Camry Stalling

[toyotaroadrunner]

I am a new member and have been experiencing difficulties with my 2001 Camry since the beginning of November. When I take my foot off of the accelerator and begin to apply the brake the engines stalls. There is a bit of warning as I see the idle bounce between 250-750 before the engine shuts down. This happens sometimes 1-2 times a week after about 20-30 minutes of driving. The speed that it dies varies anywhere from 20-35 miles per hour. If I put my foot on the gas (after the car is in nuetral) it doesn't stall, but it drives roughly. The huge problem is that I can't brake after the car dies and I have come close to getting into numerous accidents. I have had it in to two different dealers who cannot replicate the problem. I keep hearing that everyhting is fine and then it dies again while I'm driving it. I am extremely frustrated with the fact that no one can fix the problem. My fuel injectors were just cleaned and the ECM was replaced - obviously not the problem since it continues to happen. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Let me know if you find the problem with your stalling. I have the same problems. Thanks

[Rudyjr]

Well after many hours of dead end tests and many conversations with mechanics I decided that the EGR valve was indeed the most likely culprit. I had tried cleaning the IAC, I had replaced the coolant temp sensor, I had cleaned the Egr and it seemed to operate ok. But what was said by others on this site about the EGR made sense. I changed the EGR and am happy to report 6 months and over 6000 trouble free miles with no problems. I had almost forgotten how nice the car drove before this!!! Thanks everyone

[Malcom]

Hello friends,

A quick coolant temperature sensor replacement solved my 1993 Camry 4-cyl starting and stalling problem. Simply amazing.

Thanks Toyota Owners Club.

The car would not start and I searched the internet for info and found it could be the CTS.

In the meantime, a young mechanic friend of my family pulled the fuel pump, pulled the spark plugs, checked the timing belt, and probably a few other items he did not tell me about. I mentioned the CTS and he said it could not be the problem. No improvement and he left frustrated.

Two days later I installed a new coolant temperature sensor and it worked. The car starts and runs better than it has in years.

More to the point, my ego is way up because this kid mechanic couldn't diagnose a simple problem that I fixed in 5 minutes.

Malcom

[Stalling1996Camry]

I too have the same problem with my 1996 toyota camry as described by all. I have also read various posts on the internet about the same problems with this year/model. After reading all the posts I am appalled and disgusted that this problem still is unsolved and that toyotas own mechanics can not give us the answer to what is an apparent problem. I will never buy a toyota again.

What happens to my 1996 camry is sometimes when I hit the brakes the cars rpm's start to fluctuate up and down rapidly. More downward then up, as if it is having a hard time keeping the idle. Then if I dont step on the accelorator to give it gas and get the rpm's up, it will stall. So sometimes I find myself at a stoplight with one foot on the brake and the other on the gas to keep the rpms steady and from dropping and stalling. Lately the car is doing this more often. Everything else on the car runs great.

I have tried to have it fixed by 2 differant mechanics. They both didnt know exactly what the problem was but one who is a friend of my family and very honest tried to clean out the fuel injectors, change some plugs, change the idle rpms. None of this worked. His computer also read "multiple missfires" from the code from my cars check engine light. The other mechanic said the problem was a cold start valve, he changed this on my car but it was not the answer. All that did was have the car start great but still having the same prob

PLEASE HELP: I know this is a common problem with this car from what I have been reading. CAN SOMEBODY WHO HAS FIXED OR CORRECTED THIS PROBLEM OR KNOWS HOW TO PLEASE TELL US HOW?

THANKS.

[Stalling1996Camry]

I am going to try to have the coolant temperature sensor changed this week. I will report back if it works, please I hope it works as this problem has become so bad on my car that its almost becoming undriveable.

[Stalling1996Camry]

I had the coolant temperature sensor changed and drove away from the mechanics shop. My car stalled when I went to stop at a stop sign about 10 blocks away from the shop. So that did not solve my cars problem. Just like none of the other parts I wasted hundreds of dollars on having changed.

All I have to say at this point is that obviously Toyota's are:

"PIECES OF SH#T CARS AND I WOULD NEVER BUY ONE AGAIN IN MY LIFE."

I will never let any friend or family member buy one either after I tell them the horror story that is mine and so many other toyota owners. It is obvious that Toyota does not stand behind thier cars.

[trini00]

Got the same problem basically.

A friend of my brother cleaned the throttle body on my 94 camry (automatic 4 cycl) and about an hour after he left I

drove it and noticed that it was not idling properly and there was a strong gas smell. <_<

Will try the coolant temp sensor tomorrow.

