NewB Here Needs Help!!!

[Damea]

Well here it goes......
I have a 1991 camry dx
its has 270,000 miles roughly
it was my first car and i ran it to the ground
Im not very mechanically inclined
And I definetly dont have cash to pay some one else to do it.......

So im turning to the TN Family to show a little love to this poor soul and PM (privite message) me and lets get another Gen 2 on the road......

Thanks,
DAMEA

[Damea]

Now i know i didnt actually give alot of details on whats wrong with the car,(ALOT) but thats cause i dont want to sound stupid (not knowing automotive terminology) i dont mind saying i need help..... i just dont wanna look dumb along the way

Thanks
DAMEA

[new echo owner]

Just tell us what is wrong, and we will tell you how dumb you are!

Just kidding! There is nothing wrong with asking questions, there is always someone willing to help, maybe not in a nice way, but helpful nevertheless.

N.E.O.

[Damea]

Ok here we go......
well to start off i got the car about 8 -10 months ago
it was $400 (a great buy) from my girlfriends mom (2nd owner)(her G-ma original owner)
well taken care of cosmetically (interior immaculate condition) no big fender benders, paint was garbage (Cali sun well do that) All stock basically
Usual stuff that a 17 year old car would need, some tranny work, new starter, altenator etc.

Now let me remind you....

This was my first car im 20 years old and i live in cali
I "Thought" it was cool to go fast..... (vroom vroom auto I4 mind you)

So first thing i do when i get the car is Ebay..... i got the little short ram intake + K&N filter,an aftermarket exaust and some of those 8000k bulbs (headlights)

Now when i got the car my girlfriends dad had cut the steel braided line for the power steering pump and tried to splice it together using copper tubing (i.e.no powersteering) Also the shocks were blown bad and the brakes were shot

3 months go by.....
One day im driving along and i start to here this ticking coming from the engine bay..... i was close to a buddies house and decide to pull over....

Soooo..... i ask him to come listen and help me out since he knew a little more about cars than me(me being a retard when it comes to cars).....

I fire it up.......
Tick Tick Tick Tick.......
"Shut It Off" is all i hear...
then laughter.........
i ask whats funny and he said "when the last time you put oil in this thing"....
me being a retard replied "never".......

NO OIL NOT GOOD........me never having a car never thought "hey check the oil dumbass"....

So my friend checks the oil and it was drier than a crackheads coochie
not including what little was on the tip of the dipstick, had silver flakes in it....

First thing he said is rodbearings.....
so we then proceeded to tackle the job...
in our attempt to fix this problem we relized in order to take off the oil pan to get to the rodbearings we had lower the front crossmember and in order to do that we had to unbolt the exaust from the header (if im not mistaken)...

this was our first issue.... we couldnt get one of the three bolts loose holding the exaust on at the header..... so my friend says "Grind it off" and me being retarded said ok......

1 hour and half later and a couple grinding disk later it comes off........

really that was the only issue with that whole job we got the pan off and the bearing look like shit(well 1 of the 4 for sure) we replaced them all of course.... cleaned the pan out real good and filled her up and called it a day....

then i got a job......
pizza delivery...... not good on a car with 270k miles on it....
not including all this other garbage with the bearings and all......(probably did some camshaft damage) or that was what i was told at least

anyways that lasted for a couple months then i quit and the car got a little break......

until.....

my girl wrecks her car and my car becomes "our car".....

a month of that goes by and one day i get a call "your cars smoking"......

another retarded mistake by me.......
didnt think a car needed oil so why would i think it needed water.....

now i dont know if a crack in the raditor caused it to overheat or the overheating caused the crack.......

but the top resivior was definitly cracked so i got that fixed........

next after install of the radiator i try and drive the car but only make it around the block and waters boiling out and the temp gauge is through the roof........

so basically that was it,my next plan of attack was to check the thermostat but i reall didnt get around to doing it untill a couple of days ago (which was atleast a month of it sitting)

in that time the battery went dead so i replaced that...... it went dead due to an aftermarket alarm (i think)

go to start it and nothing....... no click in the starter no sound at all anywhere and the wierd thing is i get power to everthing but when i try to turn it over the clock and radio die.......

now ive been reading about the starter relay thinking this might help.......


also a few thing i left out above......

when i got the car the check engine, brake, and i think another light was on always.......

the thermostat was bad......

and i pretty sure the head gasket is blown (i heard water and an aluminum head dont mix well)

im sure thats not all but im too tierd of typing........

ill be happy to answer any questions and will be looking foward to hearing from the great mind of TN

Thanks again
DAMEA

[Damea]

VOLT/OMHMETER test next!!!!!

