2008 Toyota Camry

nolesn05 · December 2007

I've had the same problem. I've had my '08 Camry LE for 5 days, and the CD player will stop working in the middle of a CD, and won't eject. These are the same CD's I played just fine in an '07 Camry LE rental two months ago. I will have it replaced when I go back to the dealership next week for underbody treatment.

pat · December 2007

You might want to check (and post) in this discussion while you are waiting to see if anyone here can help: Importing Car into Canada from US.

niceguy1234 · December 2007

It has been 3 months that the 2008 Camry is out. So far there are not many bad things about the 2008 Camry tranny or flare. I wonder is it fixed? Or is it still too early to tell. I am planning to buy the 08 Camry SE V6, while the 2009 Camry is at the corner. Should I wait or buy now?

I test drive the 2008 Camry SE V6 and 2008 Honda Accord EX-L, no flare found on the Camry. Accord's transmission response more quicker in kick down. Personally don't like the back of the Accord while the front is ok.

bobvee · December 2007

I purchased an 08 Camry SE V6, in Sept - have close to 4500 miles on it. Car runs great and the performance is phenomenal. I am averaging between 25 - 26 MPG in combined highway/local driving running on 87-88 octane fuel.
To date I have not experienced any transmission flare problems.
My only complaint is the slight vibration I have at 70-72 MPH. Dealer has balanced and rotated the tires - which reduced the vibration, but it is still there.

Hope this feedback helps.

mackabee · December 2007

The tires may be out of round. How long was the car on the lot before you bought it?
Mack

sodaguy · December 2007

Potential buyers of the Toyota 3.5L V6 (found in the Sienna, Avalon and Camry) need be aware of the high repair costs that are associated with this engine.

On page 9 of the factory service manual, it states the instructions for water pump removal.

Replacing the water pump on the Toyota 3.5L V6 require engine and transaxle removal!

For those of us who plan to keep this vehicle for as long as possible (200k+), it's very likely that we'll have to replace the water pump at least once. With this design, replacing the water pump is likely to be very, very expensive, possibly at least twice the amount it costs to replace the timing belt and water pump on a Honda 3.5L V6.

This is something that potential buyers of the Toyota 3.5L V6 need to keep in mind.

kiawah · December 2007

Yikes.....what 'were' they thinking????

Makes me very glad I bought a 4 cylinder, Just checked the service manual, and the 4cylinder can be replaced with engine in car.

user777 · December 2007

Smokes. I bet Motortrend, Car and Driver, Edmunds, etc. missed that little detail in their reviews.

You'd think one of the important requirements of a good design is designing for serviceability.

wwest · December 2007

No, good design requires, dictates, engineering for long term reliability.

It's not the design engineers fault that perfectly good water pumps are being replaced in order to line the dealer's pockets with more gold.

How many water pumps actually fail instead of being replaced..??

user777 · December 2007

I don't know the answer to the question that you postulate, but it's been a well accepted practice that when servicing the timing belt, to go ahead and as a preventative measure, replace the pump.

We might ask, how many timing belts fail instead of being replaced?

Since it's not likely they upped the robustness of the pump, i suggest they just made it more difficult for people to own and operate the vehicle, if the recommendation still stands.

Did Toyota change the part or the recommended service for the item?

lzc · December 2007

I replaced a 15-year old V6 Camry with a new hybrid model. The water pump was never replaced. At the 2d timing belt change the Toyota dealer commented on a slight leak in the pump, fixed it, and said they didn't think replacing the pump was called for.

wwest · December 2007

"..it's been a well accepted practice...."

Well accepted by who......???

"Practice" promoted by who......???

"....We might ask, how many timing belts fail instead of being replaced?.."

Yes, we might, for that is a damn good question. Glad you brought it up.

Just how many timing belts have been "needlessly' replaced?

Have you ever seen a post regarding a failed timing belt..??

"Since it's not likely they upped the robustness of the pump..."

Twenty or more years ago water pumps were unquestionably one of the main failure issues involved in owning an automobile. The most common failures seemingly involved the seal behind the shaft bearing failing thereby allowing coolant into the bearing area. If you paid close attention you could usually detect a pump in the process if failing since the coolant would begin leaking out of the 'weep' hole provided at the pump "nose".

I have no idea what was done on the order of twenty or so years ago to improve the robustness of automotive water pumps but it is clear to me that something was changed about then to substantially improve their reliability.

user777 · December 2007

Well, I suppose we could ask numerous mechanics and get their opinions, and they'd vary for sure.

No doubt the pumps aren't designed to fail at or near the timing belt change interval, but then, neither is the timing belt, right?

I mean, the belt change interval is a conservative estimate for sure; the longevity of the belt population is distributed somehow - but it's the manufacturer that recommends the change interval and I presume they have better mathematical models on that failure distribution than you or I have. You're going to be hard pressed to convince people to NOT change their belt at the recommended interval.

Replacing the pump at the same time is merely a convenience and economically savvy thing to do (I think) because if and when it does fail, you're talking the same labor as a timing belt change (minus the belt of course). So if you're in there already, do the pump and up the likelyhood of problem free coolant transportation through the system.

And even if the timing belt and water pump maintenance schedule is designed to support the dealership network at the expense of the consumer (as opposed to hidden modelling of failure distributions of the belt, tensioner pulleys, pulley assemblies, pump etc), you're going to be hard pressed to convince people that a priori knowlege of the need to remove the whole engine to get to the pump isn't going to up their true cost of ownership.

We look at things differently. Peace.

wwest · December 2007

I don't doubt that back when the automotive industry began to use timing belts more widely (mid to early ninties??) a 90,000 mile use estimate was quite reasonable and conservative. But seeing as how I know of NO ONE having had one fail or seen a post of same, I suspect the interval would have been changed by now if not for the dealer's "need".

Had a significant number of failures occurred in the intervening period either serious improvements to the design would have been made or the industry would have abandoned them.

Additionally I had a good looksee at one replaced on a 92 LS400 at 153,000 miles plus I know of a 91 LS, a 92 LS, and a 95 LS all approaching 150,000 miles without any attention to their timing belts. Plus, if I have my say, none of those will be replaced except for actual failure.

pat · December 2007

Let's have some eggnog or whatever your beverage of choice might be and get back to the 08 Camry here.

Merry Christmas!

210delray · December 2007

Go eggnog! And Merry Christmas!

Just for the record, both the Camry 4-cylinder and V6 engines use timing chains, not belts.

I did have a timing belt snap on me prematurely -- on my 1980 Volvo in 1990 after about 25 or 30K miles of service (the car had about 160K miles then). The engine was non-interference, so no harm done except for inconvenience.

ycg1 · December 2007

The 2008 Camry (possibly 07's as well) has a crazy thing built in to the climate system. Whenever you press the "recycled air" button, regardless of where the air is flowing from, and regardless if the A/C is on or off, it will automatically jump back to "fresh air" after 3 minutes. As I sit in tunnels one hour each day, this is a killer. It did the same thing both in my 4cyl LE & on my friends 6cyl LE.

I spoke to three dealers, all hadn't a clue about this problem. My originating dealer finally spoke to Toyota engineering, and was told that this is a safety feature to prevent fogging of the windows. We all know that for years this is why most cars don't allow the defroster to operate on recycled air. But why have they done this on all modes choking drivers in tunnels, behind buses and in industrial zones??? Is there any fix for this?

acco20 · December 2007

Something wrong....not long ago i switched the air to "recirculate" to control the fumes from a bus or truck, not sure which it was, in front of me. I eventually got away from it and drove off. I forgot about the change and never touched the auto switch or anything else. The next day, after at least an hour of driving, I noticed the recirculate was still on. I touched the switch, returning the system to "auto". In my experiance, if you do not touch anything, the system will stay where you left it. 2007 Camry hybrid anniversary edition.

wwest · December 2007

The designer, NipponDenso, Denso US, of your climate system was granted a US patent in 2001 for the use of a unique aspect of automatic climate control systems.

Key words are "two layer flow" and "ventilation loss".

To alleviate loss of effort put out by the climate control system the system will now recirculate, beyond your direct control, as much as 30% of the airflow. As one can understand that results in dramatically increasing the potential for windshield and window fogging.

http://www.braindex.com/patent_pdf/patents/US6311763.pdf

Also, because of the uniqueness of these systems, even with the A/C operating for the duration of the use of recirculate mode, the follow-on results can be extremely hazardous as it will often lead to the windshield suddenly and unexpectedly fogging over to the point wherein you have no forward visibility.

user777 · December 2007

why do i get the sense these engineers are off designing and implementing automation in these toyota vehicles without intellegence and without regard for the driver's authority?

ycg1 · January 2008

My LE does not have auto climate control. So I guess it's something else.

stratmusic · January 2008

2008 Camrys are having an inherent problem with the standard CD players (not the upgrade). I have the same problem, the problem is the CDs do not eject every time and sometimes the CDs stop playing in the middle of the CD. In addition, the problem is somewhat intermittent, so if you take it to the dealer they might say we do not see a problem. You need to call the Toyota corporate help line and report your problem. Right now Toyota Corporate is claiming they have not seen any trends with CD problems because folks are not reporting them as they should be. If enough people complain they will no longer be able to be in denial. Here is the number: 1-800-331-4331. Do the right thing and report your problem. You may have to sit with your dealer repair man and walk him through the CD malfunction especially if your problem is intermittent like mine.

Make sure you get a case number from Toyota corporate confirming the complaint.

mcdawgg · January 2008

You said over in the prices paid that you "Drove a stick for many years... not sure at first about this Camry stick, but glad about it now. This car would lull you to sleep without it. The stick adds PIZAZZ to the drive! I feel 10 years younger driving it. Knowing what I know now, I would have paid MORE for the stick!

I will let you know more about the alarm when installed."

Looking forward to hearing more about the alarm, thanks in advance.

Just wondering what you meant about being "not sure at first about this Camry stick."
I am very happy with my 5M, and agree that it adds "Pizazz". Everyone who sees it can hardly believe that a Camry can be bought with a stick. The only problem with it is the cup holders - impossible to keep anything in the front cup holder, because it interferes with shifting. Wouldn't be a problem with an automatic.

glen · January 2008

mcdawgg,

People have misconceptions on the sticks and I almost listend to them. The car dealers, my wife, friends said "you don't wan't a stick". Sorry, they were wrong. I drove sticks 20 years till 1998. I've had autos since then. Slowly I was brainwashed to the auto. The stick is more fun, gives the driver control and 'connects' you to the car. People who wouldn't go in the rain without an umbrella or play in the dirt or ride a motorcycle will want the auto, not me. Now I wish my truck had a stick.

No problem with the cup holders here, they don't get in the way at all. Perhaps you use tall cups? like 24 oz? The biggest issue for me is the steering. It gives almost no road feel. The heater controls need a piece of rubber around the circumference or somthing sticky to grab. The car has 480 miles on it now, the gauge is on 1/4. I plan to fill up after this message, I think this is going to be a great surprise!

The alarm was installed this morning, it works fine. The fob has 2 buttons and is black.

Glen

wwest · January 2008

A FWD vehicle with stick shift can be quite hazardous in the hands of an inexperienced driver.

210delray · January 2008

Oh please, will you spare us this one time?

rj1025728 · January 2008

I purchased a 2008 camry xle V6 and noticed a problem when I shift into reverse sometimes. It will shift hard. The service technician said they think it may be an internal transmission problem and that the Toyota Manufacturer recommended replacing with a brand new transmission. They did this and the car still jerks.

ggre123 · January 2008

I had mine replaced by the dealer. I love it now! Works perfectly. I also love the text for the CD tracks (if your CD has them.) Too cool.

jimbev · February 2008

We just bought our 2008 Camry in December and the air recirculation reverts back to outside air about every 3 minutes. Truck and bus fumes make me sick, so my 45 minute commute has turned into a total focus on that little recirculation button and keeping it turned back on. I am miserable with this car as a result. Thanks to these threads I understand the engineering reason they've taken all control away from the driver on this thing, but it's a real deal-breaker for this former 4-Toyota family.

mackabee · February 2008

Which Camry do you have? LE or XLE? depending on which vent you select will determine when the fresh air is selected.
Mack

wwest · February 2008

Mack, many of the newer NipponDenso, Denso US, climate control designs have the ability to separately control their own recirculate airflow path. That significantly reduces the ability to allow the driver to also use recirculate mode.

