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Toyota Camry: Problems & Solutions
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Comments
Oh well. I am generally lost when it comes to most sensors and sending units anyway. Coolant temp. sensor (ECT?) and oil pressure I am ok with. Start talking MAP, MAF, O2, etc. and it's all greek.
I know far less about the computer in my car than the one on my desk
I'd love to know, so I could find out how much they're trying to overcharge me at the local Toyota dealer when I ask
They wanted $1070 (or some such) to do all 4 struts on my car. The most anyone else in town wanted was $700. I ended up doing the fronts myself. Both struts cost me $95 (incl. tax). The spring compressor tool I borrowed free from autozone- took about 2 hrs (w/ friend). Alignment afterwards was $50. Haven't done the backs yet (the ride feels so good now I can't make myself do it). They don't look any harder to do, though you do have to remove the rear speaker shelf.
Alex
alexhho@yahoo.com
A friend of mine who is stationed at Bragg tells me car dealership around Ft Bragg will rip people off badly.
Now I'm back in Jersey from my trip to Ft Bragg
A full size steel rim is still better than a donut, where with donuts you get a speed limitation and how many miles you can drive with it on, lowers the car approximately 1", adversedly affects handling, etc.
hfgrant47: I'd start looking into the distributor components: ignition module (coil) and the pickup assembly, basically the electronic components of the distributor
If it is that much I'm not sure I will fix it. It is a '90 with 94,400 miles on it. Relatively low miles, so I'm mad this happened. But it is getting old, and I'm not sure it is worth the money- just makes me angry to lose a head gasket under 100,000. Any guesses how much it would sell for used? Trade in?
Trade-in...or selling, with a blown head gasket, you won't get much out of it.
Use the Edmunds TMV function to figure out the value of your car.
Some of you may know me. Over the past two years or so, I've posted my Toyota experience on this site. It's been a while so here's another update.
First let me say, I love my Camry but as of now, it is not without flaws. I have a 2000 Camry V6 XLE with moonroof and leather. Currently I have 116,000 miles on the car which is alot, but they are mostly highway miles. I've had regular maintaince and oil changes.
Here's the current status of my car.
Problems:
1.) Car shakes when applying brakes on Highway while traveling high speeds (70-80mph). I'm a gentle driver, especially with brakes. For example, I had my brakes changed @100K miles and there were still plenty of thinkness left on the pads. The car was shaking in a similar manner before the brake change but went away after I had the rotars cut and new pads. Recently, after about 3months after the brake change, the car is starting to shake again while braking on HW. I rotated and balance the wheels, with no help. Don't know what to do at this point. I'm afraid this is gonna cost alot of $$$ to fix. I'm inclined to live with the shaking, but it gets me nervous.
2.) Check Engine Light & Traction Control Light
- These lights came on at the same time roughly
a few weeks after the car started to shake. I took the car to a Toyota Dealership. They wanted $70 JUST TO PUT IT ON THE COMPUTER! And they wouldn't apply this to the cost of fixing whatever is causing such a problem. So I took the car to AutoZone..and they put it on the computer for FREE!..turns out the ERG sensor or something related to emissions. Which reminds me of why Bob Ciasulli's Dealership for Service SUCKS..I'll explain further down.
3.) My 'in-dash-6-CD/Cassette player' Doesn't accept CD's. Infact, this occured about a year ago. Doesn't that SUCK??..believe it or not, this in-dash 6-CD unit costs nearly $1000 to be replayced and the Dealership refused to look at it at the time since I just exceeded the warantee. Well, I'm living without it for now but unhappy about it.
That's about it. What I'm really worried about is the shaking while driving..if anyone knows about this..please respond.
Now, let me describe the nightmareish experience I had at Bob Ciasulli's Toyota Dealership on Rt 46 around 1-2 months ago. I hope the whole WORLD including Bob-Ciasulli sees this! A few months ago, I was pulled over for a flash road inspection. Turns out I was late for inspection. Anway to my surprise, I failed the emission's test. I couldn't believe that my 2000 Camry would fail emissions. Hesitantly, I took it to Bob Ciasulli. I hesitated since I had a chilling experience two years earlier with their sales department. I won't go there here. I thought, that their service department would be different. BOY WAS I WRONG!!!
