Yo TN, 88 Camry 4cyl

[C-Lo]

I am the new proud owner of a 88 Camry 4 banger. I recently inherited the car. I have been driving a Silverado for the last 5 years so it looks like I'll finally get a little break for my wallet. The car has 200k miles on it. It runs pretty strong, however it needs some TLC. I believe the head gasket could be leaking, the starter seems to get stuck with the sprocket shaft extended, and the car definitely needs new struts. I would really like to get another 100k miles out of this ride. Here are my questions.

Is it reasonable to fix this vehicle and expect to get 100,000 miles out of it?
Could it be fixed up to the condition that would allow for road trips?
I am somewhat mechanically inclined, can I repair the head gasket and starter myself?

The car has had a lot of maintenance performed on it with its previous owners so I don't expect it needing too much work, and it has never been crashed.

Thanks for any help you can shoot me.

[TrailDust]

Welcome to the nation! Let me move your thread over to the 1st Gen Camry forum so the members there can help you out with your questions, but don't feel shy either to use that forum's search feature to see if there's past threads that can answer your questions as well. Good luck!

[Zembonez]

I think it's quite reasonable to expect another 100K out of it. Obviously there may be some repairs along the line but these were quite reliable.

Replacing the starter is a breeze... head gasket is a bit more involved but doable.

[white90dx]

Don't just do the headgasket if you 'think' it needs it.

Get the starter fixed (just a few bolts) and go from there.

When you do the struts, consider doing the strut tops and the front control arms at the same time. That should get rid of most/all of your clunks/squeaks/pops/etc. from the suspension.

-Charlie

[C-Lo]

nice gm truck zembonez, thanks for the input.

[C-Lo]

Thanks
How can I be sure the head gasket needs to be replaced? I haven't looked in the radiator or r. reservoir yet, I guess that would give me a clue. It does consume a lot of oil though. I understand that the system with lower pressure will be contaminated with the fluid from the system with higher pressure. So which system has a higher pressure, cooling system or oil system? I was reading on another posting that water in the oil system can be really bad for the engine bearings but the oil doesn't look like a milkshake as described in that post.