2011 Camry 4cyl engine died while driving uphill on highway

Asked by n9911c Jun 11, 2015 at 10:49 AM about the 2011 Toyota Camry

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My 2011 Toyota Camry died while driving on an uphill highway.  100 degrees outside
air temp 3000 feet elevation.  It feels like running out of gas.  Restarted right away and
goes a few feet and stalls like out of gas.  After letting it set a few minutes and
repeating this for 10 minutes it finally keeps running and is ok for the rest of the trip
home.  This happened a year ago in the same place and the air filter was very dirty.  
Changed it and never happened again until last week.  This time the air filter was
recent so must have not been the original problem.  No codes set or any bad smells.  
Never have changed the fuel filter but being it was a year between episodes I don't
think it was the problem.  Fuel pump, filter, airflow sensor??  Any Ideas?  Thanks

8 Answers

103,735

Try cleaning your Mass Air Flow sensor. Buy some spray cleaner at your local auto store. Plenty of how to videos on youtube. If your gas tank was at a very low level while going up hill, you may have overheated your fuel pump. If tank was over half, the pump should not have been your issue.

65,510

Try cleaning throttle body with throttle body cleaner spray if air filter was that dirty throttle most likely dirty also.

2 people found this helpful.

You might consider having a fuel pressure test performed. This test usually requires opening up the fuel delivery system. This is a good time to replace the fuel filter.

1 people found this helpful.
30

2011 4cyldr camry. Happened to me today. similar circumstances as yours: driving up hill, 95+ whether. Had over half tank of gas. wasnt speeding, but had cruise on. AC going full-blast. after hill, i pressed gas and was bogged down and unresponsive--acted like out of fuel. i pulled over and stopped engine. I turned of AC and let car rest so i could check fluids under hood. No lights, no warning beeps or lights, temp at normal half-way range, no smoke, no smells, oil was correct level and relatively clean, no leaks anywhere, no knocking. let car rest a couple of minutes without AC on and i was back on the road without further incident. I did not turn AC on again for remainder of my drive. I can only surmise that with the outside temp in 90s and AC full blast, something somewhere shorted out and as a safety precaution, car stalled out. now, i turn of AC up large hills on highway. havent had prob since.

3 people found this helpful.
30

I bought a used 2011 toyota camry and the same thing is happening. Has there been any updates on a fix to this issue?

3 people found this helpful.
10

i had a similar incidence this past Saturday on my 2011 camry se 4 cylinder. i was going on highway at about 60 mph on fast lane without cruise control AC blowing and all of a sudden loss of power and a bunch of caution lights turned on and then i regained power, press on the accelerator and lose power again with a bunch of caution lights on. decided to turn on the hazard lights and pull over on the side safely. turned off the car and ac, restarted the car and started driving. turned the ac on again and drove home which was about 130 miles and didnt experience the failure again. just checked the codes and dont really see anything. was there a solution here? don't have the schematics available to see how power distribution is on this car.

1 people found this helpful.
20

Same thing happens with my Toyota Camry 2011. Only when hot and I leave it off for a bit then it’ll restart. Mainly only uphills. Had fuel injectors fully cleaned. Tried better gas. Dealership couldn’t relocate so they couldn’t figure it out. Still no answers

1 people found this helpful.
20

Also had my fuel pressure tested. Everything looks good but still happens

1 people found this helpful.

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