Help: 1990 Mk2 Camry Starting/stalling/backfiring

[mojo7676]

Hi there

be really grateful for any advice or comments. Apologies in advance for the length of this post, but i hope the detail is useful.

Bought a 1990 camry 2.0 gli automatic a few weeks ago... Always fancied one and it seemed relatively cheap.

Had a blowing mid section exhaust (now replaced), a small crack in the exhaust manifold and some cosmestic-ish issues - rust here and there but underneath seems solid enough (i hope).

Drove it home, approx 90 miles (mostly motorway with speeds up to 80 easily) and was perfect (except for the blowing exhaust) - wonderfully smooth drive, gearbox and engine seem strong. It's done about 125000 miles according to the clock.

It had been stood a while before i bought it - but when i went to pick it up, it seemed okay - started over fine etc.

Got it back to a garage, ordered the exhaust which took 10 days or so to come.

Then it wouldn't start. All plugs were sparking but changed them anyway. Battery seemed a little weak, so changed that too. Fired in some bursts of easy start at the air inlet but still didn't want to start. Checked the fuel filter and it was full/brimming.

Funny thing was, after a long cranking and with the release of ignition key, it would splutter and cough smoke outwards. Cranked it over again, this time with hand covering the inlet, and felt very little if at all any suction. But hey presto, it started. I thought it seemed as if it therefore needed a richer mixture to get going. Drove it around all day yesterday, quite a bit of stop start driving, and the car was great - started first time every time, didn't stall once.

Tonight, figured i'd take it for another spin. Took a little while to start and spluttered a little. Drove a mile or so, engine warming nicely. Stop at traffic lights then set off and it's farts and stalls. Hazards on, into Park and turn it over. Does the same thing it did before - coughing, spluttering and throwing out some smoke. Crank it again, let go and coughs etc again, but this time, it picks up and comes to life. Drive on another half mile, and the same thing happens again. Start it again and notice that very occasionally it sort of misses or backfires while being driven; but it gets over that.

So, my question is, what's going on with this thing? My own limited knowledge about these things is that maybe because it had been stood for a while, it needs to get its moving parts going again - perhaps the valves get a bit clogged or something and that causes the erratic engine behaviour. Or maybe i've bought a lemon. The sunroof doesn't close either.

again, apologies for the long post but am hoping someone can shed some light

thanks

mojo

[mojo7676]

not sure if it's appropriate to reply to my own post, but thought an update might be useful for some

the car is running much better, now, but there is the occasional flat spot when it's not 100% warm and if it's been raining. i think what cured the bigger starting problems was just driving the thing; also put a bottle of redex injector cleaner in the tank, changed distributor, rotor arm and ht leads - that might have helped, too.

thanks

mojo

[garethpaul]

excellent, thanks for the update.

I bet the new plugs, leads, dis cap and rotor arm did it the world of good.

What did the old dis cap look like on the inside? Were the terminals worn compared to the new one?

If it had been standing, the fuel could have been "stale" or had water in it. Run a few tanks through and it should be even better.

Also, for the price of a new fuel filter, I would change that too:

£4.92 at eurocarparts

[mojo7676]

Thanks, Gareth

the dis cap wasn't terrible, tbh but the rotor arm was a bit pitted even that wasn't as bad as i expected.

got another minor problem - driver's side light keeps popping.

thanks again

mojo