new distraction: no longbed or hatch, but a flying buttress!

is it a supercharged one or a older N/A?

reading up on those cars, the '84-'86 ones use the "T-VIS" system.  basically butterfly valves in the intake that open when you hit the gas.  I'd make sure that system is functioning correctly.  Which of course means checking the 1,000,000 vacuum lines 80's cars have. lol

it's N/A. TVIS is definitely working. I can tell around 4500 rpm while it's running good. which today was about 15 miles.
Today i replaced the fuel filter and the ecu coolant temp sensor.
I also pulled the cam cover, timing belt cover, and saw that everything was installed correctly, and looked pretty good.

test drive took about 15 miles before it had the same issue as before.

in the 'good running' 15 miles, it ran so good i got it up to around 6500 rpm even. I can feel/hear TVIS kicking in around 4500 rpm too. it was a pretty fun 15 miles....

coolant temp gauge (which uses a different sensor than the ecu temp sensor) was at midpoint - operating temp loooong before the 15 miles.
before the test drive today i replaced the fuel filter and the ecu coolant temp sensor.
apparently those made no difference.

and i've eliminated most vacuum lines, so it really isnt all that bad anymore.

soooo still no progress or new ideas....

Everything lines up where it should, at TDC

So, new theory.

gas tank vent isnt working correctly, therefore the tank builds a vacuum, making the fuel pump work super hard, and eventually leaning out the engine enough that it would be impossible/hard to start / super stuttery.
overnight, the gas tank pressure eventually equalizes, therefore it is easy to start again.

10-15 miles on the road is just about the fuel usage rate vs fuel tank vacuum "leak rate", which is why this issue showed up on the road, but when there was no load (and its a lot of idling), it didnt use up enough fuel fast enough for the tank to build enough vacuum to have this issue....

how plausible is this?

I tried testing this today by driving around (got 12 miles today) before it started to stutter a lot.
at this point i opened the gas fill cap and then closed it again.
for a bit it was still pretty stuttery but after about a half mile of driving, it "cleared up" and all was good again.

i kept driving for several more miles, and it started to stutter again, so I just took off the gas cap and drove home (1 or so miles)
got home, pulled the plugs, which #1 & #4 cylinders had more black ground electrodes than #2 or #3, both of hwhich looked good as the pics i posted before.

I then used a torch to 'clean' all the plugs, put them back in, and went for another drive.
after several miles, it starts to stutter a lot, but not as bad as before, and i limped it home and parked it for the night.


in general, how plausible is the theory of the bad fuel tank vent?
unfortunately i don't have a fuel pressure gauge yet, and it's kind of annoying to get one on the car.... where is the typical place to get a fuel pressure reading off of?

I'm used to having a schrader valve in the system to tap off of for fuel pressure monitoring. Ebay shows 2 non turbo fuel rails, each different for your app, not sure which is yours, also dont see an obvious answer. Maybe you can adapt one onto the blockoff plate at the end?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/92-95-96-97-98-99-00-TOYOTA-CAMRY-FUEL-RAIL-W-4-INJECTORS-A51-/110974686566?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AMR2%7CYear%3A1992&hash=item19d69b5566&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/92-95-96-97-98-99-00-CAMRY-FUEL-RAIL-W-INJECTORS-A36-/110888997448?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AMR2%7CYear%3A1992&hash=item19d17fd248&vxp=mtr

also- lolz at the inventory tag on the second listing.

not sure if it was the single part or the accumulation of all the replaced/repaired/elimintated parts, but in the end, the new ign coil seems to have solved everything.

timing is now at 10 degrees, runs good, (seemingly forever, did 22 miles before dinner, and a continuous 50+ miles after), no pops or gurgles, no hesitation, seemingly a perfect 112 horsepower race car

thanks to everyone for their inputs!