I'm pulling engine/trans...need your suggestions...

[84reb]

on what else you would do while the engine is out of the car.

Car Background: It's a 94 Camry with 159,000 miles on it...the transmission is broken...it was my older brothers car and he was going to sell it to the junk man for $100.00...it was his 3rd car and he did not want to spend anything on it to get it fixed...I told him I would buy it and he gave it to me...the engine should be pretty good...it also has a leak in the power steering system...the last major item left to do before i pull the engine is remove the axles.

The engine/exterior of the car is dirty but the interior looks great. He never changed the transmission fluid and there was a large puddle of black transmission fluid underneath the car when I got the car. Depending on price I will either get it repaired or buy a used one. I also plan to get the starter and alternator rebuilt, replace the timing belt and water pump and try to find the leak in the power steering system.

What else would you do while the engine is out? What seals do I need to replace? I also plan to add the B & M transmission cooler, where does that go? It has the factory oil cooler but should I add an aftermarket one? It will get a very thorough cleaning.

My daughter turns 16 on Thursday and I plan to let this be the car she drives.

I found this forum this past weekend and it was like finding a gold mine...thank you to all of you that have posted great information/pictures...It got me out of some jambs and I appreciate it very much!

Forgot to say its the 4 cylinder engine.

One other thing...I read a post that indicated later model year transmission would work in the '94, is this true? What other years fit?

[Eye8Pussies]

replace all the seals on the engine while it's out of the car


and your best/cheapest bet is to get a used tranny and drop it in if you're doing the labor yourself- you should be able to pick one up for a couple hundred bucks

as well, stick to the transmissions between 92-95, because after that, the 5sfe became obdII compliant and I'm pretty sure that the way the tranny was controlled was also changed

[renmike]

If you have the engine out, I'd make sure to replace the rear main seal, the distributor shaft 0-ring, cam seal, the timing belt, water pump, oil pump o-ring, check the oil pan gasket. If you haven't pulled the engine out yet, check the compression and see how that looks. With the engine/tranny out of the car, you should not have a problem looking at and repacing the power steering hoses, if necessary. Also, before you take it out, check the engine mounts, because at least the rear one is much easier to replace if you don't have an engine on top of it to worry about, lol. As for transmissions, you should be able to use any gen 3/3.5 up to 1996, i'm not sure about the gen 4, but in theory unless they are controlled different they should work as well. Before you put another tranny on it, I'd replace the seals on the differential (2) and perhaps the shaft seal as well. Good preventative maintenance and most of it is a whole lot easier to do with the engine/tranny out of the car.

EDIT: As I was writing mine Eye8pussies beat me to it, lol. At least we're both on the same page.