2004 Toyota Camry - 2.4L Cutting Out

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steven kiser
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2004 Toyota Camry - 2.4L Cutting Out

Post by steven kiser »

Good morning. I haven't posted for a repair for so long so please excuse my sloppiness and long windedness. Been a bit stressed lately and can't really concentrate on my work. Haven't had any real time off lately (almost two years) and have hit a wall. I've taken long weekends and such but even traveling 2.5 hours north to visit my parents has been an act of I have to do it opposed to an act of love and that just isn't right. That is where my stress level is at and I'm hitting walls left and right. Usually I can solve just about any issue and really use to like shaking the dust out and using my brain. I'll stop now to end the possible ramble and get to the point.

This car belongs to a good friend of mine (go figure) and he brought it in about 6 months ago for an issue where it would cut out occasionally and sometimes would restart or other's wouldn't. This car hadn't been serviced in years and needed a lot of work. I explained to him that since it wasn't cutting out and everything looked fine I could throw a cam and crank sensor in it and see what happened. He agreed so we did and he took the car. It ran without an issue for a month so he brought it back in for all the other work. About a week later is started acting up again go figure and then it wouldn't start at all. It was towed in and started right up. We let it run and it finally quit. We had injector pulse but no spark. I checked the crank sensor with an ohm meter and was getting pulse but a buddy of mine that's the lead tech at a Toyota dealer told me he's had a lot of issues there with aftermarket sensors. We installed an OEM and it started up. After we drove it around a bit it started having the same issues. Every time we started to trace it the car would start running. I sent the PCM out to have it looked at and it cost me 100 bucks and was fine. Put it back in and no start and when we got all the equipment attached to it the car started right up.

Checked all the harnesses and connectors for any sign of damage. Looked for anything out of whack anywhere in the car since his daughters drive it and I wondered if their boyfriends had tried to install anything like a remote start etc. Grabbed a PCM out of another Toyota the same year and same #'s and it ran great. Drove it for three days and gave it back. A week later it returned and his wife was all over me about spending all the money they had spent doing the brakes, tires, tune up, axles, etc and never fixing the original issue. Had it in the shop all week and I would work on it when possible. Thursday morning I went over this thing soup to nuts and everything tested fine, I found that if I kept power to the 15 amp ignition fuse it would run. The power on the two ignition fuses jump all over the place but I checked another Toyota and it was the same on it. Pulled the relays and looked at the spades for any discolor and put them back in. By now the battery was low so I put a charger on it and in frustration I kept the key in the start position. After about 10 seconds is fired right up and ran great. It ran in the shop from 5am to 8am and I had it put outside next to the bay door so I could watch it. I was running at 10am and after that I got jammed up and forgot about it. The other techs thought it was done and probably had a bad relay and when I put them back in another was put in the ignition slot. Sounded good to me. went out about an hour later and it was dead. I grabbed the key and walked away. Its still there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I need a new view on this because when I hit the wall I got totaled.
It's a 2004 Camry with a 2.4 DOHC with about 120k on it. No codes and when it's running everything looks great. There are no TSB's on this, Toyota has no tech issues on record with these symptoms, got the feeling this time it was temp related for some reason I can't put a finger on, the cam and crank sensors are OEM and the Toyota tech told me that on all the ones he's worked on he's never replaced a cam sensor. When it will not start I have signal at the injector but no spark. Fuel pressure is there, all connections I looked at are fine, no discoloration on relay's, as far as I can tell any automatic shut downs have to do with fuel, no discoloration on the power supply board, on a whim I tried spraying either into the air intake and nothing, tried forcing limp and got no where, got another pcm out of a working vehicle and it acted the same.

Like I said, I'm still splattered all over the wall I hit and need help. Right now I'm blind when it comes to this vehicle and need some clarity. It's so rare that I can't wade through something and not succeed that I don't know how to deal with it. By no means am I bragging or anything but being an old man and working on vehicles that had nothing but motor under the hood and even flat heads to present when the time was available and left alone I could track down any issue and repair it. I thought I was so good I could track a snake across a rock pile. Again sorry for the long request post but I'm just so frustrated I can't think straight and wanted to get everything in the post and the only way I know how is to babble.
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liljoe
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Re: 2004 Toyota Camry - 2.4L Cutting Out

Post by liljoe »

Steve, the only thing that comes to mind would be the ignition switch. I would check the voltage on the leg that feeds the ignition circuit and see what is coming out of it, just cause another car like it does ok with funkey volts does not mean this car will. I would also verify the incoming voltage to the ignition switch. If it runs when you apply power to that fuse, that tells me that the voltage issue is causing your problems.

I sure hope this helps as you are such a big help to soooo mannnny on here that I feel bad when you have a problem that kicks your butt.
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Re: 2004 Toyota Camry - 2.4L Cutting Out

Post by brianp87 »

Does the stalling happen after the battery goes dead and is restarted by chance?
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Re: 2004 Toyota Camry - 2.4L Cutting Out

Post by liljoe »

Steve, how you making out on this one?
Working hard to prove the Green Team can do it with the best of 'em.
Always remember: AIN'T NO FREE LUNCHES!!
Am I the Only One?- I don't think I am.
The further a society retreats from the truth, the more it hates those who speak it. George Orwell.
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steven kiser
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Re: 2004 Toyota Camry - 2.4L Cutting Out

Post by steven kiser »

I'm going to install a new ignition switch today or tomorrow. I've been all around on this one and I think I'm starting to get my objectivity back on this one. Before I install the switch I'm going to go over the harness and inspect all grounds, attach an ohm meter to all series and shake the harness to see if there is any changes. I really wish there was another issue in this particular series. It would let me know I'm on the right track. Sometimes when I am on the bubble or in other words drawing a blank I check the on hand amount with my OEM distributer. World Pac stocks 30 of these switches so I know they have a high failure rate, don't know what for but it's a common replacement part and knowing this makes me feel better. I spoke with the customer and they have another vehicle at their disposal for a while so the pressure is a bit slack right now. I'll keep posting as I go. If there is a slack time and I show up using another computer to post from you know that I finally snapped and am now residing on floor 13, also know as Sherwood Forest where we wear paper nighties, use Sporks, shuffle around in our slippers drooling. :lol: :lol: :lol: Sometimes I look at that as a vacation.
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Re: 2004 Toyota Camry - 2.4L Cutting Out

Post by Jeff @ Able Auto »

I'm with you Steve. Parts house has 30 in stock, or the part number supersedes 10 times, I am pretty confidant I am on the right track.
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