For me: It's when the fix costs more than the car is worth.
Heh. I'd never have fixed a car in college with that view. Cheap cars were great. It was that or walk. I biked most of the time, though.
The camper and truck is a non issue that I will not debate. That is a life choice that we make and is also our retirement plan.
You've got a good truck for that. :)
I'm not sure about ODBII on the camry. I'll run to Advance Auto and see if they can pull any codes. The CEL does not come on at all.
The CEL is not a "I'm unhappy with a sensor light." It's an "I think I'm in violation of emissions regulations" light. A car can have plenty of codes stored, run like crap, but still not throw a CEL if it doesn't detect an emissions problem.
It's nice when you're tracking down an intermittent problem and the car says, "Misfire, cylinder 3." Or something.
If you're having starting issues, but not running issues, it's probably one of a few things:
- Plugs, wires, cap, and rotor (if relevant for the last two). If you don't know when they were last done, do them.
- Engine temperature sensor. The starting fuel is based on this, and if the sensor is wrong, the car won't start well.
- Fuel pressure leakdown. Some cars won't run the fuel pump until the engine is turning, and if there's a slow leak in a check valve back to the tank, it won't light off well.
What exactly is it doing when it has trouble starting?
This still doesn't fix my driving the big diesel in the winter problem but I can at least get everyone else to work and school a little easier now. I did change to synthetic oil and replaced the oil filter last week when temps got back in the 30s. Yesterday was the first cold start test and it started at 2 degrees after sitting for 9 hours in the parking lot at work. So the oil change paid off. The change to Rotella T6 5W-40 was based on advice from the Ford forums for the 7.3l engine.
Those 7.3s are awesome engines. I quite like mine. '97 F350, CCLB, 4x4, 98k miles (!!!), and I intend to keep the thing on the road pretty much forever. My wife's family does antique cars, and those things are heavy to tow (3500-4k lbs of iron car, plus a 2k lb trailer, more if it's enclosed).
If your glow plugs and glow plug relay are good, it'll start down pretty damned cold without the block heater. They're picky about oil though, as you've learned. As far as I'm concerned, it's a feature. If you have an oil leak, the high pressure system will drain and the engine will quit before you're low enough on oil to starve the bottom end and trash the bearings.
Another thing to consider is that starters get weak as they get old. You don't notice the slower cranking since it's gradual, but a newer geared starter (or just the SuperDuty starter from the 99+ 7.3s) can make a huge difference in starting. They're cold blooded, but pretty simple engines.