Car will not run after engine swap unless I spray carb cleaner in throttle body

Tiny
MBSWEENE
  • MEMBER
  • 1987 TOYOTA CAMRY
  • 170,000 MILES
I bought this car from someone that blew the engine. I assume the guy's daughter ignored a bad radiator leak and the poor engine just cracked into pieces. I got it for $200 and I have an 1988 camry just like it (but the base model) that runs but with too many problems to be worth it.

I figured between the 2, I can mix and match pieces to get the '87 in good shape. I bought a used engine to put in it on ebay. Supposed to be from a 1987 camry with 90000 miles, 4 cylinder 3SFE engine. It looked to be in good shape but may have been sitting for quite a while. The distributor cap and the coolant temp sensor are different between the blown engine and the replacement though. I understood that there weren't any major differences between an 88 and 87. So this puzzles me.

After installing the engine, I cannot get it started. It has good spark, although I will replace distributor cap, wires, and plugs when I know it will run. I've already spent too much money on this project. I also put a new timing belt on it. It will run perfectly if I spray something in the throttle body. Otherwise it sounds like it is about to start but gets my hopes up for nothing. I put a can of seafoam in the gas thinking it may help unclog something but no luck. I know the fuel pump works and the pressure tested good.

I read your articles about testing the fuel injectors and how ere should be one wire on the connector with power that will light up a test light. Turns out that BOTH wires light up the ester. So I tried disconnecting all the injectors and then I get just one wire with power. But as soon as I connect a ny of them then both wires have power again. Does that mean my injectors are bad? Should I swap out the injectors from the old engine? They look to be in worse shape but I can't afford new ones at $100 each! Could there be a problem with the computer or another component that controls the injectors? I have tried everything I can think of. Any suggestions?
Sunday, May 6th, 2012 AT 7:03 AM

8 Replies

Tiny
RASMATAZ
  • MECHANIC
  • 75,992 POSTS
Hook up a noid lite to the injector harness and have helper crank engine over while you observe the noid lite flashing-if not check injector ground driver
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Sunday, May 6th, 2012 AT 10:01 AM
Tiny
MBSWEENE
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Can u tell me where the injector ground driver should be on this vehicle? I have tried using the light to check if its pulsing but there is none. Just power from both wires on the connectors and it stays lit while the engine is cranking. I somehow lost my repair manual and can't get a new one yet. I was shocked that autozone raised the price of manuals so much! I got my old one for $15 from them a few years back. Its up to $27 now.
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Sunday, May 6th, 2012 AT 7:33 PM
Tiny
DJCL
  • MECHANIC
  • 767 POSTS
The driver is the pcm. It grounds one side of the injecter. Make shore your dist sensors are working. You will need a dvom or best a lab scope
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Sunday, May 6th, 2012 AT 7:45 PM
Tiny
MBSWEENE
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
Ok, after weeks of messing with this I got it running. Apparently I had disconnected the mass air flow sensor. I should have caught that before. But it starts and keeps running now.

However, now I am only getting 3 injectors firing so it is missing pretty bad. After checking and adjusting the timing to be sure it was ok, I tried unhooking each spark plug wire to see if it changed the way it was running. The first 3 starting from the Left made the missing worse, as expected. Its the injector on the drivers side that only has one wire on the connector.

After being sure I was getting a good spark through the wire, I tried the plug connected to the wire and it is perfect. After unhooking the injector connector for that cylinder, I decided it has to be that injector just messing up. Any ideas on how to test that injector before I pull the entire fuel rail off? I have 4 other injectors from the old engine that I will replace it with if needed, but I'd like to avoid pulling the fuel rail if I can.
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Friday, May 18th, 2012 AT 2:11 AM
Tiny
DJCL
  • MECHANIC
  • 767 POSTS
All the injectors have 2 wires going to them. If you have one with one wire that's a problem. Make shore that your looking @ the fuel injectors and not something els.
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Saturday, May 19th, 2012 AT 2:08 AM
Tiny
MBSWEENE
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
I am sure it is the connector that's on the injector, but it is odd that there is only one wire. I have an 88 camry just like it and there's only one wire for the last injector on the drivers side. And it runs fine. And if I unplug that connector you can hear the differenve and know that injector is unplugged. How do these injectors fire? All at once or in a series of some kind? Could I splice into one of the other injectors or could I fry the computer doing that?
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Saturday, May 19th, 2012 AT 7:33 AM
Tiny
DJCL
  • MECHANIC
  • 767 POSTS
At may be the cold start injector
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Saturday, May 19th, 2012 AT 10:42 PM
Tiny
RASMATAZ
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See your injector circuit below-The injector harness always has 2 wires on it to each cylinder
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Saturday, May 19th, 2012 AT 11:26 PM

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