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Labor and costs vary by location, but it is a very generic service that companies advertise prices all the time.
So I have the risk of overheating my engine on hot days as summer comes closer even thought coolant is being transfered in to the engine to cool it, the fan isnt working what should I do?
And one more thing, the temperature gauge on the instrument panel recently stopped working. it stays at cold all the time now and doesn't go up at all even though the engines hot. Now i have an even bigger problem because I cant tell when my engine is starting to overheat :mad:
So I have the risk of overheating my engine on hot days as summer comes closer even thought coolant is being transfered in to the engine to cool it, the fan isnt working what should I do?
And one more thing, the temperature gauge on the instrument panel recently stopped working. it stays at cold all the time now and doesn't go up at all even though the engines hot. Now i have an even bigger problem because I cant tell when my engine is starting to overheat :mad:
There are two coolant sensors that sense the temperature of the coolant water in the engine, and send that information to the car computer. The computer sends the info to the gauge, so the gauge can tell you what the engine temperature is. The computer also controls the fan circuitry, and also includes as an input infromation from the air conditioner freon pressure.
Based upon the engine temperature and the A/C needs, the computer will turn on a series of 3 relays. Those relays are what supply power to the two fan motors, and allow them to be off, low speed, or high speed.
There are a couple diagnostic approaches to determine what is wrong. In your case, because your gauge is not working, one would suspect one of the temperature coolant sensors. You can take the sensor out, put it in a pan of water, start heating the water, and measure the resistance of the terminals with a meter. Or you can just replace them.
Another diagnostic approach is to take the relays out, and again with an ohmeter measure the resistance of the secondary relay points, in both scenarios when the primary is engergized, and also when it is at rest. The technician needs to know how the relay is wired internally, to be able to check whether they are okay or not.
One can also unplug the fan motors, and supply battery voltage directly to the fans, and see if the electric motors are fine and spin when given power. Sometimes fan motors bind up and won't spin. Since 'both' of yours aren't working, I suspect the problem is something other than the fans, like the sensors or the relays.
I should also mention that there are three fuses supplying power to the circuitry, the 15A ECU-G, the 30A RDI fan, and the 30A CDS fan.
So a competent garage can determine whether your problem is part of the sensors and control circuitry, the power circuitry of the fuses and relays, or the fans themselves. With the symptoms as you indicate, I would initially suspect the sensors....but, you might have another problem as well.
You're right I don't think its the fan motors either. So basically the key problem areas could be either the temperature coolant sensor or the relays or both right? Do you have any idea on how much they would cost to replace or fix? And where are these actually located on the engine?
Once again I appreciate your help.
I have a 87 Camry 2.0 5 speed with 169k on it. The car has a check engine light that comes on after a few minutes of driving it seems to be on a timer as it comes on after a couple of minutes not right away. I need some help here as this is a older car. What makes/triggers the check engine light to come on in a 87 Camry and what can I do to find out what is the problem? Also I might add I saw a diagnosis plug near the battery under the hood I was wondering where can I get a device that will plug in there and let me know what the light means? I guess I should 1st ask do they make a device like that for such a older diagnosis system on that car?
Also is there a code system on that car like on my Honda where I can find out what that engine light means? Thanks so much for the help as I have no clue what to do 1st here or how to find out what is going on.
Dave
I have a 87 Camry 2.0 5 speed and have a question on what kind of throttle body cleaner to use to clean the throttle body? I ask this because the car is so old and there are many kinds i.e. Deep creek sea foam, throttle body cleaner, and many others. Please advise me on the best one to use as I am afraid of using a brand/kind that might damage the IAC unit. Thanks for your help in this matter.
Dave
I have a 87 Camry 2.0 5 speed and the rear of the car is sagging down quite low. I have replaced the shocks they are new and working fine. I am thinking the problem here is the coil springs are sagging down low with the age of the car and perhaps this is a problem with this car please advise me with this question? I would like to know why/what is causing this and how to fix the problem. If indeed it is the coil springs then please advise me if its worth the effort and money of changing out and putting new coil springs on the car it has 170k on it. I think that it would be quite risky to change the coil springs in my car due to age, rust, rust on bolts back there, and taking apart so much of the car in the rear. Again I don't know that is why I am here asking so please advise me here as I am sure there is others on here who have had the same problem with the back of the car sagging low. Thanks for your help in advising me here as to what the problem is and what to do to fix the problem.
Dave
I have a 87 Camry 2.0 5 speed and had a problem with the taillights not coming on when the lights are turned on. The symptom of the problem is as follows. When the lights are turned on one of the taillights will not light up and the warning light comes on in the instrument panel to let you know. However the taillights do come on when you hit the brake pedal. I fixed the problem by running a ground wire from somewhere on the frame to the taillight apparatus in the back of the taillight. Both taillights when out 1 at a time though and I fixed both by doing the same thing running a ground to the taillight that was not working and was out.
