99 Camry V6 Engine very rough after heavy rain

Jun 12, 2006 8 Replies

Hi, My '99 Camry V6 parks outside. If it's been raining for a few hours when I start it the engine is quite rough, some times the Check Engine Light will even flash on and off.



If you've had any experience like this I'd like to know what might be causing it. I've thought about the spark plugs wires, but are there more likely candidates? The car runs smooth after a couple of miles, and when not wet it is always silky smooth.



Thanks,



Norm


Probably means that your engine computer is not handling the increased moisture in the air to adjust the engine correctly. Could be a bad O2 sensor or something similar (which would account for the check engine light flashing on).

The Coil or a loose or cracked distributor cap can do that, the camrys with coil under the cap are well known for that. If coil is exposed clean it and look for arching in the dark, It could also be bad plug wires, but the engine light on is not what I would expect. Something is shorting from moisture.

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll continue investigating.

Thanks again,

Norm

~> If you've had any experience like this I'd like to know what might be ~> causing it. I've thought about the spark plugs wires, but are there ~> more likely candidates? The car runs smooth after a couple of miles, ~> and when not wet it is always silky smooth. ~>

~> Thanks, ~>

~> Norm ~ ~Probably means that your engine computer is not handling the increased ~moisture in the air to adjust the engine correctly. Could be a bad O2 sensor ~or something similar (which would account for the check engine light ~flashing on). ~

If you're still following, I checked the codes after the last heavy rainstorm and got these codes.

P0300 Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected P0301 Cylinder 1 Misfire Detected P0303 Cylinder 3 Misfire Detected

It is a V6, but I have no idea if the Cylinder 1 & 3 is significant or not. If you have any further information please let me know.

Thanks,

Norm

If it could talk the computer would be saying Replace Plug Wires, Replace Coil.

The V6 uses an external coil I believe? If your wires have 100K+ on them, replace them with toyota oem wires. Also replace your distributor cap and rotor at the same time as a precaution because those parts are cheap. Make sure you get a new distributor cap o-ring too from the dealer. Check the health of your battery/alternator as well because if you are getting a weak spark because of low voltage, it will rear its head in this sort of situation.

dave mc

Does a 99 have a distributor cap and rotor?

======================= I suspect it has individual coil packs for each cylinder - no distributor. High tension leads or coils could still be suspect though. If it were me, I'd be using the Toyota factory service manual for that car which gives detailed trouble shooting flow charts for testing each component and evaluating the source of the misfire(s). Sometimes you can find them reasonably priced on eBay, but even if you pay a couple hundred dollars, you're going to earn that cost back first time you solve a problem like this.

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