worry-free) sleep!

Kind Regards,

Ive

Vancouver, BC

P.S. If anyone needs a perfectly working used distributor and coil, courtesy of my local Toyota's misdiagnosis, email me as I have one for sale. :)

Thanks for this info! Wish I'd found this post before spending $300 on a tune up for my daughter's '91 Camry. It was exhibiting all the symptoms of yours and the $18 coolant temperature sensor, which it took about 3 minutes to replace, fixed it!

We'll see if I figured out how to post this message :)

Wow! I'm so glad I found this message board... I'll be putting in the new temp sensor this weekend... Will let you all know if this too fixes my problem with stalling!

Peace

[Tamiya595]

I just want to offer a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who posted on this thread. We have a 1995 Camry that has been stalling at stop lights and stop signs for almost a year. Six mechanics and one dealer later (fortunately only the dealer charged us....and I fought them so it was very moderate). I finally told them what the problem was after reading this thread last night. The dealership was very dismissive and condescending when I asked them to check the coolant temp censor: "Is there any real reason why you want us to look at the coolant temp censor???" WELL, YEAH.... Anyway, this was indeed the problem! The dealership, our local mechanic and good friend who has been trying to fix the car for months, and my husband were all amazed that I found the solution on the web. You are the best!!!

Thanks for being a google search away.

Best,

Michigan Mama

Please let me know if this works for you. I am going to buy one now, because I have tried everything else.

Covington

[oh_pook]

Well, so far so good on the coolant temperature sensor! I've experienced NO stalling yet. Have even driven using the cruise control... A/C going... I hope this continues! I've noticed that my idle is better (not so high), and the pick up on the highway seems better too! Not bad for a $25 part and 5 minutes to change it...

[Rudyjr]

I have a 96 camry with 66k on it that is exhibiting the same symptoms as described in the other posts. I have tried cleaning the IAC valve , no change. I am also going to try the coolant tempaerature sensor change can anyone tell me where exactly it is located???

[Rudyjr]

Well I bought the coolant temperature sensor and installed it. There are two sensors side by side on the 96 camry one with two wires and another with one wire. The sensor with two wires was the one that I was told was the coolant temperature sensor. I changed that sensor and no difference in the problem at all. If anybody else out there has any other thoughts I would like to hear from you.

[fogjammer]

Hello, group,

I am a new member. I found this group and thread due to a stalling problem with a '98 Camry, which I fixed, and want to report the corrective action.

The car was doing this signature stalling after 5-10 minutes of warm-up driving, starting back up OK, but would not idle worth a hoot. BILLION BULLION THANK YOUS to all who have posted on this problem, giving me ideas, because this is new to me, although I have been working on cars 20 years.

I went after the EGR, and found these peculiarities. The EGR diaphragm/shaft moved freely enough, but not in a smooth fashion, sorta sticky. Kind of a hesitant motion. The EGR I imagine pulls open all the way, not part way, so it probably sticks when it reaches the end of its travel. I noticed the stem of the valve is stainless steel, and so is its accompanying bushing, and stainless parts moving against each other have an affinity for each other, (i.e., tend to stick or gall )..

The corrective action I used was to mix a special high temperature lube out of Molybdenum Paste and Power Steering fluid, to form a viscous mix similar to a gear oil. I first cleaned the valve/bushing in the area that gets the carbon on it, with carburetor cleaner from a spray can and red nozzle, working the valve repeatedly to free up the carbon in the bushing. Then I painted the Moly mix on both ends of the bushing with a small tool such as a twig. On the diaphragm side of the bushing, there is an access hole, where the lube can be dripped on the bushing end/ valve stem, then the valve was worked repeatedly back and forth, and I could feel it free up and say "Ahhhhhh ! " I put the EGR back on the car, and the car has been perfect since. If anyone needs further details, please post.

[Iagosenvy]

I have a '96 Camry that was doing all the same things, stalling at idle and revving to 2000-2500. My trusted garage had the car for five day during which they got the problem to occur but not in a way they could find it. So said the kid at the front desk. So taking it back I devised a systematic plan to solving this Issue. I had the benefit of a engine that came out of the car when the #2 piston con-rod cap bolts failed. Since that engine ran fine prior to the block forming a large hole in it :P I used it's parts to work this problem. I started with the Vacuum modulator and the EGR Valve. No that was not it, still had the same symptoms. Cleaned the Throttle body and IAC with the spray cleaner. No change. I finally swapped out the coolant sensors and on day two of operation in this configuration the symptoms have not reappeared (touch wood). I don't know which one of the coolant sensors were at fault but I plan to take them both to work and follow the test proceedure in the chilton book to identify the culprit.

