My 92 camry ran fine has only ever needed a new tranny 4 years ago no other major probs well other day ran fine when i parked it. Went out next morning and wouldnt start it acted like it wanted to fire on up but wouldn’t so i pulled the air intake tube off and choked it by hand over TB opening and after minute got it to fire up it was sluggish and if i opend throttle up to fast it would die out let off of throttle real fast it caught back up n ran til finally it died all together. I changed fuel pumps but wasnt the problem. Checked spark got a orangish spark and was erratic. Took off distributor cap and cleaned points of contact on rotor and cap. Then put back together and checked spark again and no spark at all. Does anyone think its the ignition coil inside distributor shot. Or what?
Sounds like the coil might be the problem
It’s inside the distributor, and is fairly inexpensive, and it would be one of the first things to look at
Have you cleaned the throttle body yet?
Ok im just goin to try and find a distributor at junk yard and see instead of payin 200 for new one plus cant afford one at moment. And cleaned it best i could. I mean it ran fine never had a problem out of it always starts on first crank. I also took off nss neutral switch and cleaned it and got it workin it wouldnt crank in N so knew that could cause a no start sometimes but it works now. So prob is coil in distributor more than likely?
Also noticed on the side of distributor facing firewall the plugin was loose and could move it around jiggle it ya know that cant be good right?
If the coil is the problem, replace the coil, not the whole distributor
And fix that poor connection
Ok is replacing the coil easy im not sure bout these motors
Any one else have any other input just trying to make sure and get some more advice from more experienced ppl
Yes, the coil is inside the distributor
Do NOT remove the distributor entirely . . . you’ll just be making more work for yourself, and then you’ll have to use a timing light to reset the ignition
Either google it, check out youtube, or buy a shop manual for this car. Chilton or Haynes is available at libraries and auto parts stores, and is pretty cheap
Pulled it off and the underside of coil close to the part that says toyota has crack on each side of the center buldge part of coil ill try n get a pic and had oil inside know thats common for these cars.
The coil is faulty, because you yourself confirmed it’s cracked
As for that oil . . . the distributor seal goes flat, allowing engine oil to
Let us know when you’ve replaced the coil and your car’s running again
Yea got one coming at noon tomorrow at advanced. What worries me now is seen several post about people saying they did same thing tore up again and again and was the finally. But i am gonna look round for wrecked one with low miles and get the igniter and distributor and MAP sensor off it i called few junk yards close to me and for all 3 off a junked one was under 100.00. So why not get em considering the MAP sensor was 230.00 something round that and 300.00 for distributor and 389.00 for igniter crazy prices for little parts always is that way. Thanks man for the help and insight. I will let ya know how it does when i change it out. Oh the radio capacitor thingy was burnt up wire melted into but guy told me on those cut it or take it out does not mess with motor only hear whinning in speaker i can deal with that. Do u think it’ll be ok?
Ok got a coil from advandced auto zone and it fired right up and drove it and let it idle for roughly a hour and started right back up i still need to get a distributor cap gasket for it cause the old one broke in to when took old ignition coil out.
Thank you for your help and guidance.
You’re welcome
And I’m glad to hear your car is alive again
I believe in an earlier post, you said this Camry had been a good car for you. Well, in my neck of the woods, there’s a lot of Camrys the same age as yours still driving around. I suppose that could be seen as a testament to the fact they were built pretty well
Yes they are great cars wish they would make more like them but you just never know about car. They have minds of their own at times lol.
The 5sfe motor is an excellent motor. I have one in my MR2. When I got the car 15 years ago it already had almost 100,000 miles on it and I made a bargain with myself that when it died I’d use it as an excuse to put a more powerful engine in the car.
over 100,000 miles later and I’m still waiting for the @#$@# thing to die. 
BTW, consider ordering your parts from Rockauto. They have distributors for that motor for $100, not $300. They tend to be a lot cheaper than anyone else, but you have to know what you’re looking for because the part descriptions aren’t usually very good.
Good diagnostic work there OP and @db4690 … Glad you got your car back on the road and purring like a kitten.
Something very similar happened to the Corolla I used to have
From one day to the next, it just wouldn’t start, and the coil was cracked, just like OP’s coil
I verified good fuel pressure with my gauge, then I used my spark tester, and discovered no spark whatsoever
I removed the distributor cap and rotor, to access the coil. Primary and secondary resistance checked out within specs. Then I took the coil out completely, and saw that crack, on the bottom. Game over