The service guy was called Danny I believe, a FAST speaking and very impolite gentleman. I'm mentioning his first name only, but this guy was something else..totally disrespecting me as I will now explain. I took the car to him and told him, I failed inspection and that I need to be inspected. He told me he could not inspect my car but he handles failed inspections all the time and was sure he could get my car to pass inspection. He ASKED me if I had the inspection paper work he had to fill out. Turns out I forgot that at home. I told him, after he fixed my car, I'd go home and get the paperwork and bring it back for him to fill out. After putting it on the computer, he suggested some service including changing the spark plugs and wires as well as some sort of cleaning service all of which would cost around $500. Fine..the cost wasn't the problem even though I felt it was too high..I just wanted to get my car to pass inspection and get on my way. So I went home, got the paper work and returned to the dealership and asked Danny to fill out my paper work. He told refused saying No No..I didn't have to fill that out..just use my Receipt which had all the information for the Moter Vehicles EVEN when the paperwork said that the STATE of NJ mandated that the person who did the repairs MUST fill it out. He refused to fill out the paper work and told me to use the reciept..I was irritated but fine..I went to the department of moter vehicles and waited in the small line..since it was still early. When it was my turn, they asked for the paper work and I showed them the reciept. They told me I MUST have the dealer fill out the paper work and refused to check my car. I was bent at this point. I drove back to the dealership and told Danny to FILL out the paper work politely. He resisted but finally agreed to fill it out with a nasty attitude proclaiming the Moter Vehicles and not HIM was giving me a hard time. He quickly SCRIBLED ALL over the document in such a way, my 3 year old God Son could have done a neater job! Fine, he filled it out OK..I left and went back to the dealership..and the line as 3 times as large as last time..taking about 45-1hour for me to get to the inspectors. They looked at the document and they guy said 'What is this??' They couldn't read it! They told me it was incorrectly filled out and unreadable and that the guy who filled it out is 'busting my balls', pardon the language. Anyway..Now I was really upset. The inspector, knowing this was now my 2nd Time at the inspection line, further did some checking and said that that Toyota Dealership is not even Authorized to do any work on my car to fix the emissions problems. At these facts I was furious. He said it would be better for me to do the work myself! They turned me away..and I returned very upset to the Dealership and demanded to speak to his manager. Danny boy sends for a manager. The Manager who came didn't care the least for what just happened to me. Infact, he agreed totally with Danny boy that the Motor Vehicles were just busting MY balls! I told the manager that Toyota is not even authorized to do inspection fixes in the state of NJ. I asked him WHY did Danny boy NOT fill out the paper work at first, and then very sloppilly, when He himself told me he had to fill them out before I even started the work. I wondered whether or not Danny boy or even the management knew that they weren't authorized to do work on inspection failures.
In the end, I filled out the document as if I did the work myself. I went back to the inspection station where I promply waited 2 hours before being inspected. Guess what the kicker here is..the guy who did the inspection said that my car NEVER really failed emissions in the first place and that the police erroneously made their
quick inspection of my emissions 'under no load', and the test should have been done WITH a load.
Infact, my emissions numbers were EXACTLY the same NOW after spending around $500 as they were during the time the erroneous test was made a week earlier!
Anyway..that was my experience. The bottom line is..the current
I've always had the same exact problem on my old 88 V6. I eventually lived with it.
and your story....which is why I work on my car myself.
Some of you may know me. Over the past two years or so, I've posted my Toyota experience on this site. It's been a while so here's another update.
First let me say, I love my Camry but as of now, it is not without flaws. I have a 2000 Camry V6 XLE with moonroof and leather. Currently I have 116,000 miles on the car which is alot, but they are mostly highway miles. I've had regular maintaince and oil changes.
Here's the current status of my car.
Problems:
1.) Car shakes when applying brakes on Highway while traveling high speeds (70-80mph). I'm a gentle driver, especially with brakes. For example, I had my brakes changed @100K miles and there were still plenty of thinkness left on the pads. The car was shaking in a similar manner before the brake change but went away after I had the rotars cut and new pads. Recently, after about 3months after the brake change, the car is starting to shake again while braking on HW. I rotated and balance the wheels, with no help. Don't know what to do at this point. I'm afraid this is gonna cost alot of $$$ to fix. I'm inclined to live with the shaking, but it gets me nervous.
2.) Check Engine Light & Traction Control Light
- These lights came on at the same time roughly
a few weeks after the car started to shake. I took the car to a Toyota Dealership. They wanted $70 JUST TO PUT IT ON THE COMPUTER! And they wouldn't apply this to the cost of fixing whatever is causing such a problem. So I took the car to AutoZone..and they put it on the computer for FREE!..turns out the ERG sensor or something related to emissions. Which reminds me of why Bob Ciasulli's Dealership for Service SUCKS..I'll explain further down.