Without this forum and you ever vigilant and sharing people I could have gone down a long road chasing ghosts in my electrical system, where I thought this problem was. Thanks to all who posted their experience here.

[old93camry]

Thank you very much to many of you on this website. I have a 93 Toyota Camry with almost 200,000 miles on it and use it as my commuting car. Recently, at stop signs and red lights it would idle erratically...high then low...eventually it would just stall and cut itself off. I would be able to crank it up after the second or third try...but it got worse....I thought the car was just going to die! I would play these pedal games in stop situations and throw it into drive and go - very stressful driving in Tallahassee, FL. Anyway, situation got worse, and I would notice this sudden gas smell when I would restart the car...evenutally it would not start and I broke down in front of this "mom-pop" mechanic. He was nice and all but said he would have to hook the computer up to it and tell me the problem - He came back with a $700 estimate - said it was the distributor cap, and plugs. I happen to pull up this GREAT site and notice many folks had this exact same problem with the Camry....stalling, erratic idling, playing the foot pedal game, and the gas odor.....so I told the mechanic about the engine coolant temperature sensor ---what other folks here said...he pretty much ignored me.... He said that wasn't the problem, but he said it too quickly...and other posts said they took their cars to the dealerships and did the standard distributor cap and the problem was still not fixed...so I drove it to another mechanic....told him about the "sensor" and the camry drives awesome now! Just want to say thank you very much to all of you who posted this info. on this site....you saved me hundreds of dollars!

[lmihaly]

I am glad I came across this WEB site, it saved me lots of trouble and money. My '95 Toyota Camry was stalling, as described by several of you: randomly, only when warm, and only at low revs. My (very reliable) mechanic could not find the solution, and he was not eager to see the car again. Therefore I decided to try a few things myself. First, I waited for the problem to happen again, and disconnected the rubber hose from the EGR valve. No improvement. Then I changed the coolant temp sensor (no need to drain the coolant). No change. After reading the post about the "sticky" EGR valve I realized that my first test was inconclusive: if the EGR valve sticks to the wrong position, it is too late to disconnect the hose. So I disconnected the hose again, this time with cold engine. The engine works perfect since than - more than a month with no stalling. I will take it back to the mechanic soon to fix the source of the problem: EGR valve. :)

[Iagosenvy]

I have returned to say that indeed the fix was the engine coolant temp. sensor. I have not had a reoccurance at all. I have used the Cruise control and in this climate I have also used the A/C to it's fullest.

Thanks again to all here at the nice Toyota forum.

[ebilal]

I have returned to say that indeed the fix was the engine coolant temp. sensor. I have not had a reoccurance at all. I have used the Cruise control and in this climate I have also used the A/C to it's fullest.

Thanks again to all here at the nice Toyota forum.

Is that the one with two wires or one?

So far I changed the distributor assembly and also tried disconnecting the EGR Valve hose.

No improvement! Whenever its sunny my camry tends to stall at stop lights.

Erhan

[Ken Tarver]

My Camry died recently upon trying to leave the driveway . Numerous attempts were made to start the car to no avail . We removed the Distrubutor cap and inspected the connections and all seemed kosher . We returned the distributor cap to the vehicle and it proceeded to start right up .

When we attempted to drive the Camry around the block , it would not go very far without cutting out , hesitating and requiring many re-starts to return it to the yard .

We figured it was the Distributor Cap or Rotor , so we replaced said items .

The car now is slow to start ( more than 20 seconds Cranking ) , and will not allow a quick press of the accelerator . If you hit the pedal with any force , the car bogs down , misses badly and dies .

If you "Feather" the gas pedal past the initial startup , the car drives normally ... no hesitating and will actually speed up to over 100 mph., without any hesitancy .

This has been going on several days now and I am at a loss to figure this out . I have added Seafoam to the Gas , added more gas to the 3/4 empty tank and also even did the Seafoam into the brake line trick. Nothing changes the slow start problem . I have even recently introduced Seafoam Deep Creep into the open Throttle body . Still no JOY .

