Bought used 2 months ago

ANONYMOUS

MEMBER
2010 TOYOTA CAMRY
18,150 MILES

Bought used 2 months ago. Engine warm, just driving on side street or freway, push some on gas pedal not hard, nothing there. Seems engine died but then it catches on and away I go. It is now gettin more frequent and for a longer period. Tonight I drove approx. 30 miles and it hesitated 8 times. Three times I thought it wasn't going to start again. On one long hesitation on the freway I stomped on the pedal 2-3 times and then it caught and jerked me forward. Had car mto dealer for problem. Their diagnoses was a loose battery cable if you can believe that. I'm no mechanic but I knew that wasn't the problem. I afraid its going to do this and not get moving again. Any thoughts? Still under warranty. Know any good toyota dealers?

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,916 POSTS

It very well could have been a loose battery cable. The battery is the key component in helping the voltage regulator maintain safe system voltage. Computers hate incorrect voltages and will do weird things or stop working completely. To add to the misery, your car likely has the very dangerous "throttle-by-wire" system that put Toyota in the news a few years ago and that involves replacing the uncommonly reliable throttle cable with sensors and another computer. When the problems develop, I'd rather have the engine slow down than speed up unexpectedly. It sounds like they have it designed much better than Volkswagen. Problems with theirs usually requires a tow to the dealership and a really big repair bill, even from simply disconnecting the battery to replace it.