91 Camry, Engine runs rough

Tiny
AUGUSTZ
  • MEMBER
  • 1991 TOYOTA CAMRY
Morning folks.

I've got a 91 Camry, 3SFE engine (4 cylinder) with 422K+ miles on it (the odometer doesn't turn the way it used to).

Needless to say, the car is a bit rundown, and cost me nothing, but I am having a lot of fun playing around with it, and believe it or not, it used to run reasonably well.

Recently however, the engine has been running rough. To symptoms. Occasionaly on the highway it feel like it hiccups and the car jerks. More recently it has had an uneven throaty feeling to it, and doesn't produce as much power.

This is especially true when accelerating or going up steep hills.

I checked the air filter which and replaced it. I replaced the plugs as well. The #4 plug (facing engine from hood on far right) was heavily oil fouled, #1 slighly fouled.

Because this is a relatively new roughness and loss of power, was going to check the distributor cap, wires and rotors next, followed by the fuel filter and perhaps the vacuum system? Also going to go to 10W-40 oil, but the oil looks pretty clean otherwise.

Any areas that I should obviously focus on? I'm kind of enjoying keeping this car alive, and would love any extra help.

I was also curious how much gas would come out when replacing the fuel filter.

Thanks for any help!
Sunday, April 15th, 2007 AT 12:59 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
JOH9356
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
Get the cylinder compression checked by a qualified tech. It sounds like the piston rings are just worn out. Not surprising with that many miles.

The fact that you have a fouled plug on at least one cylinder just reinforces that this is most likely the problem.

It's just time to retire or rebuild that engine my friend. ;)
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Sunday, April 15th, 2007 AT 1:15 PM
Tiny
AUGUSTZ
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
I was worried about that.

I'll play around with the distributor and fuel filter for the fun and practice, and look to donate the car.

Rebuilding it probably exceeds the worthwhile effort on this :)
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Sunday, April 15th, 2007 AT 1:40 PM
Tiny
AUGUSTZ
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
So, I want to drain the fuel, and was going to pull the fuse for the fuel pump and run the engine and bit to depressurise. The only problem, I can't figure out which fuse handles the fuel pump. Perhaps the ignition fuse?

This is for the 91 Camry, and any help would be much appreciated.
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Sunday, April 15th, 2007 AT 10:49 PM

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