So far , we have exchanged the Fuel Filter , Distributor cap & rotor and the IAC Valve .

The next thing I was going to try was cleaning the EGR Valve , but the weather was bad here this weekend and stopped that project .

Any Suggestions ?

My problem and the Camry's here seem to have similiar problems , N"est Pas ?

Ken Tarver

[dean11]

Ive been having the same problem with mine so will try a few of the suggestions on here tomorrow.

Mine though runs on LPG and am only getting this problem in LPG, in petrol mode it runs fine???

[oh_pook]

Okay... I posted awhile back about not having "the problem" anymore after changing the coolant temp sensor. Well it's baaackk! I'm thinking the sticking EGR thing that was described is right on the money. I've always described it to hubby as either something staying open that shouldn't or something staying closed that shouldn't :D Will get back to you all!

Thanks for posting, everyone :P Fogjammer, thanks for new info!

[HolidayMechanic]

Hello everyone.

I have an older Camry. When it was about 130Kmiles, it developed some symptoms similar to what you described in this thread.

First at all, my car almost stalled in the middle of the road when I was trying to make a left turn from a stop sign. I thought that I was about to die because there was a big car heading directly to the side of my car without reducing speed. In desperation, I depressed the clutch pedal and pushed the gas pedal to the floor. Luckily the engine revved up and I was able to move my car a few inches off the path of the other. If my car had an automatic transmission, I would have been dead and it was my entire fault.

Anyhow, the stalling/hesitation/stumbling was intermittent at first. It tended to happen on the rainy days. After about six months, the problem became obvious and consistent regardless of the weather condition. When the car's engine was warming up, the problem showed up for a few minutes and then went away once the engine reached its operating temperature. If I was driving at a constant and high speed, I would barely notice anything. But if I was trying to accelerate or climbing up a hill when the car engine was warm, the car jerked/chattered badly. At lower speed, the car would stall. The strange thing is that after stalling, it would start right up and run normally for a few seconds and then stall again and again...

I replaced everything I could, from fuel, air filter to spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor and even high tension (spark plug) wires but the problem did not go away. At the last attempt, I decided to replace the ignition coil and voila...the problem completely disappeared. It has been six years since the day I replaced it and my car hasn't given me any problem.

There is more than one reason for a car engine to stall. Faulty Engine Temperature Sensors are quite common and have been identified by many of us in this thread. (I think you could check their resistances with ohmmeter to see if they are the culprits) Faulty ignition coil in Toyota is very difficult to diagnose and it depends on which part of the coil malfunction, you might have different symptoms. In my case, the car engine started and ran normally/smoothly when cold. Once the car engine almost reached its operating temperature, usually after 3-5 minutes, it began to behave badly. If I was able to keep the car engine running, after a few minutes, my car would run normally again, like nothing happened to it.

If you decide to replace the ignition coil by yourself, you have to take the distributor assembly out of the car because the coil is inside the distributor. It is fairly easy. If you could remove the distributor cap, you are half way there. However, I have a few important tips for you:

- You have to replace the (distributor shaft) O-ring to prevent oil leak.

- After you take the distributor cap off, try to remember the rotor position or use a permanent marker to mark on the top of the rotor's shaft. When you put the distributor back to the engine, just make sure the marking is on top.

- Before removing distributor assembly from your engine, use a marker to mark on the distributor body and the engine block so that when you put it back, you don't have to adjust its timing.

- If you intent to keep the car for a year or longer, make sure you buy genuine Toyota coil. It is about twice as expensive as the after-market one but it will last about fifteen to twenty times longer.

Good luck to everyone.

[lethnjm]

Hi all.

My dad owns a generation II 1988 Camry station, 4 cylinder, fuel injection, air co, automatic transmission. It has done 74k miles, and is in very good condition although. Since a year he started experiencing the in this forum well described stalling problems at traffic lights especially in rainy conditions. The head engineer of the local Toyota dealer also drove with the car for a week and ran into problems on a rainy day. They were not able to locate the source of the problem and had done pretty much everything described in this forum by others, like replacing the hight voltage wiring, spraying this anti moist stuff in the wiring and so on. After sending them some prints of the stories on this forum, and one in the US, they replaced the engine coolant temperature sensor. Since then the problem has not shown up yet and we've had lots of rain here lately, and my dad notices a more rapid response to the throttle . The part they put in is the temperature sensor v89422-12010

Thanks all for your input.