My question is this to everyone what caused the problem in the 1st place and did I fix it properly? I ask this because when I was reading the forums it said somewhere that there is a relay for the taillights located in the rear of the car somewhere did not say where though. So my thinking here is perhaps a relay in the trunk somewhere went bad causing the problem of the taillights not coming on when the headlights are turned on and I did not fix the problem correctly. Can someone please advise me as to what is the proper fix and the cause of this problem with the taillights not coming on when the headlights are turned on? Thanks for you help in this matter as I am sure someone on here has gone through this problem and must know the correct answer please advise.
Dave
Normally when you replace a strut, they are replacing the inside piece that looks like a shock absorber.
They pull out the whole strut assembly (integrated spring and shock), take it apart (take the spring off the shock piece), put the new shock piece inside the old spring and tension it, and then put the whole assembly back in the vehicle. Note: whenever you take any of the suspension pieces out, you would also then re-align the vehicle to make sure it tracks straight down the road and doesn't have abnormal tire wear.
Call your local parts store and/or look online, and see if they sell the complete strut assembly with spring for your year, make, model vehicle. If they do, the labor repair would be easier than a normal strut change (as they would be just swapping out the whole assembly). The part would cost more because you are also buying the spring, but the labor to repair is slightly easier. Whether the parts store is stocking these parts (or perhaps they could order for you) for a 23 year old vehicle, only they could tell you.
This means there are two separate electrical circuits that go back to the bulb, and the bulb (if you look closely) has two filaments inside of it.
One circuit is dim when that powered, and is the tail light circuit that comes on when you turn the lights on. That circuit has a relay you reference.
The other circuit is bright when powered, and is the brake light. When you put on the brake there is a switch up under the dash that then supplies power to that circuit.
Usually when people have light problems, either the bulb is bad (filament broken, or bent over and touching the other filament), or the bulb has some corrosion/crud in the socket and it's not making a good electrical connection, or more rarely the bulb assembly is getting corrosion and not making a good ground to the metal of the quarter panel.
I would suggest you buy two new replacement bulbs (look up the correct bulb replacement in your owners manual in case someone has put in a wrong bulb in the past), with some sandpaper clean out the inside of the socket - sides and contact points at the bottom so it's nice and clean), and then put the bulb in and look closely at the filaments while someone turns on the lights and/or applies the brakes.
You should notice with a dual filament bulb, that the pins on the side of the bulb should mount only one way in the socket, so that the correct filament (dim or bright), is lit. One pin is further down on the side than the other pin, and it should fit into the side of the socket that has the groove further down.
Dave
Dave
1st off I want to thank everyone on these forums for answering my numerous ?'s and helping me you guys/girls are the best. I have another dilemma now here is it...
Solution to my 87 Camry Sagging low in the rear as follows. I went and took off 2 whole assembly (coil, shock, & strut all together) at the junk yard today off a 91 Camry with 93k ORGINAL WOW got lucky there.
Okay so my ? here is when I disconnect the rear brake line to (drum brakes wheel cylinder) can I leave it hanging upright so it does not leak out or is it better to leave it dripping out in a pan? The other ? is do I need to bleed the brakes when I reconnect the brake line back and if so how? I don't have a helper just me so please don't type for me to have someone pump the brake pedal while I bleed the brakes as I am looking for another way to do this job on my own here. I was told 3 ways 1 do NOTHING just disconnect then reconnect the brake line (since it is rear brakes) it should be okay and not have air in system. 2nd after disconnecting the brake line squeeze the brake line with vice grips to stop the brake fluid from coming out then reconnect and that is it. 3rd to let the brake line drip into a pan and after reconnecting it back loosen the bleeder screw and let a little air out then repeat steps until air is gone. Note on the 3rd option they said not to pump the brake pedal as they knew I don't have anyone to help me do that. I am guessing that they are saying by loosening the bleeder screw a couple of times a little that will let air out. Please advise me which option is best or the CORRECT way to do this job. Also another ? is should I loosen the bleeder screw a little bit before I disconnect the brake line? Please advise me here as I have never done this the correct way and I would like to learn this time around thanks.
