My wife's 02 Camry will not start. She was coming off the highway yesterday when the car was over heating,...the lower radiator hose came off at the block. While she was coming off the highway the car had stalled.
I did get the hose back on while being on the side of the road, filled the car with antifreeze, but my dumbass did not put the radiator cap back on. When trying to start, and it sounded like was about to...antifreeze started coming out where I had added it. Now the car will not start.
What dose the GRM brain trust think??
One other thing, I have check the fuses, and have the battery disconnected as well, when going to start the car I haven't been able to hear the fuel pump turn on. I also am not sure if you can hear the fuel pump,..it's her car I do not drive it often at all.
Crank/no start?
I'd assume something is wet. I'd start with the ignition system. Coil, distributor if it has one, wires and plugs. Pull a plug wire and see if you have spark.
Next is fuel. Cycle the ignition a couple of times and push the Schrader valve on the fuel rail. Use a rag because it will spit fuel in your face if you aren't careful.
Beyond that, I'd be calling for a tow. I hate fixing things on the side of the road.
Modern fuel pumps are normally pretty quiet, to the point that you can't always hear them in the car. Turn the key to the start position and get your head down by the fuel tank, then you'll know.
Really though, if it was running without coolant and stalled while overheating, I wouldn't expect the best. Fill it with fluids properly and hope for the best, but you might be in for a lot of work (or a new car for SWMBO).
Did you check for codes? It's not still on the side of the road, is it? As I think this is going to be a bit more than a fuse.
I don't think I can hear the fuel pump in the 97 Camry. So, got spark? Pull a plug and crank to see if you have fuel blowing out the hole. Listen to the injectors while cranking to see if they are firing.
I'm going with one of the sensors being shot if everything else checks out. The ECU might tell you which one. And depending on how long it was driven (seconds? minutes?) without coolant, that motor is probably Game Over anyway.
There were no codes, when we hooked up a code reader. The car almost fired up when I was going to start it on the road side. When I saw the fluid shooting out where the radiator should have been on I stop trying to start it.
She dosent run the car hard at all and every thing was looking fine two weeks ago when I did the valve cover gasket. Needless to say I am hoping it's just a wet connection,...just a matter of witch one?
I'd do a compression test. Blowing coolant out if the rad while cranking sounds like a very blown head gasket
I talk to the neighbor (a motocross guy) he mention that he has a compression gage. We will be checking that tomorrow night.
If it's blowing coolant out the rad it's likely got some seriously blown head gaskets. Pop the spark plugs out and have a look in there, you'll probably see green in one of the holes. The (presumably factory spring clamped) hose blown off supports this.
For future reference, leaving the cap off definitely had nothing to do with it, somewhat preferential in that situation to keep it off or in the "vent" position so the pressure wont cause you hurt cooling system to lose water faster.
The verdict is in, the motor is blown. She had the car towed while I was at work today. The tech that she has known for over 15 year gave her the bad news.
The car is to nice to scrap we are now motor shopping. So far I have check rock-auto and car-part.com. Any other sites I should look at?