[CAM94]

Problem found and resolved on my fiancés 92 Camry: coolant temp sensor.

After exhibiting all the same symptoms as you all, I went down to the Toyota dealer who misdiagnosed the distributor and igniter as being at fault. After they charged and arm and a leg, it stalled at the next stop light on the way home. Furious at Toyota, but tired and wanting to get home, I waited for the car to cool enough for it to start again and carefully drove home, doing the gas/brake deely with both feet.

I then took the car to a friend of a friend, a trusted non-Toyota mechanic that came highly recommended. He had the problem figured out and solved in 2 days. As I came to pick up the car, he explained to me what he did and how he figured it out. He had a snap-on computer, just smaller than the size of a laptop hooked up to several sensors in the engine compartment; he actually drove the car with wires hanging out of the hood going through the window to his computer, which acted like a real-time analyzer and data logger. As soon as the symptom arose, it was the temperature sensor that caused the fault.

As most of you may know, temperature sensors are just over-sized thermistors, which are devices that output a change in resistance in proportion to the heat that is detected. The ECU measures this resistance to determine the temperature of the engine, and based on such, gives the appropriate amount of fuel to cylinders to combust. The problem is that over time (at least so I've been told with Toyota temp sensors), they can fail after getting to a certain temperature. They would function cold and as they get hotter and hotter, they short/open and produce a false reading to the ECU. The ECU then sees this as a malfunction, and thinking that the motor is cold in an effort to avoid detonation, dumps WAY more fuel than needed and basically floods the engine. This is why after the car stalls and you try and start the car unsuccessfully, you can smell a heavy gas odor in/near the engine compartment. It's putting too much fuel for the temperature of the motor/air and stalling the motor. This is also why it stalls only when coming to a stop: because you don't have your foot on the gas to let more air in to balance out the extra fuel that is being sent into the engine.

Apparently, this is something of an issue with Toyota coolant temp sensors after a long period of time (at least told to me). I'm so ****** off with the Toyota dealer you cannot imagine. They cringe whenever I go down there because they couldn't fix my problem and charged me for something that wasn't even causing the issue. As far as I'm concerned, dealers can only fix problems to which they know the cause of, and do not know for the life of them how to troubleshoot issues! For this they can all go :censor:.

I tried all the other suggestions here before sending it to my friend's mechanic friend, with no resolvement. And no offence to anyone that offered such suggestions, but I was skeptical of them to begin with because none of them really seemed to be affected by heat, which our problem does. I did find comfort knowing we weren't alone in this, and thank you all for this great site and thread - in which I found by google.

After replacing the sensor, not only did the problem go away completely, but our gas mileage got considerably better, and the car exhibited a lot more power when hot. I hope this info will give you some insight to your dilemmas of the same nature, and provide you with much needed relief - and a good nights (worry-free) sleep!

Kind Regards,

Ive

Vancouver, BC

P.S. If anyone needs a perfectly working used distributor and coil, courtesy of my local Toyota's misdiagnosis, email me as I have one for sale. :)

This is a great post!! I deeply appreciate Ive's sharing of his experience!!

I have a 94 Camry (4-cylinders/15K miles) and had the engine stalling problem started in early last month (Dec. 2006). The symptoms I had were: the car runs fine when the engine is cool. After the engine gets warm up, the engine may stall at a red light or a stop sign. The engine stalling problem happened intermittently and the technician at the auto shop was not able to reproduce the problem during his test drive. I originally took the technician's advice and had the Idle Air Control unit ($300) replaced but that did not fix the problem. I then Googled around the Internet and found this great post. The second day I asked the technician to replace my Camry's coolant temperature sensor ($56, The technician was kind of reluctant to perform this job as he claimed that he could not find this fix at the technical service bulletin.) and for more than three weeks after that--- my engine stalling problem has not appeared again!!

Jeff

California, USA

[Shoukry]

Problem found and resolved on my fiancés 92 Camry: coolant temp sensor.

