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Are you sure the front brakes aren't squealing?
Take it to a mechanic, who can give you a technical assessment as to what might be wrong.
I have a 2003 Toyota Camry XLE V6 with 130,000 miles. About 1 1/2 weeks ago, I started the car in the morning after it had sat overnight, and when first accelerating, noticed that the engine revved at a much higher pitch. The noise was not out of the ordinary just a higher pitch. The car seemed to want to hesitate, but would go forward with a bit more gas than normal. The tach registered normal as driving.
I noticed that it took about 5 to 10 minutes for the temperature gauge to warm up to its normal range. Once the temperature was normal, the problems ceased and the car was fine. No CEL, no odd noises, no hesitancy.... Took to first repair shop who didn't see anything out of the ordinary. If I started the car up to go out for lunch or in the evening going home from work, everything was fine. Problem was only in am when car had been sitting overnight.
Couple of days later, CEL came on, and car started to hesitate. Repair shop #2 reported a trans error code, but said it was unusual for # miles and age of car. Tran fluid was clear and they said otherwise car was in good shape (well maintained).
While driving to dealer for opinion #3, car suddenly would not go in to gear, and now not driveable.
Any ideas on issue, is it failure of transmission, or something else that lead to tran problem?
Appreciate any reccos on fixing vs. getting new car. I bought Toyota with high expectations of getting to at least 150k.
Thanks!
You can't guess over the internet, a mechanic with hands on meter should diagnose the problem very quickly.
When the mechanic told you a blower motor before, did he diagnose the problem or was that only a guess? If he diagnosed it, why wasn't it replaced...and you are still messing around with this problem?
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If the rubber insert was not inserted all the way into the socket; it could have prevented the socket from sliding far enough down onto the plug to engage with the matching hexagonal male part on the spark plug. When this happens; the plug will only be turned by the friction of the rubber insert against the porcelain insulator; and that friction is not strong enough to transfer the force needed to tighten the plug. So when the plug gets to the point where it just begins to tighten; the socket will start to slip. If you just pull the socket off the plug at that point, and do not tighten it fully; the plug will eventually pop out.
Once you get the socket out; look at the open end of the socket and find the hexagonal recess. Then look at a plug and find the male hexagonal part. Now slide the socket onto a plug while it is in front of you, and watch how far on the socket must be moved before the two hexagons mate. There is a subtly different feel to turning a plug on which the hexes are meshed, compared to one which is not meshed and is just being turned by friction of the insert. In time; this will become second nature.
This is the way to become skilled at this craft; by closely examining the parts which are involved, and learning what issues could arise and how to deal with them.
Of course; the other thing you could do, without buying any more tools, would be to re-insert the extension bar into the socket, unscrew the plug, remove the socket from the plug and press the insert into the socket until it is in as far as it can go, place the socket correctly on the plug, and then install the plug again.
But a loosely fitting extension bar and/or a loosely machined socket will repeatedly disconnect when removing the tools. The professional way to install spark plugs is to use a high quality extension bar, and a spark plug socket with a magnetic insert. These sockets are sold by SnapOn tool dealers (listed in the white pages of your phone book); and might also be available from Mac tool dealers or from a parts store like NAPA, which sells to professional mechanics. They cost substantially more than the sockets with rubber inserts; but they are far less likely to cause the hassles you experienced. However; the magnetic inserts are vulnerable to breaking if the sockets have force put on them when they are not straight on the plug; and they are not always strong enough to hold a plug in place. But once you become used to them, they are much easier to work with. And SnapOn tools are guaranteed for life.
Spark plugs can vibrate loose and blow out, if they are not properly tightened when installed. This usually does not damage the threads; but in some cases it might. However; there is a balance which must be struck in tightening spark plugs: Your Camry (along with most other recent imports and many domestic cars) has aluminum cylinder heads. The spark plug threads in aluminum heads can be damaged by over-tightening spark plugs. So plugs that are not tightened firmly enough; or plugs that are tightened too vigorously will BOTH cause problems.
It is not that difficult to learn to tighten plugs properly. New plugs for this motor come with a metal gasket on the threaded part. (Autolite plugs used to have the gaskets fall off when the plug was turned with the threads pointing down; so care must be exercised with that brand; but many recent Autolites have their gaskets held in place by the threads; like every other brand.) Plugs with a new gasket will compress the gasket when the plug begins to tighten; this will create a "squeezing" sensation when tightening; in which the plug will turn the last 1/2 to 3/4 turn with a slightly stronger pressure required, but there will be little change in pressure needed during that period. There will be a sudden increase in resistance when the plug actually reaches bottom. That is when to stop turning.
When reinstalling a used plug; the gasket will not compress during tightening; so the stopping point will be reached more abruptly.
People who work at oil change places, and new mechanics, often seem to be overly fearful of damaging threads; so they don't fully tighten oil drain plugs or spark plugs. Unfortunately; the consequences of not tightening an oil drain plug often result in the plug vibrating out and the oil all running out on the ground; which frequently destroys the engine. If a spark plug pops out due to not being properly tightened; it can cause a fire if it happens while the motor is running. So the exaggerated fear of damaging threads; along with similarly exaggerated fears of foreigners and terrorism, are ruining people's cars and also ruining our political system.
The solution to both of these problems is not to become tyrannized by or obsessed with fears; but rather to develop common sense and learn how to work skillfully, become educated about how to do things right, develop balance between extremes, learn to trust your intuition, and make objective decisions.
