1990 Camry Mystery Problem

I recently bought a 1990 camry that seemed to run fine. After a few weeks I realized the clutch was starting to go so I let the car sit a couple weeks and then took it in to have a new clutch installed. The car ran great for a few weeks and then I started having problems…When it had been a day or two since I last used the car, it would take over a dozen times to start (alternator and battery tested and OK) and once it would, would want to die. It will die as you slow down, clutch or no, when you come to a stop, and sometimes when shifting into second or third–my solution has been to punch the clutch in when it seems like it’s going to die and then to give it tons of gas to keep going. At the worst I had to pull over and start and restart–each time I got it going it DIED once I touched the gas! I finally let it idle for 10 minutes and then limped home, dying all the way. I took it in to another mechanic and got the fuel filter changed and a new cv boot–it ran perfectly again for around two weeks (fine on the freeways, starting right up each time), then once again after a couple days of no use went back to the mystery problem. It seems once I get going it’s ok, but each time it slows or shifts it dies. Also, it’s completely intermittent. It’s either running great or not. One more note: when it’s taking forever to start, and turning over multiple times it lets out a little puff of gasoline smoke. It seems like there’s some connection that’s faulty, or some other simple thing but who am I to know. The check engine light is NOT on.

You may have an IAC (Idle Air Control) valve or system fault. You may also need to clean the throttle body.

I think I have a 22RE and it’s fuel injected.

Fuel injected engines have throttle bodies. It seems the engine might be starving for fuel. Change the fuel filter, one more time. Is there someone whol will do fuel pressure checks?

My car doesn’t have a throttle body it has a throttle control valve is that what you meant? It’s multi-port fuel injection.