After exhibiting all the same symptoms as you all, I went down to the Toyota dealer who misdiagnosed the distributor and igniter as being at fault. After they charged and arm and a leg, it stalled at the next stop light on the way home. Furious at Toyota, but tired and wanting to get home, I waited for the car to cool enough for it to start again and carefully drove home, doing the gas/brake deely with both feet.

I then took the car to a friend of a friend, a trusted non-Toyota mechanic that came highly recommended. He had the problem figured out and solved in 2 days. As I came to pick up the car, he explained to me what he did and how he figured it out. He had a snap-on computer, just smaller than the size of a laptop hooked up to several sensors in the engine compartment; he actually drove the car with wires hanging out of the hood going through the window to his computer, which acted like a real-time analyzer and data logger. As soon as the symptom arose, it was the temperature sensor that caused the fault.

As most of you may know, temperature sensors are just over-sized thermistors, which are devices that output a change in resistance in proportion to the heat that is detected. The ECU measures this resistance to determine the temperature of the engine, and based on such, gives the appropriate amount of fuel to cylinders to combust. The problem is that over time (at least so I've been told with Toyota temp sensors), they can fail after getting to a certain temperature. They would function cold and as they get hotter and hotter, they short/open and produce a false reading to the ECU. The ECU then sees this as a malfunction, and thinking that the motor is cold in an effort to avoid detonation, dumps WAY more fuel than needed and basically floods the engine. This is why after the car stalls and you try and start the car unsuccessfully, you can smell a heavy gas odor in/near the engine compartment. It's putting too much fuel for the temperature of the motor/air and stalling the motor. This is also why it stalls only when coming to a stop: because you don't have your foot on the gas to let more air in to balance out the extra fuel that is being sent into the engine.

Apparently, this is something of an issue with Toyota coolant temp sensors after a long period of time (at least told to me). I'm so ****** off with the Toyota dealer you cannot imagine. They cringe whenever I go down there because they couldn't fix my problem and charged me for something that wasn't even causing the issue. As far as I'm concerned, dealers can only fix problems to which they know the cause of, and do not know for the life of them how to troubleshoot issues! For this they can all go :censor:.

I tried all the other suggestions here before sending it to my friend's mechanic friend, with no resolvement. And no offence to anyone that offered such suggestions, but I was skeptical of them to begin with because none of them really seemed to be affected by heat, which our problem does. I did find comfort knowing we weren't alone in this, and thank you all for this great site and thread - in which I found by google.

After replacing the sensor, not only did the problem go away completely, but our gas mileage got considerably better, and the car exhibited a lot more power when hot. I hope this info will give you some insight to your dilemmas of the same nature, and provide you with much needed relief - and a good nights (worry-free) sleep!

Kind Regards,

Ive

Vancouver, BC

P.S. If anyone needs a perfectly working used distributor and coil, courtesy of my local Toyota's misdiagnosis, email me as I have one for sale. :)

I would like to thank you very much my friend, I have gone through the same pain you have experienced last year and the dealer here in my neighborhood Bay Ridge Toyota, Brooklyn, NY charged me more than one thousand Dollars, first :he misdiagnosed an IAC and my camry 95 stalled right after he replaced the IAC, took the car back then he told me that the defective part was the EGR after he extracted code P0401 , Car was running fine until three weeks ago when it started showing similar symptoms of stalling and after reading your advice about the Coolant Temp. Sensor, I decided to replace it, I took the old part out and bought a new Sensor from the dealer, cost $ 75 , installed the new sensor, and since then, the car is running beautiful, no stalling, the engine sounds very smooth and more powerful and by the way if I took the car to dealer this time he was going to rip me off again of may be $700 to $ 1000.

Again, I decided to send this email to you to show my appreciation to you and to this club, together, through knowledge, experience, and good advice, we can stand against the greedy Toyota dealership.

Thank you and God bless you.