Google for:

Denso "two layer flow"

or:

Deno "ventilation loss"

mcdawgg · February 2008

Yes, most newer cars will automatically turn off recirculate mode and go to fresh air after a while. I think it tells you this in the owner's manual. I believe it is the result of our society's tendency to blame everyone and sue everyone. The engineers have taken the ability to keep recirculate on because someone could leave it on and fog there windows up and not be able to see. Of course, on my older cars, I just switched it back to fresh if the windows started to fog up!!

jimbev · February 2008

I agree with you about the lawsuit factor. It's really too bad. Hopefully they'll hear from enough of us gassed-out drivers and spend the engineering dollars to come up with a different solution. How hard can it be?

acco20 · February 2008

Something wrong here....................not long ago I was following a bus and touched the recirculate button to stop the fumes. I forgot I did it and didn't touch anything until the next day when I noticed it was still on recirculate. I touched th "auto" button and all went back to normal. I know I drove the car for at least an hour after I hit recirculate and it just stayed there. My Toyota is the 2007 hybrid model, could that make any difference?

wwest · February 2008

Many modern day HVAC systems will allow recirculate to remain on if the A/C is also on or if the OAT is not cool/cold enough to be conducive to windshield or window fogging.

In general it is only the newer Denso systems with the unique patent "two layer airflow" aspect that unconditionally will not allow the driver to have control of the recirculate function. That's because the lower level, floor level, airflow might already be in recirculate mode, automatically, without your knowledge, any indication to you of same.

wwest · February 2008

"our society's tendency to blame everyone and sue everyone."

No, this one belongs SOLELY in the hands of automotive design engineers, manufacturers, and most likely at the head of the list the manufacturer's BEAN-COUNTERS.

At the core, the VERY core, this problem is the result of the industry's REFUSAL to consider the issue of windshield defogging/demisting as a separate function from passenger, human comfort.

So they just keep compromising, attempting to make the HVAC, climate control system, do two separate, basically disparate, tasks.

All it would take to implement a simple and total, completely independent, solution to preventing and removing interior windshield fog/condensation would be a small heat exchanger using engine coolant and a fan dedicated to keeping the interior windshield surface above the dewpoint of the cabin atmosphere when the outdoor climate is conducive to same...COLD!

The only downside might be some level of human discomfort due to initally HOT, but predominantly only warm, airflow reflected from the windshield surface toward the front seat passengers. With a good, correct design, that airflow would be cooled by flowing over a coolish windshield surface and therefore would not be so very discomforting.

And now the REALLY good news.

The A/C compressor will then need only be used for cooling the cabin, or even only initially cooling the cabin down, and that would undoudtedly have a POSITIVE impact on FE, FE of the TOTAL national and international FLEET.

Get into almost any car of european origin and even on the hottest/brightest day of the year when you activate the defrost/defog/demist and you will ALWAYS get a high level of HOT airflow to the interior surface of the windshield.

Get into one of asian origin or one with a Denso, NipponDenso, design and as the cabin warms up initially you will get a flow of warm airflow for defrost functionality but once the cabin begins to approach the level of your comfort setpoint you will NOT get HOT airflow, not even warm, in defrost/defog/demist mode.

Idiots....deserve to be sued, Sued, and SUED...!!

niceguy1234 · February 2008

The all-weather mats is a recall item and stop sale from dealers. They told me that as long as you take the original mats out first and then use the all-weather mats, it should be ok, just don't use the all-season mats on top of the original one.

Is the anyone using this all-weather mats? Do you find any problem?

mcdawgg · February 2008

I am still using the original all-weather mats that were recalled. They are perfect, and never move or interfere with the pedals if you use them the way the directions tell you to - remove the carpet ones, and put in the all weather ones, and make sure you use the clip provided.

I could not believe they had to recall them because a few people were dumb enough to not read the directions and/or use common sense!!!

mackabee · February 2008

That is the stupidest and senseless recall I've ever seen. People need to read and follow direction. How on earth are you going to put all weather mats on top of factory mats? There are two hooks on the driver's side floor to keep one mat in place not two.

wwest · February 2008

Yawl seem to be forgetting about the typical McD Flipper graduate working at, say, a car rental agency. On just one two week trip I encountered two rental cars that "surged" forward when I stepped on the brake. Both were due to unretrained all weather floor mats.

