My 89 3sfe keeps rolling along-360K

[Mike Morris]

Actuall mileage is about 380K(I swapped to the nicer gauge cluster which was about 20K lower than my existing one year ago). Original motor,trans,water pump blah blah. These cars are incredible. I do have to spend some money on it though(alignment,front tires,oil leaks in timing belt area,cracked windshield)...... My light blue paint is starting to look rough on the top areas and some rust on the rear 1/4 panels

[PaulPR]

Congrats!! I thought we were doing well at 220K on our '91.

[Mike Morris]

Thanks
You are doing well.

[itainthem]

sweet. another example of the 2nd gen Camry bein the most reliable and durable cars on the planet!...

[71Corolla]

Originally Posted by Mike Morris

These cars are incredible.

Yes. Mine has never had a check engine light or a failure of any kind. Same as you, original water pump. Valve cover has never been opened, original struts are perfectly fine. The only suspension parts that were replaced are the control arm and sway bar bushings. The sway bar links in the back are made partially from nylon not metal, better noise isolation?

It's a shame to see so many generation 2 Camry's in the salvage yards, people don't realize what they're giving up. I've been hording parts lately, sooner or later these cars will become scarce. I really, really want an ES250, the pinnacle of the gen2 Camry, but I have not been able to find a decent one for about 5 years. There is one near-ish to me for sale but it has a blown axle, and the clear coat is all but gone from sitting in a field for so long.

[Mike Morris]

Same here though I had to regasket the top half of the motor around 275K(not the headgasket though)
Only failure I had at 310K was the coil-car still ran but but not very well

I heard that the Es250 like the V6s sufffered from headgasket failures-I see them all the time at yards perfectly in tact and I bet thats why most of them are there...

[Grego 92]

That's very cool, hope you make it to half a million miles without any major issues!

Originally Posted by Mike Morris

I heard that the Es250 like the V6s sufffered from headgasket failures-I see them all the time at yards perfectly in tact and I bet thats why most of them are there...

I received mine with a blown hg, but I kind of see it as a blessing in disguise for those of us who are willing to do their own repairs and looking to maintain and keep theirs going because of the abundance of used but good condition oem parts in the yards.

['88 All-Trac]

Ours is only at 280k! Good job!

These things wouldn't wear out if you asked them to.

Also, don't stress too bad about the rust on the rear 1/4 panel... Very common issue.

[dem2757]

The VZ seems to blow head gaskets, but how many people drive the VZ's like its a sports car cause its a "v6"...... economy parts only last so long. i suspect i have a HG leak too due to the 1hr plus some more if it was driven after the work commute of 3000 rpms every day for 20 years. I got it from my dad.

The majority of 2VZ's i see at our pick n pulls are ones with tranny issues (almost all are Autos) and the pcv line blew open, spewing oil and throwing a rod or bearing.

[71Corolla]

Originally Posted by dem2757

The majority of 2VZ's i see at our pick n pulls are ones with tranny issues (almost all are Autos) and the pcv line blew open, spewing oil and throwing a rod or bearing.

What kind of tranny issues? Can you expand on the PCV line problem?

[84Cressida]

Originally Posted by 71Corolla

Yes. Mine has never had a check engine light or a failure of any kind. Same as you, original water pump. Valve cover has never been opened, original struts are perfectly fine. The only suspension parts that were replaced are the control arm and sway bar bushings. The sway bar links in the back are made partially from nylon not metal, better noise isolation?

It's a shame to see so many generation 2 Camry's in the salvage yards, people don't realize what they're giving up. I've been hording parts lately, sooner or later these cars will become scarce. I really, really want an ES250, the pinnacle of the gen2 Camry, but I have not been able to find a decent one for about 5 years. There is one near-ish to me for sale but it has a blown axle, and the clear coat is all but gone from sitting in a field for so long.

It will be a sad day when the time comes that these cars are rare to find, definitely in my top 3 of all time favorite Toyotas and I have fond memories of my mom's 1988 LE when I was little. A lot of them are still around, but most are DD beaters. I always smile and turn when I see a clean one, and hope I can get a clean one in my family once again. My friend has a '90 Camry, in rough shape, but it runs strong with over 260K on it and another friend had a '90 that had 310K when she got rid of it and I still see it around town.

I also love the ES250. Vastly underrated car and didn't deserve the negative rep it got.