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Holy crap, and I thought my Camry had been through hell and back...that poor friggin car of yours...

For the starting problem, load test the battery and check the starter solenoid as you mentioned. Just because it's a new battery doesn't mean it's 100% good.

For the massive overheating problem, it's important to know how long the car was run at such high temperatures. Any more than a few minutes, and you're likely looking at a blown head gasket and a warped head.

If you had posted a question BEFORE doing the bearings, I would have recommended then that you simply replace the entire engine even then given the high mileage. Now, I think it's completely unavoidable, if you want to keep the car.

[PaulyJay]

i concur! sounds like a complete engine swap in safest! and while you do it you may want to do the transmission too. all that stress and i'd hate to see what you've possibly done to the transaxle. don't worry, i tried to do a head gasket on a mitsubishi "magna" on my own with no help and stuffed it up. we all make mistakes, it's what we learn from them that counts. (in my case i learnt that a car manual and proper tools go a long way. not a poor printout and a paint scraper!) look around for other engines, hell, while you're at it look at getting a 3S-GE and drop it in. sounds like you need to do wiring as well so you may as well.

[new echo owner]

Well, you already have a couple of suggestions in just a short time, and they will keep coming. Anyway, the are correct, it does sound like replacing the engine would be the best option for you if you want to keep the car for some time. Maybe even the transmission, but that is all up to you since you know better than anyone else about your financial situation. You can keep patching things up like you had been doing; however, in the long run you will probably spend more money doing that than replacing the engine.

Another thing you should do is to learn to do a better job in maintaining your car, no one else can help you to do that.

Think about what you want to do for your next step, and let us know. I am sure someone will be here to guide you through or point you in the right direction.

N.E.O.

[Jimnist]

I don't know how much they're going to charge for a new engine (and possibly transaxle), but if you're going to go that far, you may as well just get a new 2nd hand car. I highly doubt that chassis is in pristine condition i.e. no rust, dents, paint fade e.t.c...... Also, you did mention that the shocks are on their way out. ONE new strut costs about $80-$100 i think, so all round, you'll spend another $320-$400 just getting the handling back.

Yep, definitely better off selling this to the wreckers and getting yourself a new car and maintaining it well.

[PaulyJay]

ONE new strut costs about $80-$100 i think, so all round, you'll spend another $320-$400 just getting the handling back.

and this is aussie dollars! just imagine the cost for you? yes i know a little less than the aussie dollar but it's still gonna cost. i'm inclined to agree with jimnist, buy a new car and sell the old one to a mate or the wreckers. if you decide to sell post here and see if anyone wants the old shell.

[atobe]

you can get a used JDM engine for around 500$ and spend a weekend with some friends replacing it.. if you want to go that route.. and may be another 100$ in seals and belts assuming labor is free

[eyeball96]

Yeah, I agree with Echo, Jimnist, and Pauly...junk it, get what u can for it. The money u spend to fix it now is going to be much more than its worth. With ur next car, whatever it is, find out the routine maintance it requires, and do it. Learn from this experence.

BTW the way...welcome to TN, but it seems u joined us a little too late. The members here, I'm sure will help you, if (and u should) get another toyota.

[HomeGrown]

I'm afraid you will be throwing $$ at something that is realistically beyond giving you a good return.
Friendly advice would be to shop for another used Gen 2 Camry. Why? See how badly you neglected and abused your car, and it STILL tries it's level-best to get you around. Not many other cars would be so kind, they would have left you stranded LONG ago.

Start fresh, and maintain the hell out of it.

[cbaileyevo]

im a mechanic if u need help email me a cbaileyevo@gmail.com it sounds like u coulda bought a bad battery or have a bad ground. i recomend driving the car into the ground not getting rid of it or swapping the engine?l

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Originally Posted by cbaileyevo

i recomend driving the car into the ground not getting rid of it or swapping the engine?l

You have to admit, though, if you read his post thoroughly, the car has already been driven into the ground. Unless he wants to learn from the experience (unless he wants to spend more time than would normally be reasonable, for the sake of learning how to swap an engine), the only option is to dump the car and move on.