Questions and Answers

Toyota Camry Clicks, Sticks And Lights Q. Greetings! I have a 1990 Toyota Camry, 4 cylinder, fuel-injection, 5-speed manual transmission, P/S, A/C, Cruise Control, 200,000+ miles. Three Questions:

1. Three indicator lights turn on intermittently. They are usually on. They are always on or off at the same time (together). They are the "brake," "charge" and "lights" warnings. I used to have an older car in which the brake warning was gated through a diode to another warning light to provide redundancy, so I wonder if I am seeing something like that. What is the trouble?

2. The accelerator pedal sticks sometimes, so it is hard to press down from its initial (unpressed) position. I can always get it to go by tapping it persistently and gently (I never risk forcing it). It seems to bind only from the full unpressed position, and it always "comes back" normally. Likely causes? It has acted his way for over a year. It might be a little worse in cold weather.

3. There is a conspicuous loud and clear "click" accompanying sudden accelerations and decelerations when the car is kept in gear, almost as if there is looseness or play in the CV joints. Likely causes?

I would greatly appreciate any tips!
Richard

A. Okay, here we go by the numbers.

1: When these three lights come on together it usually indicates a charging system failure. Being that it's intermittent in your case, I would suspect an alternator diode is failing. Any well equipped shop can make a positive diagnosis for you.

2: Oil vapors from the PCV system gum up the throttle valve plate and cause it to stick, you can clean it yourself easily. Buy a can of spray carburetor cleaner, with the engine OFF loosen the clamp holding the large diameter air intake hose to the intake throttle body. It may require some gentle twisting to break it free. Pull the hose away from the throttle body. You'll see the throttle plate just inside the opening. With the engine still OFF, spray the plate and throttle shaft while working the throttle by hand, pay attention to the area where the shaft goes into the body. You'll be amazed at the gunk your going see in there. Spray until clean. Give everything a few minutes to evaporate and reassemble. If your not sure of what you're doing, take it to a technician.

3: With 200,000 miles many things in the drive train can be responsible for a click. Yes it could be CV joints, excessive play in the differential portion of the transaxle, another highly suspect area would be motor mounts. You need a good technician to make the final diagnosis.

Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA