Older Camry Maintenance and Repair

jaybird0013

The power windows on my 89 toyota canry will not roll down or up. But the lock works what could be the problem?

jaybird0013

The speedometer on the car is off like 15 miles how do i fix it?

gothchiq

I've searched for about an hour and can't find answers to any of these problems, so I've started a new message.

My 2001 Camry eats a quart of oil each month. I've had all leaks, seals, blah blah repaired, had it checked for oil gel, everything, by multiple mechanics. No one can discover the reason and I'm getting very annoyed.

The second thing that just started today is that durng low speed turns, like in the parking lot (turning in either direction), there is a weird creaking noise from the front passenger side wheel. I will be calling the mechanic, but would like to get opinions so I have some clue what's going on.

Finally, the car's CD player seems to actually damage CDs. You can put a brand new CD in there and soon it will start skipping. The more you play it in the car player, the worse it gets, and then after a bit it starts skipping in other players, too. I have cleaned the CDs carefully and I have also cleaned the CD player and none of these things have helped.

I am running out of money to keep spending on mechanics, and my credit cards are already charged up from car expenses like tires and brake replacements. The Toyota dealership is the worst quality, slowest, and most expensive for service, too. I'm at my wit's end. Can anyone offer advice or ideas? Thanks in advance.

gothchiq

It probably must be replaced, but by getting a speedometer from the junkyard and then having a mechanic install it, it should not cost you a fortune. I'd recommend an independent mechanic for this...better value, etc.

kiawah

You don't indicate the current mileage on the vehicle, or how many miles you drive each month which consumes a quart of oil. But here's a couple of comments...

- Regarding your creaking when you turn the wheel, it could be the constant velocity joint (the joint where the drive shaft pivots at the front axle). If the car is driven hard, those joints begin to go first at the extremes of angles. It could also be some other suspension parts, like the strut.

- Regarding the CD player, I'm guessing the cheapest solution is to replace it. By the time you have someone take it out and try to open it up to look at it, you could replace it.

- Regarding your oil consumption. I think the first thing you need to determine is whether you are leaking it, or burning it. Since it sounds like you have had some seals replaced, I'm suspecting that it's not leaking anymore but it's burning it up. If so, I would expect that you would see blue smoke out of your exhaust. Do you see smoke only at start up (indicative of bad valve stems), or all the time?

What is the history on this car (how many owners, mileage, etc), how hard has it been driven, and do you have/know the maintenance history of it? How religious were the oil changes done?

atkerson

Driver door will not open. the linkage is fine, elect. lock works fine, after some investigation problem seems to be in the latch that connects to the door post. Problem is I cant get the door open to take off the door panel. The only solution I can come up with is cutting out the door panel. If you have any ideas please advise.

kiawah

Ughh...tough one.

Not sure if you can see down inside the window slot enough or not. This link might help with what the door striker looks like.

doorstriker

Good luck

diy_1

Hi, 4 weeks back my rad fan stayed on and won't stop even though the temp' outside is at minus point, it stop after 2 days, now it came back again, it start running when i turn the key to on ( without starting the engine ) and it stayed on after starting the engine ?? the temp' is below zero now and i don't think the rad fan should be on specially early morning when engine are cool?? hope it won't cause any damage to the car?? Please advise diagonistic and test?? any help will be greatly appreciated.

Regards
DIY-1 :confuse:

kiawah

First, check to make sure the a/c and defroster switch are turned off. Let me know the results.

Normally, there are two things turning on the radiator fan. A temperature switch showing high coolant temperature, or the A/C clutch running.

diy_1

My a/c switch, defroster and even the fan switch is all off and the fan still stayed on?? do you think it will be the temp' switch?? i just had it changed last year, after market parts though.

Thanks for your reply

kiawah

Well there is the temperature switch, and 3 relays in the circuit.

Why did you replace the temperature switch last year? What symptoms were you having, and how did you determine the switch was bad?

diy_1

Last year my Fan not working at all, the mechanix told me its the temp switch thats gone, so i had him flush the coolant and pop in a new temp switch and its working fine, it come on when the engine is heated. but now it stayed on always, i pull the connector plug to the fan now, so it would stop running, is it safe now, until i find a solution to fix it?? do u think its the temp' switch or the relay?? Thanks for ur advise.

Regards
DIY-1

kiawah

With the engine cold, disconnect the wire to the temperature switch, verify that the radiator fan is still running. If the fan stops, then your temperature switch is bad.

Assuming the fan is stil running after pulling the wire to the temperature switch, then pull the Radiator Fan Relay #3.

If the fan doesn't turn off, the the problem is your Radiator Fan Relay #1. If the fan does go off when you pull Relay#3, let me know....as we'll have to figure out whether the problem is in Relay#2 or Relay#3.

diy_1

pheww after digging 30cm of snow, this is what i found.

I pulled the wire to temp' swith not directly at the switch, but on top of the rad, there is another connector, connecting with the wire to the temp' switch. 2 wire in, 2 wire out.
The fan still run, i pulled Rad' Fan Relay # 3, fan still run, then pull Relay # 2, fan # 2 goes off, then pull Relay # 1, Fan # 1 goes off??

I tried the same with Dash fan turn off, defroster & A/C turn off, same result??
do you think there is a ground broken somewhere ??

Thanks you so much for your patient.
DIY-1

kiawah

Check your relay #1, it appears to be defective.

The primary coil is on pins 1&2. 12V on pin #1, ground on pin#2.

The secondary switched contact points are on pins 3&4. With pin 2 grounded, apply 12volts to pin 1, and verify that contact points are working correctly.

Do not swap relay#1 with either of the other two relays. They are different.

diy_1

i have a multimeter and i can check for continuity, but when u say pin 2 grounded, do i actually tied a wire to it and then the body of the engine to create a ground??
How do i apply 12V to pin 1 ?? sorry i am a newbie at this.

Thanks
DIY-1

kiawah

Yes, connect a wire from pin2 to ground, either the negative post of the battery or any metal pice of the engine. Then apply a wire from the pin1 of the relay, and touch that wire to the positive post of the battery.

When you are doing that, you want the continuity meter (measuring ohms), to be measuring across 3 to 4. You should see the meter change from infinite resistance, to no resistance, to infinite resistance as you connect and disconnect the voltage on the primary.

I'm expecting you will find that your ohm meter never goes to infinite resistance across 3/4.

duanetu

toyota camry just won't go..... on a clear and mild weather day the forward gears just seemed to just jump ship reving the engine seemed to give some push but realizing the catastrphy my daughter steered the car to a safe place and parked it out of the way. It is a 1996 toyota camry LE sedan, 99067 miles ,transmission never been rebuilt , the tranny seemed to stall occassionnly but with enough rev's would pic up and go....when I heard of this wile working construction in salt lake city Utah, I reccomended that she have the trans. flushed but to ofen repairmen would just shrugg and say they didn't want to risk further tranny problem and refused the work. Shure enough I hadn't been home long at all when she called on the side of the road sayin guess what...I'm in knox. tn. and my camry needs help...
Well I've got the fluid out the filter off as well as solinoid 1&2 and as I was taking off the rear sol. I noticed the bolt was about two threads loose whaat would cause this and more important do you think these would cause the tranny to shut down or is the speed sensor suspect to, also is there a way to bench check these to see if possibly the loose bolt was the problem...
Thanks so much for your help

ryan99

Hi folks, 99 camry 4 cyl, 165,000 miles, I lost the intermitten feature on my wipers and they stop on windshield now as opposed to returning to the cowl. other than that they work fine. Should I start at the wiper motor or switch? also what kind of job am I looking at if it is a switch? I have had good luck as a do it yourselfer with some automotive education. Thanks Ryan

kiawah

ryan,

Check your carspace mailbox ryan99. Access your mailbox via the 'Mailbox' tab, upper right hand corner.

phil63

Hello, Kiawah,
I have the exact same problem as ryan99 regarding the intermittent wipers on my '97 Camry - is it the switch or is there a separate solenoid I can easily change out? I do have auto repair do-it-yourself experience.

Appreciate your help.

Phil63

kiawah

This should help

wiper circuit

,

phil63

Thanks so much Kiawah, I really appreciate it.

Phil63

95camry4me

I own a 1995 Toyota Camry 2.2 engine. Recently I gauge inside said the engine was getting hot. I checked my radiator fluid and it was good. I then changed the Thermostat, relay fan switches, Temp sensor and Radiator Coolant sensor and still the gauge is getting hot. I was told there is another relay switch for the radiator but can't seem to place where it goes. I checked and both the fans are working which tells me the fan relay switches are working but I can't seem to figure out what I am missing and why I can't seem to fix the problem. Anybody else have this issue and figured a solution? :sick:

kiawah

I'd check to see if the waterpump was pumping. With the engine cold, take off the radiator cap. Turn on the engine and allow it to idle. The thermostat would be closed at this point, and you would have no flow. As the engine warms up, the thermostat should begin to open and you should see the coolant begin to move. The hotter the engine gets, the more the fluid should move.

You might also check to make sure you don't have a lot of crude in your radiator, blocking the coolant flow thru the radiator.

crazynipper

Looking for a picture and location of a 2001 Toyota Camry light sensor module.

Warning light coming in saying "replace brake light". All brake lights are working. Assuming problem is light sensor module.

Would appreciate any one's help with on-line source for a picture and purchase sight.

Thanks

kiawah

Not sure how you concluded a replace brake warning light, is a possible problem with a light sensor.

I'd suggest taking it to an autoparts chain, and have them read the error codes for you (or buy your own reader and do it yourself). Let's see if we can get an error code which will point you to the right area.

ghans_12

Hi,
I just purchased a Toyota Camry xle v6 from a seller.
It has 74k miles on it.
I got it inspected from Pepboys before purchasing it.
It seems the previous owner has not done any 60k servicing to the car.
Can you folks please suggest me what are the things to be done. This is my first car, so i dont have much knowledge about this.
Thanks

pete60

I HAVE A SV22R AND IT IS OVERFUELING IT RUNS AS THOUGH IT HAS GOT THE CHOKE ON BUT NO. IT DOES FLOOD THE CARB. IT SEEMS AS IT IS GOT TO MUCH FUEL PRESSURE BUT DONT KNOW IF IT HAS A REGULATER SENSOR PLEASE HELP

fergyt

1999 camry Le with 150K miles. there is $2000 front end body damage. The rest of the car is of average quality. Does not seem to be any mechanical problems. Still runs, uses 1/2 quart of oil per month. New tires, brakes (1 year ago). Water pump etc replaced at 109K. I guess the options are fix or sell for parts. Trying to decide what to do.

210delray

Did you get an owner's manual packet? It has the maintenance recommendations in it.

anstine1

Any have info on removal and replacement of a 2003 Camry rear bumper cover. Do I get to the bolts thru the trunk or underneath???? Bad deal. I backed in to the mother in law and bent up the right corner and my wife backed in to the principle at our daughters school for a matching dent on the left.

bdyment

Underneath, but perhaps you should have reverse gear disabled before replacing the cover. Just kidding. At least you have matching dents.

anstine1

is there some sort of shroud to take off as well.

210delray

No shroud of any kind, but you have to remove the taillights first from inside the trunk to gain access to the upper clips holding the bumper cover on.

dbirrell

My 2000 Camry wipers started to slow down and then one day stopped working. I checked fuse and it was good. After a period of time (weeks, perhaps a month) I tried the wipers out of the blue and they worked again. Althought they were still slow (no high speed). About a week ago they stopped working again. The fuse is OK. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

kiawah

Either your wiper motor is bad, or the wiper switch is bad.

a_hamm_87

This car is driving me insane. It's a 92 Toyota Camry 4 cyl with 2.2L engine. The battery is brand new and tests fine. The alt also tests fine. The problems started with the battery suddenly just going completely dead and being recharged everything worked fine. Then it started dying while being driven and it would die when you tried to accelerate from a complete stop. It kind of sputtered like it wasn't getting enough fuel but then if you got up to speed no problem. Then I realized the fuses located in the little box attached to the pos bat cable were bad and I replaced the whole component and fuses. I'm not sure how to test the relays in the fuse box... I tested the others with a continuity tester I also tested the fuse outlets with a cont. tester and a weird thing occurred... it made the light ( on the cont) light up but when turning the key over to start it the light went off. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with my problem(s). I'm thinking maybe a diode is bad and that's why the battery is fine when driven and is drained of power when sitting. But now the car wont start... it will turn and turn and nothing. It will kind of start to putter but never starts. This has been the chain of events leading to the death of my girlfriends nightmare vehicle. Any.... any, ideas, thoughts, comments... concerns would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Adam

E-Mail: Adam_Michael_00@yahoo.com

kiawah

Hard to tell exactly what is wrong remotely from what you write, but let's try to at least move the ball forward.

I don't know what you have for a continuity tester, so I don't know what the results mean. I assume by using a continuity tester on the fuses, you are using an ohmmeter which measures the resistance, and that resistance is now showing a short with no resistance.

You say the continuity tester has a light on it. When is the light on that tester supposed to go on, and what does it indicate when it's on? Is it indicating that it has detected a voltage, and if so what is the minimum voltage that it is indicating? Or is the light indicating that there is a minimum resistance (of some level) between two probes of the tester?

I'm suspecting that what you are finding with your tester (light goes off when you crank starter), is not really a problem.....but it isn't really clear to me what and how your tester is measuring.

The starter puts the maximum load on a battery, so if your starter is running fine then I assume that your battery output is fine, as well as the connection to the main power buss (no corrosion on battery terminals, and you replaced the first fuse box holder and fuses).

So with the engine turning via the starter (but not starting up), the next place to look is for fuel delivery, compression in the cylinders, and electrical spark.

I'd suggest pulling the plugs and checking their status (how old are they, is the gap still correct, do they need replaced?) . What color are they collectively, and individually? Are the blackened showing too rich condition or buring oil? Are the wet showing flooding/too rich? Is one color different than the others, showing valve/electrical spark/compression problem? What condition are your electrical wires and rotor?

If all of those check out fine, or you find differences in the look of the plugs, then consider doing a cylinder compression test to verify that your valves and rings are okay.

From a fuel delivery perspective, you need to know that your fuel pump is working and able to deliver fuel.

I don't know what diode you are referring to. Diodes are used to convert alternating current to direct current (your battery). There are diodes in the alternator, but you indicated that the alternator checks out okay. Was that comment just a shot in the dark type of statement, or are you suspecting one of the alternator diodes?

c_layt

I recently had my drivers side control panel for my power windows melt and nearly catch fire (car now smells like burning plastic). Its well beyond repair, I tryed a replacement but it started smoking too (luckily the wreckers let me test it out in the car and it didt cost me anything). I found that the short wasnt in the actual master control but in the rear passenger side window switch, the contacts had welded together so the window was trying to go up and down at the same time.
I was getting 12V from the connector that goes to the master switch, but now its only getting around 6V. Im guessing theres another fuse or something fairly obvious that blew when I tryed the second switch (since then its only putting out 6V). The only fuse ive found to be blown is the obd fuse. Are there any other fuses relays etc that affect the power going to the master switch?

kiawah

The circuit is powered by the 30A "Power" Fuse, and goes thru the "Power" Relay. There is some control circuitry for the window that is powered via the 25A "Door" fuse, and the 10A "Gauge" fuse.

c_layt

Thank you so much!!! I bent the little bits of fuse wire inside the 30amp fuse to reconnect them and now get the higher voltage. Im off to town to get a new fuse and see if the wreckers can order me in a new master switch, might take me a while to get my hands on one but ill do a follow up post and confirm its working. Thank you again

kiawah

Excellent, congrats....glad it worked out.

wannahonda2

Hi,
I have a 2001 Camry Collectors Edition. Regular oil changes/maintenance. Recently the check engine light went on, at first the dealer said the oxygen sensor needed to be replaced. Then they called back, saying they are having a hard time taking off the oxygen sensor because the manifold may be broken and they may have to replace the manifold? This is going to cost $1300 per the dealer, and I was wondering if there was a TSB or something covered under any kind of warranty to reduce the costs. My car only has about 46000 miles.
Mahalo!!

sliroe

2005 Camry drivers side door does not lock or unlock automatically with the drivers side door electrical switch or keychain pog. Door will unlock mechanically with key turn. The 3 other doors and trunk do open with keychain pog and drivers side door switch. Door does unlock mechanically inside when individual door lock lever is swung inside door. Typically unless I want to use my key if I have a passenger I need them to manually reach over and unlock the drivers door. Door latch works fine. I typically do work on my car myself. Anyone know how to trouble shoot or what part I should replace?

kiawah

Take the inside of the door panel off, and check the linkages from the door lock to the actuator.

2000camry

I have 2001 Toyota Camry LE 4 cylinders. I have owned the card since Jan 05 / 87K miles. I well-maintained the car since . The car is currently @ 140k miles. Here is what is going on with my car.

- When I bought the car, I used to get 33 MPG on average between Highway/City driving.

Lately (5 month ago), the car MPG went down to 22 MPG. I took the car to mechanic shop, which changed Air/Fuel filters, spark plugs , balanced tires, did some other tune ups . These misc. repairs did not result in any improvements.

- In the last year or so, every time I speed up to 60 MPH or more usually in highway, I either smell burnt rubber or any bad smell.

- Two days ago, check engine light came on; the mechanic put it in computer which indicated problem with catalytic converter.

Any idea what is going on with my car? Are all these issues related? Any suggestions to fix the MPG issue?

Appreciate help in this regard

camrykaren

Should I avoid purchasing a 1995 Camry wagon (4 cyl/2.2L) with 125,000 miles that appears to have been well maintained? How could one possibly know if the engine will develop the sludge problem? What exactly could be the cause in engines with regular maintenance? Owners of this generation either love it or hate it. How can this be?

mcdawgg

It will be as good or better than any car with 125,000 miles - as long as the proper maintenance was done, it will be fine. Consumers Reports shows no major issues with this year or generation, in fact, it is extremely reliable.

invirginia

Iwas wondering if you got any answers. I had a 1994 Camry (4cyl.) with 140k. The rod snapped, went through the engine block, damaged other parts and the engine is "toast". They said the sludge build-up was the probable cause (poor maintenance) but I or the shop changed the oil every 3-4k. It was agreat car otherwise, but makes me leary about a new camry. The engine should have lasted longer. Any ideas as to how to prevent such a problem?

flower4

:confuse: I recently had a problem where my engine would hesitate then try to cut out. Well after i turn it off for 1/2 hour then startedback up it was fine. Well i took it to an auto parts store and the guy in there hooked up the scanner got no codes. Ive had this problem for a year now and noone knows how to fix it. Well after he took off the scanner a new light came on that said vsc/trac off. the light will not go off. When i first start driving it the light is off the after 60 seconds light comes on and stays on. Ive been reading different things about what this light is for. Can someone tell me is it just an indicator that breaks need to be replaced? And is it safe to drive with light on?