Toyota Repair: toyota hard to start, air fuel mixture, 1988 toyota camry

Question
I have a 1988 Toyota Camry with a 2.0 4litre engine. It is hard to start it turns over fine and actually seems to want to start as i let off of the key. When it does start it wants to stall if you give it gas but once I get it revving it runs fine.When I'm trying to start it at times the air filter compartment fills with fumes.It has a new fuel filter, plugs and wires and i ran fuel injector cleaner thru it. Any ideas? p.s. nice web site very informative.

Answer
It sounds like the engine is backfiring through the intake system, this engine has a cold start injector time switch and a cold start injector, I recommend that you have it checked for this, if the cold start injector is not working it will cause hard starting and backfiring because of a lean air fuel mixture.