3.) My 'in-dash-6-CD/Cassette player' Doesn't accept CD's. Infact, this occured about a year ago. Doesn't that SUCK??..believe it or not, this in-dash 6-CD unit costs nearly $1000 to be replayced and the Dealership refused to look at it at the time since I just exceeded the warantee. Well, I'm living without it for now but unhappy about it.
That's about it. What I'm really worried about is the shaking while driving..if anyone knows about this..please respond.
Now, let me describe the nightmareish experience I had at Bob Ciasulli's Toyota Dealership on Rt 46 around 1-2 months ago. I hope the whole WORLD including Bob-Ciasulli sees this! A few months ago, I was pulled over for a flash road inspection. Turns out I was late for inspection. Anway to my surprise, I failed the emission's test. I couldn't believe that my 2000 Camry would fail emissions. Hesitantly, I took it to Bob Ciasulli. I hesitated since I had a chilling experience two years earlier with their sales department. I won't go there here. I thought, that their service department would be different. BOY WAS I WRONG!!!
The service guy was called Danny I believe, a FAST speaking and very impolite gentleman. I'm mentioning his first name only, but this guy was something else..totally disrespecting me as I will now explain. I took the car to him and told him, I failed inspection and that I need to be inspected. He told me he could not inspect my car but he handles failed inspections all the time and was sure he could get my car to pass inspection. He ASKED me if I had the inspection paper work he had to fill out. Turns out I forgot that at home. I told him, after he fixed my car, I'd go home and get the paperwork and bring it back for him to fill out. After putting it on the computer, he suggested some service including changing the spark plugs and wires as well as some sort of cleaning service all of which would cost around $500. Fine..the cost wasn't the problem even though I felt it was too high..I just wanted to get my car to pass inspection and get on my way. So I went home, got the paper work and returned to the dealership and asked Danny to fill out my paper work. He told refused saying No No..I didn't have to fill that out..just use my Receipt which had all the information for the Moter Vehicles EVEN when the paperwork said that the STATE of NJ mandated that the person who did the repairs MUST fill it out. He refused to fill out the paper work and told me to use the reciept..I was irritated but fine..I went to the department of moter vehicles and waited in the small line..since it was still early. When it was my turn, they asked for the paper work and I showed them the reciept. They told me I MUST have the dealer fill out the paper work and refused to check my car. I was bent at this point. I drove back to the dealership and told Danny to FILL out the paper work politely. He resisted but finally agreed to fill it out with a nasty attitude proclaiming the Moter Vehicles and not HIM was giving me a hard time. He quickly SCRIBLED ALL over the document in such a way, my 3 year old God Son could have done a neater job! Fine, he filled it out OK..I left and went back to the dealership..and the line as 3 times as large as last time..taking about 45-1hour for me to get to the inspectors. They looked at the document and they guy said 'What is this??' They couldn't read it! They told me it was incorrectly filled out and unreadable and that the guy who filled it out is 'busting my balls', pardon the language. Anyway..Now I was really upset. The inspector, knowing this was now my 2nd Time at the inspection line, further did some checking and said that that Toyota Dealership is not even Authorized to do any work on my car to fix the emissions problems. At these facts I was furious. He said it would be better for me to do the work myself! They turned me away..and I returned very upset to the Dealership and demanded to speak to his manager. Danny boy sends for a manager. The Manager who came didn't care the least for what just happened to me. Infact, he agreed totally with Danny boy that the Motor Vehicles were just busting MY balls! I told the manager that Toyota is not even authorized to do inspection fixes in the state of NJ. I asked him WHY did Danny boy NOT fill out the paper work at first, and then very sloppilly, when He himself told me he had to fill them out before I even started the work. I wondered whether or not Danny boy or even the management knew that they weren't authorized to do work on inspection failures.
In the end, I filled out the document as if I did the work myself. I went back to the inspection station where I promply waited 2 hours before being inspected. Guess what the kicker here is..the guy who did the inspection said that my car NEVER really failed emissions in the first place and that the police erroneously made their
quick inspection of my emissions 'under no load', and the test should have been done WITH a load.
Infact, my emissions numbers were EXACTLY the same NOW after spending around $500 as they were during the time the erroneous test was made a week earlier!
Anyway..that was my experience. The bottom line is..the current service at Bob Ciasulli's Toyota Dealership on Rt 46E in N
Hopefully, this will warn others.
good luck.
www.mechanicyak.com
Alpha01, I fought it up to the regional rep who denied it. I don't have the expectation that Toyotas last forever as cars are cars, but I do have the expectation that good service and customer satisfaction are two things that can be made to last forever. So that ended my business relationship with Toyota. That's behind me now.
