I was driving my '98 Camry today with 140,000 miles and the check engine light came on the way back from Church. I did manage to make it home. It felt like my V6 engine had a measly moped engine when I pressed on the gas and it sputtered a little on high RPM's. It certainly didn't "feel" right. The engine sounded strained even at low speeds.
I plan on taking it in immediately tomorrow morning to the mechanic, if I can make it. But can anyone give me an indication of what it might be based on what I wrote so far?
Damn! I answered this last night but it didn't post!
MAF-Mass Air Flow sensor; located right after the air cleaner. This can cause the kind of problems you are describing. Also, a cracked/leaking/loose tube from the MAF to the intake can do this, too. The EGR can, and a loose/leaking/broken vacuum tube can too!
In my experieince with Toyotas, what seems like it may be expensive can often be a 5 minute fix, merely by looking! Open the hood and have a good look, all around. Check wires, plugs, tuubes, hoses, as one person said, the Fuel Filter, etc. On one Tercel I had it was running rough and the MIL (Check eng light) came on, and I chased it for a year! I got some rubber-friendly carb cleaner and shot it through all the vacuum hoses and the problem went away. Have a good look and tell us if you find something!
Mass AirFlow Sensor. As kiselink says, get someone to read the code; the MAF sensor was just a guess. MOST check engine light failures don't cause the symptoms you describe; the MAF does. There is another possibility that causes the same problem; the air tube (the large rubber tube running from the air cleaner to the intake plenum) has a rip or a leak at one end or the other. If this is the problem, you're lucky: go to the 'recycling' yard and get another! The only other problem I can think of is a pinched, broken or disconnected vacuum line.
My many, many years of owning Toys has taught me one thing: open the hood and look! Many, many times, upon careful scrutiny I have found loose plug wires, pinched vacuum lines, loose wiring, etc just by looking, thereby saving a $60 bill from taking it to Toyota or another garage to have them do the same thing! If careful scrutiny does not turn up something obvious, take it somewhere and get the code. Autozone will do it for free, but the codes aren't always correct. Call the dealer and ask them what they charge; one dealer near me charges 1/2 hour ($32) and another charges $99!!!
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