There are two different types of spark plugs in use today; some have a flat seat and a gasket on the threads; but others have a tapered seat and do not come with a gasket. These two types of plugs are not interchangeable; they are designed for different types of engines. But sometimes people put the wrong type of plug in an engine; which often leads to the plug coming loose. It is very important to use the right spark plug in an engine. There are literally dozens of different plug variations which all look pretty much the same; but which would not be thermally suitable for your engine. So do not select spark plugs without looking up the recommendation for your car in the catalog published by the manufacturer of the brand you intend to use. It is not uncommon that the plug now in your motor is the wrong one; so don't risk blindly repeating someone else's mistake.
as far as plug popping out must be that ur using wrong plug but if ur striped out go wit some Teflon ??
im having this problem with my camry where it will crank but not turn on. I noticed yesterday when i would accelerate car, it felt like it was stalling a bit it kind of felt like it was missfiring actually. And this morning it turned on fine and when i was at a light i pressed gas to take off on green, and the car felt like it ran out of gas and shut off on me. I cranked and cranked and nothing. i did notice the smell of gas when i was cranking coming from the exhaust.
I did have a similar problem over a year ago and i couldnt find no solution to it. i just left car in drive way for over 2 weeks then i tried it and it turned on and worked fine till this morning. has anyone had this problem? or does anyone know what the problem could be?
Inside passenger door handle suddenly wouldn't open door which can be opened from outside.
Door locks are fine.
Would appreciate thoughts about cause of problem and potential repair cost.
Toyota dealership and Firestone both wanted around $200 for parts and labor.
He commented that usually it's the door handle itself that breaks. I now have a spare handle should I ever need it and am quite satisfied, especially after getting two quotes in the $200 range.
My question for you guys is while I have everything apart, what else should I do at the same time? On my to do list so far are:
Oil and filter change
Timing belt
Water pump
Tensioner and pulleys if needed
Possibly oil seals
Air filter
Sparks and wires
Belts and radiator hoses
Flush/fill radiator
While I've got it up, I'm checking brakes, inspect brake lines, get new tires put on the wheels, and I might get a second set of wheels with snow tires on them (in Colorado), not sure if I want to drop the cash for that though. The things I have not dorked with in the past are anything to do with suspension or tranny. I feel fine changing out the tranny fluid which I might do.
Things I've never done before:
Steering and suspension or anything tranny related. Is there anything I should be looking out for here? I am okay doing the work myself if I know what to look out for. Anything I missed on here or anything that would be weird on this car or pitfalls I might run into? Thanks!
Thanks!
Just my guess, I hope you can follow up with the problem. I'm interested in learning more when folks get on here with some car problems.
This is a good site to get good info if folks follow up with the solutions.
Thanks
This past week it started overheating out of the blue early one a.m. Pulled over and stopped immediately and had it towed into a Toyota dealer.
They're saying it needs a new water pump/timing belt - what we expected, at $845ish BUT also needs a heater core replacement $855 as well as a few other things that can wait, we were told these two repairs were necessary to get the car running again.
Anyone have any info on the heater core replacement? We're not sure if it's time to look into a new Camry vs. putting more money into this one.
What is the actual problem? I doubt you suffered a catastrophic failure of the pump and core at the same time. Is your carpet wet? Do you smell the sweet smell of antifreeze? If not, the core probably doesn't have to be changed to get back on the road.
I would suggest getting a 2nd opinion on pricing for a car this old because, IMO, the dealer is best used when the car is under warranty and you don't want to void it. Just call around as both prices seem a bit high.
The heater core on these models are among the easiest to change out. Don't let them tell you they have to tear the dash apart. The core sits behind a little panel on the drivers side near the accelerator. You'll have to pull the carpet back. For an experienced person its a 2-3 hr job at most. They will already have drained the coolant to do the water pump. $855 is way out of line. I paid $400 a couple years ago when I was traveling and time was an issue. I also helped my neighbor change out his garage in a couple hours. His cost was about $125 and a few beverages.
Take a look at a haynes or chilton manual to get an idea of what they have to do. But again, I'd be getting another estimate or three.
Let me also say the heater core can easily be bypassed temporarily under the hood by removing the hoses from the pipes that go to the core and joining them with a couple of hose clamps. This time of year that should not be a problem and will buy you some time to get an estimate elsewhere.
Basically, my car will lock and unlock itself. I was under the impression that there may be a loose wire or something so I took the door apart and could not find anything (though I could have missed something). I removed the switches on both the driver and passenger door to see if the problem was there, but it did not help. I also took off the door on the driver side and could not see any problems in the circuitry.
Some things I have noticed:
Happens more often when it is damp, and fixes itself when it gets dryer.
When I hit bumps in the road it is more likely to happen.
Generally it does not do this when the car is not on (when the key is out), though it still happens, just not nearly as often (so I disconnect the battery many times when I park my car).
It will either strictly want to lock, or strictly unlock (mostly unlocks, but sometimes it changes). It will fight me if I use the automatic lock switch. It will not fight me if I manually lock each door.
These all lead me to believe it is an electrical problem, yet I can not find the issue. I'd prefer not to take it to a mechanic and try to fix it myself (I'm an engineering student and would love to learn to fix problems like this on my own).
Thank you to anyone that can help me.
Initial quotes for the sensor were in the $120 range for both the upstream and downstream sensors ($220 total). I then realized, my car has a California emission. The price jumped to over $200 for the front one alone.
I've done some searching around, and found some much better prices for aftermarket sensors (in the $70 range) at places like RockAuto.
My question is, is it recommended to replace both sensors at the same time? What are your thoughts on the aftermarket sensors? What's the harm in letting it go like this for a couple of weeks - driving about 20 miles a day? I figure it'll take at least a week to get the parts.
The front sensor seems easy enough, the rear seems like it might be a bit challenging. Any thoughts or recommendations / tips are appreciated.