OK OK... I have taken her car into the shop three times now... they say they cannot reproduce the problem... I pay them their coins, and bring the car back to my daughter and the next day she calls again while she's driving into work in the morning saying the car is not driving right. The symptoms as she tells them: When she goes off to work in the mornings only (cold car) she sets off ok when it's in first but as it shifts up it losses rpms and refuses to go past 1000 rpm even with the gas pedal to the floor... She is quite positive that the car seems to not be getting enough gas... The car seems to buck and she says she hears clunking... when it doesn't want to act normally... the car crawls eventually up into another gear but as it bucks still going 25mph or so, she also begins to smell something like rotten eggs... When the car is warm it does not do this at all... When I drove her car it did not do anything out of the ordinary for a car with me behind the wheel. She also says on a couple of occations she jiggled the shifter and it seemed to want to drive better and the engine would get back up in revs. The mechanic I have brought it in to look at it is a great mechanic that I have known for 25+ years from back in the day when I was a fool driving cars and planes faster than a fella that should... he is baffled... What solutions would you suggest to alleviate the symptoms my daughter's car is giving her??? Thanks in advance Bob Jr
Clogged or bad catalytic converter? If they cats are bad it could send a signal to the ECU which would then retard timing, fuel etc.. Not sure if the 1986 cars had such sophistication though. lol It is probably using throttle body injection or some other type of fuel injection besides a carburetor. If it only does it when cold you might want to see if there are major cracks in the exhaust system starting at the manifolds then back to the catalytic converter. A crack could mess up the observed air/fuel ratio and again cause weird computer issues. When warm the metals expand and reduce the size of the crack which may explain why it runs better when warm.
Bad fuel? Contaminated fuel? I thought rotten eggs smell was not due to over fuelling as such, but also too much sulphur in the fuel? I thought over fuelling gave off a more metallic smell when it floods the cat. But I am assuming you've already checked the obvious like spark plugs, spark leads, air filter as the symptoms sound like a misfire to me.
I'm going to assume the mechanics have checked the obvious like Grumpy mentioned as well as fuel pressure, MAF air sensor (breakage or cleaning), fuel pump, Throttle Position Sensor etc?
Toyota M engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia There is a good chance it has a 5M-GE engine, here are some specs for it.
In line fuel filter plugged- but I don't know why this would improve once warm? Stuck float(carb)- but once again why would it improve? Early FI might be carb like-in 1986 Toyota was switching to FI-expensive car like the Cressida probably had FI. Sounds like a fuel problem-mechanical fuel pump- maybe some sort of diaphragm with a hole in it? Why is it better once warm? It needs a very rich mixture when cold-which it can't get because of whatever the problem is-when cbut once warm it vaporizes more fuel so it can get by on whatever "the problem" allows to flow. Will it actually run at full power full acceleration once warm?Or will it just "run ok" at a steady 60 mph-maybe 25% of full power Charlie Check/replace in line filter-cheap and easy to replace Our 1985 Corolla had a carb- 1986 truck also- but it was a low end stripper model-no ac, no bumper, no radio-had to pay extra for all 3.
My 1983 Camry had port fuel injection so a 3 year later Cressida surely does. The Camry FI was flawless the 230k miles we had the car except for needing a shot of Techron every 2 or 3 years. A fuel pressure test during start-up and early running would determine if the engine is getting enough fuel pressure. Definitely a worthwhile test. If the filter is old, it would be a good idea to replace it on general principles.
Bob, Just let her drive the Corvette in your avatar until her car is troubleshot and repaired. Out of curiosity how many miles does a 25 or so year old Cressida have on it and who's older the car or your daughter?
To be honest Bra... the reason I bought this Prius is because of an electrical fire in the DD in my avatar... and believe me, my daughter wants that car... I still haven't taken the time to put it back on the road, but it is my favorite Vette because of the hood, so I am reluctant to get rid of it just yet. The Cressida is 2 years older than she is... she talks about that alot... 120K miles before we got the car... she's put 10K on it since she got it in march.
Dear Sir, Not sure if you've solved the problem with your daughter's 1986 Cressida or even if she still has it, but I had the exact same problem with my 1986 Cressida, even after a complete engine rebuild... Seems that the Airflow Meter ( AFM ) or Mass Airflow Meter was dirty. Took it to another mechanic and he figured it out... Car seems to run pretty good right now. Just thought I'd drop that off on you. They also replaced the TPS or Throttle Position Sensor, plus it has a new Oxygen sensor. Thought maybe the ECM ( Engine Control Module ) could have been bad, but no... It was the AFM / MAF sensor.
FOOTNOTE: We also replaced a kickdown cable about a year prior to the rebuild as well... That will also cause a loss of acceleration in a 1986 Cressida... Think it goes from the Tranny to the carburetor to throttle it.
