98 camry le 4 cyl running crappy

[bgbdwlf2500]

So heres the background. I'm buying the car from my brother. He at some point did something to the exhaust and it wasn't reconnected properly leaving a leak. He ran it for a good while like this and then it sat for awhile. I'm buying it from him and I've run it on many short trips in the last 8 months exactly like he sold it to me with the leaking exhaust.

Wednesday this week I took it to Va from Sc 7 hour drive. Car made it there just fine. On thursday I start it up and its not running so great. Later on that day it throws a code.

Heres the symptoms:
Very poor/jerky acceleration off the line
Bad gas mileage I went to va on a little over half a tank and coming back it took a full and then some.
noticeably less power.
Once its up to speed it feels like someone rear ends you multiple times quickly. When it does this you can smell gas inside the car.

At this point I know I need to fix the exhaust because it still leaks.

I also am positive its running very rich and the jerkiness at speed is the car slowing down from being flooded and making even less power.

My guess is one of the sensors and tomorrow I will see what the code is. Hopefully it is just a sensor. Any mechanics or owners have this problem?

 

[HPIguy]

My '01 Gallant did pretty much the same thing, with a SES light also. I had two issues, one the plugs and plug wires had to be replaced, and I had a bad 02 sensor that was causing the ECU to be all out of whack as far as fuel mixture was concerned. Better hope you have old school plugs and wires, mine were $450, for four of each. :whhooo:

 

[Alexander_0_1]

Yup, change your plugs/wires, change the oil, if it has one change the external fuel filter, change all you O2 senors<< or if you've got a buddy with a diagnostic module, then test it, that will tell you exactly which O2 sensor quit.

 

[jose.28]

So heres the background. I'm buying the car from my brother. He at some point did something to the exhaust and it wasn't reconnected properly leaving a leak. He ran it for a good while like this and then it sat for awhile. I'm buying it from him and I've run it on many short trips in the last 8 months exactly like he sold it to me with the leaking exhaust.

Wednesday this week I took it to Va from Sc 7 hour drive. Car made it there just fine. On thursday I start it up and its not running so great. Later on that day it throws a code.

Heres the symptoms:
Very poor/jerky acceleration off the line
Bad gas mileage I went to va on a little over half a tank and coming back it took a full and then some.
noticeably less power.
Once its up to speed it feels like someone rear ends you multiple times quickly. When it does this you can smell gas inside the car.

At this point I know I need to fix the exhaust because it still leaks.

I also am positive its running very rich and the jerkiness at speed is the car slowing down from being flooded and making even less power.

My guess is one of the sensors and tomorrow I will see what the code is. Hopefully it is just a sensor. Any mechanics or owners have this problem?

RPM EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!......................oh wait what?

Lol jk i would start with plugs and wires too BUT check your timing belt first. Then pproceed.
Also a maf sensor can cause this as well.

 

[tmaxxfreek]

if the timing belt breaks the car wouldn't run..................

 

[frickenjoey]

if the timing belt breaks the car wouldn't run..................

Depending on the engine a broken timing belt may also bend valves, break rods....ect.

Stop by Auto Zone or Advance and have them plug in the OBDII reader to retrive the error code and that will give you a better idea of where to start rather than just tossing parts at it hoping it will fix it. That method gets expensive really fast. But sounds like it could be a number of things.....check the code and go from there.

 

[Rolex]

I've never owned a car with a timing belt, but I know from past experience with chains that it's possible to jump time. That's what it sounds like, but I don't know if a belt can do that.

 

[Alexander_0_1]

Same thing with timing belted engines, when the belt becomes worn-out, it stretches while the engine is running, then the timing of the engine becomes out-of-tune.

 

[HPIguy]

Same thing with timing belted engines, when the belt becomes worn-out, it stretches while the engine is running, then the timing of the engine becomes out-of-tune.

Not unless the belt jumps a tooth it doesn't. And as mentioned above, due to corporate greed, most manufacturers run interference heads, so that if it does jump a tooth, it usually destroys most of the head and pistons / cylinders.

 

[tmaxxfreek]

Not unless the belt jumps a tooth it doesn't. And as mentioned above, due to corporate greed, most manufacturers run interference heads, so that if it does jump a tooth, it usually destroys most of the head and pistons / cylinders.

you are correct, they have belt tensioners installed to adjust the stretch out of a belt. same with timing chains, they have a tensioner that is operated by oil pressure to take the "slap" out of the chain

 

[Alexander_0_1]

That a good point, but I'm sure he'd a heard an internal collision like that. If all its doing is running rough and burning gas I'd hook it up to the old OBDII diagnostic machine.