210delray · February 2008

Yep, gotta send those "unretrained" floormats back to school! :P

Talking about rental cars, my rental G6 last spring in Vegas featured zero oil life remaining according to the onboard monitor and an empty windshield washer reservoir.

mackabee · February 2008

And I bet those unretrained mats didn't have the required hook to hold them in place or were placed over the factory mats?

niceguy1234 · February 2008

In case if there is a car accident, and you have this all-weather mats inside the car. You know the accident is not caused by the mats, but will the insurance company find an excuse to refuse the claim because you have a recall item inside?

dhart3 · February 2008

This recycled air thing is very annoying. Here's what I've discovered. The logic is temperature driven. If the outside temp is gt 50, it will stay on inside air (or whatever you select), else it changes to outside air after about 3 min. So luckily for me at least, it's tolerable since I live in Texas and normally it's above 50 degrees. But in the winter, this is almost a show stopper. Since everything in a car is controlled by a computer these days, there must be some way to change the computer program to override the auto temp detection logic. This bugs me enough that I may pursue some action by Toyota.

210delray · February 2008

Could you please clarify for me again: do you have the automatic climate control (as in the XLE) where you dial in the desired interior temperature, or do you have the manual controls, with 3 rotary knobs (as in the LE and SE)?

I have an '04 LE and an '05 XLE -- I know for the former, it stays in recirculate until I choose to change it. I'm not so sure about the XLE with auto system. (I realize you have an '07 or '08 which could be different.)

wwest · February 2008

That's actually not very surprising. As the OAT declines below ~50F the probablity of interior windshield fogging increases dramatically as the temperatrue goes lower and lower. I'm personally glad to see someone is finally putting some thought, logic, into these new automatic climate control designs.

There is virtually no harm in using recirculate during the summer months, warmer weather, as the windshield and window surface temperatures are not very likely to decline below the dewpoint***. Using recirculate during the summer also has the added benefit of lower the A/C compressor load and thereby an increase in FE.

*** Unless you happen to be driving a Toyota or Lexus, or any vehicle, mostly asian, using the horribly flawed NipponDenso, Denso US design. With those designs it is possible to CHILL the interior surface of the windshield using the A/C in defrost/defog/demist mode. There is a CAUTION warning against this in EVERY Toyota/Lexus owners manual.

European designs, mostly Bosch, will ALWAYS HEAT the interior surface of the windshield in defrost/defog/demist mode even on the hottest, brightest, day of summer.

wwest · February 2008

Most systems, newer systems, manual or automatic, will allow the system to remain in recirculate as long as the A/C is operating, operational. But keep in mind that most systems disable the A/C as the OAT declines, some as high as 47F but most at ~34F.

mcdawgg · February 2008

I have a solution for all of you who do not like the vents automatically switching back to fresh: When you push the recirculate button, hold it down for 3 seconds. Now, it will stay on recirculate! I tried it, and it works. The only thing is you will have to do this every time you start the car, but big deal! One other issue: if you have it any of the non-defrost settings, and you move it to either the full defrost setting or the defrost/feet setting, it will switch back to fresh. In that case, just press and hold the recirculate button for 3 seconds. Same thing if you move it from one of the two defrost settings to one of the non-defrost settings. It will stay on recirculate if you do not go into or out of defrost.

Problem solved!!!! Note that this is only for the non-automatic systems in the higher
end models.

Please send your check to... just kidding!

wwest · February 2008

But with CAUTION....!!

Running for an extended period in RECIRCULATE mode raises the potential for windshield and/or window fogging, perhaps dramatically so, depending on the surrounding COLD outside climate.

And keep in mind that these systems are often EXTREMELY poor performers when it comes to quickly removing windshield condensation once it forms.

And personally I simply cannot imagine anyone being so inexperienced as to put the inlet airflow back into recirculate, FORCE it back into recirculate, with the system in defrost/defog/demist mode. That's just asking for TROUBLE...!!

mcdawgg · February 2008

True, just like my old manual recirculate control with the slide lever attached by cable to the vent door. Yes, you have to be careful with that one too, just like when you turn the new "automatic" system to manual.

Bottom line - proceed with caution, but you can fix it to stay on recirculate, if you wish.

2008 Toyota Camry

Comments

Helpful Tools

Most popular vehicles