Shoukry

[LilZackAttack]

I am so glad I found this site! Thank you all so much! I have been having the same stalling problems with my 2001 Camry.... (and I only have 40K miles on it.) The last time I had it at Toyota, they had no idea what the problem was and wanted to charge me to hook up the diagnostic stuff to see what the problem could be. I decided to research on my own and found this site. Since the majority of you had the same exact problem and solution after wasting tons of money, I decided to give the coolant temp sensor a shot. I took it to a local auto repair chain, they ordered the part, got it the same day and put it in... they didn't charge me to look at it, and didn't charge me to install it. (Although they may have overcharged for the part a tad bit) So far I have not stalled, but it's only been a few days. I sure hope it works!! They also shut off my check engine light. Now, that came back on the same day. Any suggestions about the check engine light not turning off? Yes, my gas cap is screwed on tightly! :)

[LilZackAttack]

I am so glad I found this site! Thank you all so much! I have been having the same stalling problems with my 2001 Camry.... (and I only have 40K miles on it.) The last time I had it at Toyota, they had no idea what the problem was and wanted to charge me to hook up the diagnostic stuff to see what the problem could be. I decided to research on my own and found this site. Since the majority of you had the same exact problem and solution after wasting tons of money, I decided to give the coolant temp sensor a shot. I took it to a local auto repair chain, they ordered the part, got it the same day and put it in... they didn't charge me to look at it, and didn't charge me to install it. (Although they may have overcharged for the part a tad bit) So far I have not stalled, but it's only been a few days. I sure hope it works!! They also shut off my check engine light. Now, that came back on the same day. Any suggestions about the check engine light not turning off? Yes, my gas cap is screwed on tightly! :)

Well, it's been two whole days, and my car started stalling again!!!! :( Now what should I do? Please help!

I took my car back in today as it was stalling even more so.... They hooked up the diagnostic thing and the EGR Valve came back as the problem.... Got that fixed today $259 for part and then the labor etc.... $400 total. So far, it hasn't stalled.... So, we'll see..... Thanks again for all these great postings!

[Iagosenvy]

I have returned to say that indeed the fix was the engine coolant temp. sensor. I have not had a reoccurance at all. I have used the Cruise control and in this climate I have also used the A/C to it's fullest.

Thanks again to all here at the nice Toyota forum.

Is that the one with two wires or one?

So far I changed the distributor assembly and also tried disconnecting the EGR Valve hose.

No improvement! Whenever its sunny my camry tends to stall at stop lights.

Erhan

Sorry I was not prompt in responding. It was the one with two wires and I didn't have to drain the coolant like the chilton book said. Just don't do it hot wait until the engine and coolant is stone cold! At this time I still have not had any more of the stalling problems.

[David9958]

I also have a 1994 Camry with stalling problems. The car stalls at stops. It only tends to stall if I drive the car hard and over 3000 rpm. If I drive under 3000 RPM it does not stall at a stop. I have been to the dealership who could not find any codes. They cleaned the throttle body and test drove the car the entire day without a problem. When I drove it home that night it stalled on me. I then went back to the dealership and they advised they were unable to fix it and it would be more cost effective for me to take it to a regular mechanic.

I'm at a loss here. Also when I drive the car hard and over 3000 rpm I can feel the engine just slightly jerking on me and I know that the car will stall at the next stop.

If at the time close to stalling I put the car in neutral and rev the rpm, it will settle back to a normal idle with no problems at all.

Please Help.

David

Vancouver

[A Ali]

I also have a 1994 Camry with stalling problems. The car stalls at stops. It only tends to stall if I drive the car hard and over 3000 rpm. If I drive under 3000 RPM it does not stall at a stop. I have been to the dealership who could not find any codes. They cleaned the throttle body and test drove the car the entire day without a problem. When I drove it home that night it stalled on me. I then went back to the dealership and they advised they were unable to fix it and it would be more cost effective for me to take it to a regular mechanic.

I'm at a loss here. Also when I drive the car hard and over 3000 rpm I can feel the engine just slightly jerking on me and I know that the car will stall at the next stop.

If at the time close to stalling I put the car in neutral and rev the rpm, it will settle back to a normal idle with no problems at all.

Please Help.

David

Vancouver

There seems to be a number of possible causes to this problem.

In my case (97 Camry - UK model ) I replaced the two ignitor coil packs which did the trick. that was a long time ago. But two dealers struggled with this.

I belive one of the ignitor coil packs had an intermittent fault but wouldn't prove it at the time and didn't know which one.

By way of assistance. I'd recommend checking the i/p to the ignitor coil pack (these is instead of a distributor on my car) using an oscilloscope and a current transformer coil. That would at least help break down the fault.

A