[906graphics]

I'm hoping this thread is still somewhat active.

I have a 1998 Camry, and I'm having similar problems as described by others: rough idling, stalling when slowing down. Basically, my route to work is about 13 miles all interstate, and a mile or so of slower, stop-and-go traffic. The problems show up after I've come off the interstate, and it happens at random times -- no way to predict which day the car will try to stall. So far, placing the car in P or N and revving the gas for a few seconds before driving has helped me get to work. It sucks having that line of cars behind me sometimes though. Very nerve-wracking.

What's interesting is that so far -- knock on wood -- this problem has not happened at night.

I'll give a little more history about my situation, and maybe someone else can relate:

The first time my car stalled was probably about 2 years ago. I had been doing highway speeds for about 11 miles. When I pulled into the parking lot where I work, my car started idling roughly and stalled. All the dash lights came on, and it was almost impossible to steer or brake. I got it re-started, finished pulling into our lot and into a parking spot. There, it chugged and spat and finally died (I was half expecting it to backfire or something). Anyway, it wouldn't restart, so I went in to work. I came out hours later, and it started with no problems. It was roughly a year later (last spring) before it happened again. And since then, it has happened at least a dozen times.

I've had the throttle plate cleaned a couple times (the mechanic said sludge-like buildup made it sticky and would keep the plate from opening) and most recently, I had the IAC cleaned. The mechanic said that should solve the problem for a while. I figured it was one of those things that would need to be cleaned once a year or so, and I left the shop feeling pretty good.

That was about a month ago. Well, the car is at it again. I take it in Thursday to have the IAC valve replaced. After reading multiple posts here though, I wonder if I need to mention the EGR to the mechanic.

The irritating part of all of this is that this car has only 105,000 miles on it -- pretty good for a 10-year-old car. And this idling problem is the only problem I am having. My wife and I have reached this conclusion: If the IAC does not solve the problem, we're trading the car in for a newer Honda Accord.

[theshot]

Check out the related threads here: www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/camry

We're all going through the same thing. We must beat this!!!!!

Please let me know if things have gotten any better.

Thanks,

Jim

[Rudyjr]

To anyone having this problem please look at my previous post 102 on Dec of 2007. As stated I changed the egr valve six months prior to that post and to date have not had one issue with this car. Many mechanics told me that the egr could not possibly be the culprit because there was no check engine light, they were wrong!! The egr valve solved all of the idle, stalling problems on this car.

[92camryowner]

hi all im new to this forum. ive been experiencing the same problem most here have been with my 92 camry 4cyl. it stalls whenever i brake too hard comin to a stop light and im in overdrive, so i have to brake from further back, this way it doesnt shut off. but when it does shut off, i can start it right back up with a little gas on d pedal. recently i had the timing belt changed and fixed, because it was so far out of timing that the car didnt even start, but now its ok, it starts fine, a little rough but it ok, my only problem is that if i drive in overdrive for like a min or two over 45-50mph and i come to a stop light, the rpm needle fluctuates and then it just dies..so ive been avoiding using overdrive. ive put a new map sensor in, we've checked the fuel pump and its good, also the air intake hose had split so i got a new one so those are checked off. im hoping the coolant temperature sensor will solve this problem, im going to buy one today and put it in, hopefully it works.

if this doesnt solve the problem then its gotta be the egr valve.

ill post the results.

well i tested d sensor with direction from d manual, and its fine so i didnt buy a new one. but wat i did was unplug d egr valve, and no more shutting off. ive been driving in over drive ever since no problem at all.

can anyone tell me if it is necessary to have d egr valve in? or is it optional?

[dudefromMA]

I found this thread on a search engine and it helped me tremendously.

I have a 1998 Camry that was stalling for about a month. I took it to one place, they couldn't figure out the problem, had a tuneup for around $125 and it didn't fix it. Went to another mechanic, charged me about $300 to replace some valve, the problem remained. Also needed my brakes changed which was $200. So with all of this including tax and so forth I spent about $700 and still couldn't drive my car without fear of hurting myself or others. I'm pretty much out of college and have no money whatsoever and had to eBay some things which I didn't want to.

The symptoms: car would stall when idling, when stopped at traffic lights and stop signs and so forth, it would start up again sometimes quickly sometimes would take some time. Temperature didn't seem to have a strong effect, many people report problems when the car was "warm." Also (a thing to look for if you have a similar problem) I'd notice the RPMs on the engine sometimes getting very high for no reason, sometimes very low (until it stalled), and also a smell of gas when starting up the car sometimes. Anyway, it was the engine coolant temp sensor. I copied and pasted stories directly from here and printed out a 2-page paper for my mechanic, and listed several common solutions, #1 being the engine coolant temp sensor. Guess what, it was spot on. It cost $88 which included labor to replace it. So, thank you all for the great information and replies!