Armtdm I have replaced the spark plugs with the specified denso double tips platinums and I still have the idle revving problem. I've used two bottles of fuel injection cleaner to no avail. With the transmission in drive and stepping on the brakes, the RPM drops slowly from 1000 (where it's fine) to 600 (where it starts revving to 800 and back). What is the RPM on your cars when you're stopped at a traffic light?
When I let go of the gas on the highway going 60MPH, I notice slightly more engine drag than before as the RPM drops quickly by about 400 before slowly dropping with speed. I never paid much attention to this before, but in my Honda, when I let go of the gas pedal on the highway, the RPMs slowly diminish with speed and never drops quickly.
Is there some computer setting that my mechanic should have adjusted after machining the head? Could these two problems be related?
I am really hating to take this back to the two Toyota dealerships in Fogelsville/Allentown as they are really bad. Granted not as bad as juzef's NJ dealership though.
Any suggestions you may have would be extremely helpful and appreciated.
Thanks.
939 - original post
940 - armtdm's post
954 - alpha01's post
overcharging ad fees. Toyota sent me a check of
$150 for class action suit.
Coupon due to expire in Dec 31 this year. I am
trying to sell, there is a 800 number listed
to call for info. But the number is out of commission.
wrote to Toyota no reply yet.
Is there a fix? IS there a bulletin? If I could get rid of these (and the one behind my radio) my car would be almost perfect!!!
Is there a fix? IS there a bulletin? If I could get rid of these (and the one behind my radio) my car would be almost perfect!!!
Does any one know this?
Appreciated to send email to jack600@hotmail.com
BTW, is the car under warranty still?
Does any one know this?
Appreciated to send email to jack600@hotmail.com
BTW, is the car under warranty still?
Take you Camry to your dealer now! I had the same problem on my '97 Camry - 4cyl, at about the same mileage as yours. Your valve stem seals are cracked and this is covered under the 5yr/60K powertrain warranty.
Also this car doesn't have alloy wheels or a cd player as listed in the standard eqpt. in Edmonds.com . Did some 98 Camry XLE's come this way? Any thoughts?
reb331
What you're most likely seeing is condensation. Water vapor is a byproduct of combustion. In a cold exhaust system, water vapor condenses forming the white-black smoke. When the exhaust system heats up, the water vapor no longer condenses.
The only annoy thing is dealer request me to present oil change invoice. Damn it. who keep those stuff.
Loved the XLE with leather and no sunroof. 4 cylinder, to save on gas mileage, and overall cost.
However, these repeated issues are starting to scare me:
1. Paint job...apparently the 2002 model paint jobs are pretty bad in terms of chipping. Enough so where I've noticed numerous "never again" posts.
2. Clunking in transmission
3. Brake noises.
I scour the Honda problems boards too, but at this point I've not noticed paint amongst the issues. I really like the Camry better, but are the 2002 models that problem-prone? Anyone with a 2002 with significant miles where the paint is OK?
When I was looking for a new car a few months ago I had a choice between the new Accord or a new Camry. I found the interior and exterior more attractive on the Camry. (But, I guess that's all subjective). I have a family of 5 and the Camry's interior was more spacious. The ride was more smooth and quiet. But most importantly, since I really value the quality and safety of my ride I chose the Camry. The Camry comes equipped with a number of safety features not found on an Accord. Good luck on your hunt.
center, what they told me about the coupon (due
to expire end of 2002), here is the background
of the coupon, when I bought the camry in 91.
The dealer in Midwest area cheated coustomers
$150 for adverstiment fees.
And they reimbursed customer after law suits.
The way it was set up was either get $50 repair
discount (after spending $120) and $100 towards
purchasing new Toyota or $ 150 towards new vehicle.
As I was about to buy a new Toyota next year.
Just asked for a year extension to no avail.
All I knowd company treats customers this
way will not last for long.
Late on talked to many mechanics, most of them said it is most probaly the valve stem seals bad or Oil Gel. Posted #990 already, on jbkennedy 's suggestion, went to local Toyota dealer in Smithtown ,NY.
The Dealer said it is not a valve stem seal demage, and refuse to repair under warranty.
Instead they said the Engine is carbonized?
Any one know this?
Blue Smoke means oil is burning (the valve stems dried up most like cause)
Black smoke is riching extremely rich
White with some black, and then goes away means the exhaust pipes are still cold. Water vapor is a by-product of combustion. In the exhaust gases, is it goes through cold exhaust pipes, some of the water vapor condenses. Which is why you see white smoke, and water dripping from the tail pipe.
Thanks, but it is not normal. In the morning the smoke strong like caught fire.