Dave
I have a 87 Camry 2.0 5 speed and have a problem with the idle dropping low when I start the car ONLY after it is extremely hot (been traveling far). The weird thing is it only does it intermittently and it can easily be fixed by either giving the car a lot of gas (revving up the motor) or turn the car off (or let it conk out) then restart the engine. Okay so I am giving up here the following is a list of what I have done to fix the problem.....
egr valve replaced & cleaned, egr valve solenoid/modulator inspected and tiny filter replaced, all vacuums lines inspected visually and by hand thoroughly, sensors i.e. tps and numerous others unplugged while the engine was running to test them and make sure they were working properly. In addition throttle body cleaned thoroughly, pcv/hose/tube cleaned & replaced. So again I am perplexed here as to what to check next or where to look? Can someone please help/advise me here and what to look for next and what they thing it might be. I am sure someone on these forums has had it happen to them or something similar look forward to hearing from you thanks.
Dave
I have a 87 Camry 2.0 5 speed and the clutch plate was worn too low (long story). So I had the whole kit i.e. clutch, plate, and everything else that comes in kit replaced. The car ran fine for a while (about 7 months) then one day after driving a long time the clutch would not come out of gear. After forcing it out of gear it would then would not go back into any gear. If I would force it into a gear it then would have extreme problems going out of gear. So I went back to the mechanic who installed the clutch and he sent me to a neighbor mechanic who installed a entire NEW clutch and kit again. In the end the mechanic did not say what happened or what caused this but they were mad at each other. So I am guessing here that perhaps some bolt or something was not tightened down or done correctly causing the job to be redone again.
My ? is what would cause this to happen (described above about not coming out or going into gear)? Next ? is when you are doing the job of installing a whole clutch kit are there some sensitive bolts/areas that if not done correctly would cause serious problems in the future such as what happened to me? Please advise me here thanks so much for your help in this matter. I am sure someone on here knows and has had a similar experience please share.
Dave
An out of adjustment clutch is most noticeable while driving in the highest gear, if you press on the gas pedal and the engine revs up without the vehicle speeding up.
Do not squeeze a brake line, as you will damage the line risking a rupture of the line at some point when you are driving, loosing fluid and your brakes. Could be a deadly situation for you.
They do make a pressure bleeder system (expensive) which mounts onto the master brake cylinder and pressurizes the brake system, which allows one person to bleed the system at the wheels. They also make a little cheap manual vacuum pump system, which allows you at the wheel to 'pull' a vacuum (negative pressure).
You should really have a 2nd person pump the brake pressure up for you, I've had my little kids do it in a pinch. Have them pump three times and hold the brake pedal down, while you then open the bleeder screw releasing the air. You then close the bleeder screw, and tell them to release the brake and do it again. Repeat until all of the air is out of the line, and you have a solid brake pedal. Do not ever allow the master brake reservoir to run low that air could enter.
You MUST bleed the brake system, if you open it up.
You should do a lot more research on how to bleed brakes if you are going to attempt this yourself. It would be good to get assistance from someone who knows what they are doing. You could easily find yourself with a vehicle sitting in your driveway that you can't drive because you have no brakes.
Regarding your strut/springs replacements. Are you intending to put new struts into those spring assembly's? With 93K miles, those very well could be shot. Whoever disconnects the springs from the strut assembly needs to have a tool to take the springs off, they are under compression and will shoot you across the room (causing you great bodily harm) if not done correctly. They also need to be re-assembled with the spring in the correct rotational position around the strut.
I think I should have explained the strut thing better so let me clarify it for you. The strut assembly I got (the whole assembly coil, shock, & strut all together) is already together and ready to install. That is why I had to get it from the junk yard because no store sells the unit already together they make you take apart the coil spring like you said. I am not doing that as I already know its quite dangerous. Hence why I got the whole unit ready to install.
As for the brakes I will get someone to help me if I can. Thanks for you help in this matter.
Dave
I understand the concept of buying the assembly to get 'new' springs to replace your sagging ones, but then you'd need to buy the new shock piece, and have someone use your 'new' springs to assemble together with the new strut's from an autoparts store (the shock piece).
I guess if you weren't going to keep the car you could risk putting the complete old shock/strut in (and hope they were okay), but then you risk having to take it all apart again. If either of the shocks go bad, you replace them in pairs, so you'll be tearing everything apart again on both sides.
All of your questions actually belong here in Older Camry Maintenance and Repair. No need to make a separate discussion for each one!
Could be a sensor/relay/wire/connector/computer that is beginning to fail, due to corrosion or heat tolerance. Could be fuel/fuel pump related. Could even be head gasket or intake manifold related, once engine gets hot metal expands creating gap. There's a bunch of things it could be.
Going to have to keep working the issues, or take it to a really good shop and pay for them to isolate the root cause of the problem. May take an oscilloscope or diagnostic computer to get to the cause. However, you start to bump into the question as to how much time, effort, and money do you want to put into a 23 years old vehicle.
Hello there,
Thanks for your help with this problem. Let me clear up some questions for you on here.
1st off car does not overheat new radiator, new coolant, hoses and is good. Camry have temp guage usually sitting 3/8 or right before it reaches the half way point after the car is warmed up and has been driven for a bit. That is what mine does same as other camry models like mine when it gets hot the dual fans come on to cool it and again the gauge stays near half way point only after the car is warmed up and has been driven some.
The car will do the following problem with this exact example. You drive the car for some time 20 miles for example does not matter city or highway what matters is the car is hot and at its normal operating temperature i.e. guage sitting @ 3/8 near the halfway mark. Then you stop in store come back out in less THEN 5 MINUTES and the car starts up then the rpms drop very low. Sometimes (it did this yesterday) also after rpm's drop the engine will die. This can be fixed by 1 waiting 10 seconds restart car or 2 start car then give a lot of gas. NOTE the car has never done the problem that I am describing above with the fans on. In other words after turning key to run position but before I start the car the fans will sometimes come on to cool motor. When I try to start it with fans on then the motor will not die. I can still hear it missing a bit but rpm's are up higher because that is what the car does anyways when the fans come on. MORE AND MORE I am feeling/thinking this problem is fuel related and is bad. Here are some more ? 's for you sorry for so many but I have no choice.....
What would happen if the engine coolant temperature sensor is bad? I think if it were bad then it may be out of range and not telling the computer the car is hot. This could produce an excessivley rich mixture for a hot engine? What do you think am I correct? If I am correct about above then it should be looked into please advise me thanks.
What does the fuel pressure regulator do? If it were bad could it cause the problem I am describing the car not starting only when hot? Thanks for your help in this matter.
How can I test the system to see if the coolant is circulating in the system?
Thanks for your help in all these questions and with this matter. Oh BTW I changed spark splugs today and one was bad it had the tip where you measure gap touching the plug so that can't be good. Color was okay a little hot (white) but not too bad. Could some bad plugs cause the problem described above? Thanks for all your help
Dave
If the plugs are white and hot, you might be running too lean. If it is lean, could be fuel delivery or intake manifold gasket leak. You can sometimes detect a manifold leak if you spray the outside of the manifold gasket with carb cleaner while the engine is running. If the idle changes, then you have a leak (as it gets carb cleaner instead of the air that was leaking in). Do they have emissions testing in your state, where they use a tailpipe sniffer to determine whether mixture/combustion is occurring correctly?
Just picked up my first Camry - 2000 LE V6 with 55k at an estate sale. The car was serviced at the dealer until about 2 years ago then driven very little. I see the 30k was completed then just oil changes after that.
My plan is:
-Fresh oil in it.
-Fresh trans fluid
Question - Does it have standard or long life plugs? I think if the plugs have been in 10 years I should get them out?
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!!!
I'll getting the car titled/plated next week. I'm still looking at the old service records and need to review the manual. I assumed 90k plugs if they are platinum. So thats for the heads up. I change plugs and things on 4 cylinders. I'll have to take a good look at the back three to see if I'm up to it.
In the service records I can see the 30k was done at the dealer and then repeated at 45k because 3 years had passed. Then only 10k was added the last 3 years.
I'm hoping to get alot of miles out of this car.
Your battery should be sitting about 13.3 to 14.0 volts.
If it's fine, and no corrosion, then you can look at replacing the sensor (if having the outside temperature is that important to you).
I need to attach a picture to my question and I do not know how to do this.
Please advise. Thanks.
Then, get the URL of that photo by right-clicking on it, then selecting "properties".
To display it here, use an html tags - example using a fictitious URL:
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It all started about a month ago, when I'd start the car up, esp w/ the AC on, I would hear a brief squeel. Just figured it's the belts, typical sounds from the heat of the desert where we live.
After buying a new belt and installing, it continues to fall off right after starting the car. The reason why:
The belt is powered from the engine crankshaft, its next stop is the AC Compressor, the alternator and back to the engine crankshaft. However, upon investigation we notice that the pulley on the AC Compressor isn't completely lined up with the pulley on the engine, it seems to have been pulled inward about 3/4 to one inch. (toward the compressor)
Does anyone know why this might have occured and a possible fix?
Thanks so much!
I think it may be the harmonic balancer inside the pulley on the crankshaft. Because I used a bar to try to pry the pulley on the crankshaft back toward the engine and moved in somewhat easily, the belts were straight and when I tried starting it, the crankshaft pulley popped right back out.
Is the replacement of the harmonic balancer easily done? I know I can possibly access it by removing the pass. side wheel, but will I need to dig even deeper and get a wheel puller?
Thanks!