Question-------------------------
Followup To
Question - Ted, The car was really doing a lot of funny things: idle fluctuations, going dead at read lights and sometimes hard to crank when it went dead, rpm up and down going down the highway...I took it to seven shops. Some of them said they thought it might be the MAF sensor but wasn't very sure until they replaced it but I wasn't willing to pay for a $500.00 experiment. I Finally found a mechanic that was very certain and he said something else was wrong but couldn't identify it until he replaced the MAF sensor. Turned out he was right and the coolant temperature sensor(I think that's what he called it?) wasn't working right and replaced it as well. The car has been running great until the current problem came up about a month ago. This has happend several times and every time it was on a one-fourth tank of gas or lower. A couple of times it went dead and several times it just hesitated. The check engine light has never come on even when I had the MAF problem and by the way, there were never any codes in the computer to indicate any problem. With this problem, the car runs perfect otherwise. If you think it is the idle speed control valve, please tell me where it is located.
Thanks, again for your service,
Ron
Ted,
Thank you for giving your time and knowledge to help us novices.
The car is a 1994 Toyota Camry, 2.2 engine, AC, p/w, locks and the usual. Mileage, 210000. In the recent past the MAF sensor has been replaced and problem was solved.
But now, I have a little problem that may get worse and I want to identify it and correct it before it does. I've noticed that when the gas tank gets to about one-fourth the car will hesitate and sometimes go dead on a fairly quick start when at a dead stop but when it does go dead it cranks quickly and easily and will go on like nothing happened. The problem doesn't happen every time under these conditions but I have noticed it has always happened when I'm taking a turn to the left. Otherwise the car runs great.
Anything you can tell me is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ron
Answer -
I need to know what the problem was that was solved by replacing the MAF sensor first, these Camrys have a problem with idle speed control valves that cause stalling and low idle on cold starts and sometimes also intermittently at any time, I'm not sure if that is the problem here but it sounds like it could be. I'm assuming there is not a check engine light on, is this correct?
AnswerYes I think that the idle speed control valve may be the problem, it's located on the throttle body and in order to remove it the throttle body has to be removed, before paying $180 for a new ISC valve you may try having it cleaned, we have good success doing this, if there is an improvement at least you know your'e on the right track, if the problems come back again it may be necessary to replace it, I don't think the fuel level in the tank has anything to do with it, by the way, an ISC valve malfunction will not trigger a check engine light, a malfunctioning MAF sensor will, any false input signal to the computer will turn the check engine light on, try cleaning the ISC valve and let me know what happens.