 

[jose.28]

RPM EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!......................oh wait what?

Lol jk i would start with plugs and wires too BUT check your timing belt first. Then pproceed.
Also a maf sensor can cause this as well.

Also check you cap and rotor is it gets water or wet somehow it will misfire off and on.
Timing belts and chains are unpredictable.
If you belt has more slack it will be reajusted with the tentioner like tmaxxfreak stated above.
BUT the slack of it will throw your cam and crenk shaft sensors off and the ecu will not know what to do. Anyways its just some things to check. If the code comes back with cam sensor intermittent them its your belt for sure.

The MAF sensor will also do what your car is doing.
And the fuel pump going bad can cause this as well.
O2s will never do that, all they do is have the ecu throw extra gas and run a lil rich.

I do recommend using a snap on scanning tool. They are 99% dead on. The ome at the auto part will only give you a round about whay it may be.
The

 

[bgbdwlf2500]

Update
got the codes scanned
they are:
P0300 multiple misfires
p0302 misfire 2 cylinder
p0303 misfire 3 cylinder
p0110 iat sensor. The thing with this one is I forgot to hook it back up when I changed the starter and afger a few ignition cycles the light went out. So I'm not sure if it was stored or threw it again.

My plan of attack is to replace the exhaust system and eliminate the leak. Looks like the exhaust system from the header back is around 130 shipped on ebay.

I did buy new plugs and wires just now but id rather not change them and have it foul them up.

I found a few vids on diagnosing the 0300 code so thats my first step in figuring this out.

The price of the parts is my reasoning.
maf sensor $300 - no codes for this
O2 sensors one is 170 the other is 200 - no codes for this either
the intake air temp which is one of the codes is 109

so I'm going to watch a few vids and see if any can help me pinpoint it before doing anything else.

my brother did change the timing belt but not sure when. The car starts and idles just fine but runs very rich with normal throttle. So far today the jerking at constant speed has stopped.

hpiguy - plugs and wires cost me 49 total lol

 

[HPIguy]

MAF sensor can usually be cleaned, there are vids on youtube on how to do it, I've done mine and it worked. My car also has an IAC (idle air control) valve that I had to track down and clean as well. O2 sensors are either working, or they're not, there's no fixing one.

 

[sv250]

Make sure you get Nippidenso plugs. Toyotas don't like boch plat nouns. Ngk will do in a pinch. A split air intake tube will cause those symptoms. Any air leak between the mass air and intake. I'm sure the exhaust isn't helping but I don't think it's your main problem.

FYI Toyotas are non interference. If the belt breaks it will just kill and not restart.

 

[Rolex]

A few years ago I had already spent about $700 to fix a similar problem on a 5.0 High Performance engine. I finally paid someone else to deal with the problem. The entire procedure cost me $101 and that included the diagnostics, part and replacement.
It was the temp sensor to the computer. It was setting the mix EXTREMELY rich since it was being told that it was 5 degrees at all times.
Many of your symptoms are similar to what I dealt with.

 

[SMaxxin]

Many moons ago I had a Nissan the was eating plugs and getting her bad gal mileage, turned out the catalictic converter was partially stopped up. I put a new covert and plug she ran great after that.

 

[Alexander_0_1]

Many moons ago is my line!

 

[bgbdwlf2500]

Well after looking up the vid on a p0300 code on youtube I got it fixed. The causes for an 0300 code are vac leaks, battery bad, spark plugs or fuel filter or fuel pump. My issue was the plugs. There was hardly any of the electrode left I guess is what its called. Next will be exhaust and then fuel filter.

The plugs took me 2.5 hours due to bad luck I guess. I pulled the first wire and tried my socket and it wouldnt work. Tried the next one still didnt work. Pulled the 3rd and found out why. The very bottom piece of the wire assembly was still down in the head. Had to use a coat hanger to dig the 2 out. 20 min job took 2.5 hours. I jammed the socket down in there so I pushed one rubber piece way down. Next time I know what to look for so it wont happen again but you talk about pissed off. Car runs so much better just have to get rid of the exhaust leak.

 

[hamz9561]

Glad to hear that you got it fingered out.