89 Camry cranks but won't start

Great idea. Thanks.

GD

I used to have an 89 4cyl. that I bought in California. It wouldn't start whenever I tuned it up and removed the snorkel that goes from the air cleaner to the throttle body. There's also an electrical connector on top of that snorkel. It must be connected else the car won't start.

You might also make sure that the exhaust is not plugged up. A plugged catalytic convert would prevent the car from starting. If you feel air coming out of the exhaust while someone else is cranking the engine then it's probably ok.

Another good idea. Thank you.

are your plug wires installed correctly? make sure each one is in the right place.

I was in almost the same situation described, with my 1986 Camry. It was running fine when we parked it, but a few days later, it refused to start. It cranked just fine, but never seemed to fire. Things I tried:

- changed distributor cap, rotor, and plug wires

- saw nice blue spark on each plug pulled out

- measured primary and secondary coil resistance - all within specs

- changed fuel filter (wasn't clogged), plenty of gas

- tested fuel pump by jumpering Fp and B+ connectors, with ignition on. Sounded ok (I could hear fuel going through lines).

- removed cold start injector; when engine was cranked, it put out a nice spray of gas

- verified timing belt had not slipped a tooth. When I had the engine turned to #1 TDC, I was able to look in an inspection port on the timing belt cover. The port on my car is sealed by a rubber plug (about 1"); I had to use a mirror and flashlight to see the camshaft pulley through the port.

I put in a new coil, and surprise, it started right up. In fact it runs better than it has in years.

Changing the coil is a little tricky. I followed the detailed directions I found at autozone.com, and pulled out the distributor. (You could probably change to coil with the distributor in place if you have a VERY short offset Phillips screwdriver.) Before I removed the distributor, I set the engine to #1 TDC, and the rotor at #1. I noted the rotor position, and used masking tape to mark the distributor timing. With the distributor out, the coil was simple to replace. Putting the distributor back in correctly was the trick. On mine, the gear had one tooth marked on the edge closest to the cap. When I lined that tooth up with a mark on the distributor, and put it back in the engine, it worked out just fine, with the rotor pointing the same as when I removed the distributor. I had a shop verify that the timing was still correct, which I thought was ok, since it was now running just fine.

Jock

:> - measured primary and secondary coil resistance - all within specs :> :> I put in a new coil, and surprise, it started right up. In fact it :> runs better than it has in years. :> : Puzzling. : Coil tested good, but failed to start the car.

Could have been a load related problem. High series resistance could have caused the voltage to be too low when firing a plug but when running open circuit, didn't show the voltage drop.

Additionally "testing the coil" could have been a simple resistance check (I don't know though) which would not reveal any high voltage breakdown.

I had a problem with a Celica once. Wouldn't fire after heat soaking (turning engine off, allowing heat to build up in the engine compartment).

The problem was an intermittant reluctance pickup in the distributor.

b.