[rpmade]

Discovery made 3/12...

FYI, my mechanic was ready to cave and change the fuel pump/meter/filter but after 30+ minutes of running a fuel line (pressure?) test on the 94 Camry and things coming back normal, he just wasn't ready to take it apart yet. So he quit for a day or two...

Friday he took apart the throttle body again. Put it back together, still no improvement, but noticed an irregularity with air intake. I don't know how exactly to describe what he did, as I only talked to him on the phone, but he first verified there was no clog in the air intake leading to the air filter and leading from the air filter. However, air was not getting in the engine correctly. So, he took the entire assembly off (what exactly constitutes ENTIRELY I am not sure) and drove the car...and stopped the car...and waited...and restarted the car...and drove the car...and stopped the car...and waited..and drove the car...and stopped the car. Everything worked perfectly. Then he put all the crap he took out back in and the car went back to showing its old problems. So, at this point, he is trying to pinpoint a problem that seems to be between the air filter and the engine--or probably more realistically the EGR system as I think that is what the air intake feeds into.

Keep your fingers crossed.

did your problems has ever been resolved?

[camryv698]

Throttle body cleaning with throttle body cleaner, a toothbrush, and paper towels. I also used Sea Foam Deep creep sprayed into the air intake cured my 1998 Camry stalling issues. Thanks everyone for their contributions. I did replace the ETC sensor, but the problem persisted until I cleaned the thick carbon buildup in the throttle body area and lubed the throttle plate as it was sticking partially open.

After cleaning the throttle body and plate I warmed up the engine and sprayed 1/2 can of the deep creep into the brake intake tube and shut off the engine. 20 minutes later I started it up and drove it hard for a bit until the white smoke subsided. Now it idles great and will not stall after the engine warms, 1998 Camry V6, 130K miles.

[luv_my_09se]

Try releasing the overdrive button on your auto trans before you slow below 40 or come to a complete stop. When you go up in speed you can re-engage the overdrive anytime. It works for me. And it's free to try. Im stall free for 5 months now. Hope it helped.

[cmo]

I have a 2002 Toyota Camry and am experiencing the same problem. I almost got killed today as I stalled at a light. Cars were coming up fast behind me and they didn't see my flashers. I braced myself for injury. It happens to suddenly that you don't have time to even get off the road. It happens when I have to slow down on a highway. It feels like it's not getting any gas. Then all of a sudden it spurts and takes off and just when I think I'm safe, a little tap on the break gets it all idling rough again. I had the throttle checked, got a new Battery, took it in 2x's for diagnostic tests and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. NOw, I'm afraid to drive the damn thing. Next time, it's a Honda for me. YOu would think that the Toyota people would know what this friggin problem is.........Sorry just a little fired up after my near accident.

[artist guy]

Seems to be a common problem, have a 96 4cyl Camry, 100k miles not a day of trouble until this stalling, very similar to all of the other posts. Thanks for suggestions; will post after a visit to my brother in law-- the toyota mechanic!

I have a similar Problem with My 93 Camry it cranks well when cool and drives well, I have put in new plugs new wires and a new iginition coil... which did help the performance. The problem is that when I drive it and the engine gets warm it may stall while idling at a light or when I hit brakes. No engine light . Some have suggested a fuel filter.. It will not crank when driven for a while it just turns over like it wants to crank but wont. After I let it sit for a while it crans with no problem. I have read on this forurm tha to check the Engine Coolant Temp Sensor . Which I havent done. Has anyone had similar problems. Thanks Nick

[LilZackAttack]

I am a new member and have been experiencing difficulties with my 2001 Camry since the beginning of November. When I take my foot off of the accelerator and begin to apply the brake the engines stalls. There is a bit of warning as I see the idle bounce between 250-750 before the engine shuts down. This happens sometimes 1-2 times a week after about 20-30 minutes of driving. The speed that it dies varies anywhere from 20-35 miles per hour. If I put my foot on the gas (after the car is in nuetral) it doesn't stall, but it drives roughly. The huge problem is that I can't brake after the car dies and I have come close to getting into numerous accidents. I have had it in to two different dealers who cannot replicate the problem. I keep hearing that everyhting is fine and then it dies again while I'm driving it. I am extremely frustrated with the fact that no one can fix the problem. My fuel injectors were just cleaned and the ECM was replaced - obviously not the problem since it continues to happen. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Hi There, I also have a 2001 camry and had the same exact problem two years ago. After much frustration and research, I had the Coolant Temp Sensor & EGR Valve replaced. That fixed it!! Ask your repair shop to replace the coolant temp sensor (it's pretty cheap) and have them hook your car up to the diagnostic thing to check your EGR valve! Hope this helps!! ps. Don't bring it to Toyota, they'll rip you off.... I brought mine to a local chain where I get my oil changed....