Recently I found in Day times also smoke, but not so heavy
Here are a few ideas. Basically, as previously posted, black smoke is the result of incomplete fuel burning. (Rant: it's bad enough that gasoline engines waste much of energy they create; they shouldn't waste resources further by gratuitously not burning gas completely.)
In some areas, particularly in California, vehicles emitting any visible smoke on the road can be fined.
According to the Bay Area Air Quality Management web site, black smoke might indicate...Engine too cold, clogged air filter, carburetor, choke, fuel injection or emission system malfunction, ignition timing off, blocked manifold
White smoke--I don't mean merely steam--may be cause because the engine's too cold, a faulty injection system, incorrect timing or engine overheating.
Well, my point is that there are several ways to get various "colorful" gases out of your car. Personally, I don't buy that a car should emit smoke, even when starting up, under normal circumstances. Unless you live in arctic regions, in September your car is certainly not going to be simply "too cold."
I would take my car to one or two non-dealer repair shops for diagnoses, just like you did. Even if it cost me a few dollars, I'd ask for written evaluations. If these results weren't enough to convince a dealer to fix your car (assuming your warranty is still in effect and you have necessary service receipts to prove you've taken care of your car as prescribed in your owner's manual), then remember there are a lot of rungs on this ladder. Climb the next one to get to the service manager, find out who his boss is, and so on. Hopefully you can get this resolved nicely, but if you're sure there is something wrong with your car and you're not getting proper service, tell the service manager (or whoever you've made it to, just make sure it's a person, not a machine or letter) that you are really concerned and, gee, while you don't want to, you might consider going to the Better Business Bureau for assistance, perhaps even filing a complaint....I certainly expect you should be able to get your car fixed. (The BBB is just an example of one way to show them you're a serious, informed consumer; I also have lawyer friends who would start throwing around terms like "breach of contract" if the service you need is part of your service warrantee contract. This is absolutely last-resort, because you have to follow through or drop it after this....escalate slowly and politely, and in the future, take your business to the next-nearest service department after this is finally resolved.)
By the way, none of the Camrys I've test driven in the past two weeks has emitted any black smoke, and I doubt yours did when you bought it; ergo, something has changed, and you rightly want it changed back.
Good luck!
Here's a list of possible causes, from www.carcrisis.com....
"These symptoms may be caused by loose suspension, steering or brake components. In most cases, the problem isn't a loose part, but a brake rotor or two with excessive lateral runout. Occasionally, the problem is an out of round brake drum. All this really means is that the brake pads or shoes are unevenly applied. The result is that the steering wheel and/or brake pedal tend to bite back.
"Excessive runout can be caused by overheating the brakes or by a number of small mechanical deviations added together. The problem is usually corrected by machining the rotors or drums, preferably with an on-car brake lathe. Your technician will also want to make sure that any contributing factors, such as misadjusted brakes or bent parts, are corrected at the same time. Now go, and drive safely."
You, jusef, might want to get an independent analysis before taking your car back to the dealer or private mechanic that did your brake job. Since the problem was temporarily fixed, it may be that they didn't do a good job--perhaps on your rotors, and it's starting to show. The problem is you can't keep machining rotors forever! I suggest finding out exactly what the problem is, then insisting the people who did the original "fix" really fix it--even if you now require new rotor(s). ....tell 'em, you break (brake) it, you buy it... (ha ha ha...it must be late....)
The AIR BAG light was lit at the time of purchase. The salesman said it was not a problem and would be fixed when the leather seat covers were installed.
The car spent over 5 weeks in the dealership for the repair. During this time period, there were many broken repair completion and delivery promises.
The incident has been reported to the Nevada Division of Consumer Affairs.
The car was returned to my folks last Thursday, 12 September, 2002. But, the interior and the exterior has sustained damage during the repair.
The Dealer has ordered replacement parts that will be installed someday. They say they will detail the car like new.
It is NEW. This car has only 130 miles on it.
It is amazing that a company like TOYOTA, known for great durability and quality control, should tolerate such poor treatment of it's customers by AUTONATION DESERT TOYOTA.
Yes, we have the paper work to back up claim of poor customer treatment.
I think this car will eventually go to lemon arbitration.
Thank you, Karl
We went to a 20 & then 25 amp fuse and it still pops. Can someone suggest a trace or culprit on this electrical short or where to look? ? ?
(some things tried...changed out the Distributor, plugs.. for nothing "at least found a salvage yard with 6 of these cars")When we put in a new fuse the car runs for only about a few minutes!
And conclude the engine trouble to customer maintenance!!!
Toyota Engine Warrenty worthless