[gergless]

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[gergless]

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[larryweg]

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. :)

03/07/2009

Thank You Ive ! 94 Camry 2.2 auto 160k miles. ERG was plugged with carbon. ( use a plumbers base wrench ($11) to remove ERG Valve ) Cleaned it but car continued to stall after driving 20-30 minutes and then going to an idle. Replaced heat sensor ( $30 ) on engines coolant exit. Runs great ! Your assessment that the car was flooding out when going to a hot idle fit our symptoms perfectly. Thank You Sir

[jkevin]

I hope this forums is still active. I read through all the messages and changed coolent temparature sensor, PCV valve, spark plugs and wires but the problem still exists. My car 99 camry 95k on it, when I drive in highway or even at a meedium speed there is no problem but when I halt at a stop sign or in a traffic block it just jerks little bit and stalls. No check engine nothing. I dont know what else to look at today it stopped 3 times and some times when it stopes it freezes the brakes and stearing and all. I would really appreciate if any one else experience this or any clue about fixing this.... Thanks in advance.

[mycar99]

1999 Camry LE, ~94k, Automatic

The problem I am experiencing with stalling is identical to a majority of the posts on this forum.

Drives fine for about 20-30 minutes then will more than likely stall at a stop sign or red light. Seems to progress in frequency and be more difficult to start each time it stalls during that drive.

At speeds above 40mph I have noticed little fluctuation in the RPM.

RPMs are jumpy around 30mph or less.

Inconsistent Idle. I think it either idles too low or too high. Often while idling it will drop essentially to 0 for a second or two, if it doesn't stall it will come back and rev high to around 2000.

Find it to be very nerve racking to drive, because its a matter of time before I either get rearended at a stop, or rear end someone else due to the 'lunging' as mentioned by others above, and I've also experienced the RPMs dropping on turns... thankfully I haven't stalled completely in the middle of an intersection.

I'm not 100% certain on this, but it seems that it is more likely to stall or stutter while I am stopped on an incline. But this is not a necessary part of the equation.

I really know very little about the workings of cars. I think I may try to replace the CTS as it seems to have helped some others. (and the reasoning behind the CTS posted about the engine getting too much fuel seems logical to the drop in RPM and then high rev.)

First mechanic I took it to had a hard time getting it to happen, kept it for 3 days then basically said I don't know, I don't want to fix something if I'm not sure whats wrong.

So far, a family friend replaced (i think) the Idle Air Control Sensor. He also recommended Sea Foam additive, which I put in the fuel tank---I believe he may suspect the fuel pump. I also replaced the PCV Valve just cause it was 3 dollars and took 5 mins. It still stalls.

Keeping cost and simplicity in mind, where to next? Based on reading this thread I figured I would try to replace the CTS because it seems cheap and relatively easy to replace... then maybe the EGR? How difficult is it to check out the air intake system? I don't really want to chase a ghost, and replace parts that don't need it... but I am going to hope that snapping in a 20 dollar part will fix it instead of a 1200 bill...

TLDR:

Camry stalls at stops. Whats the progression of replacements I can try from cheapest and easiest to expensive and involved?

[rcreeltsud]

I, too, have a 1995 Camry that after driving about 50 miles stalled at red lights. I read through this forum and told my mechanic to test out the temperature coolant sensors. He said that they had a low voltage reading and seemed a little skeptical that this would fix the problem. Well after two days, no problems whatsoever. I think this fixed the problem. THANKS to everyone!!!! :)

[jkorp]

I found this thread about 3 summers ago and replaced the CTS. This fixed all the problems, until this year. As the weather got warmer my 95 Camry is idling roughly and won't re-start for after a 30+ min drive. Once the car sits for a while, it will restart. I haven't experienced a stall yet, but anticipate it happening once the summer is really hot.

I can't believe it the CST again, as things just seem different than before, also testing it with an ohm meter, shows it close to what the book values.

I am hoping that it's the EGR. I plan to disconnect the vacuum line tomorrow morning, drive to work and see how it idles.

Updates to come, and help or suggestions welcome.