My Camry Might Be Dying... Help

[xylium]

My 94 Camry with 234,000mi has been running into a bunch of issues all at once and I'm wondering if it could all be related.

In august of last year, my car's CEL would come on when taking it on 30 min or longer trips. The code would go off and then come back on by it's self. I had it checked and it turned out to be a EGR problem, can't remember the exact code number. He cleared the code and the light hasn't come on since. He said that if I dont get it fixed, it would kill my gas mileage. Well it did, I am currently getting 16mpg city and about 19 hwy. That's crap from when I first got the car at 198000mi. I changed the VSV and no change.

Then my power steering started acting up. It was intermittent at first but it now does it all the time. The only way I can explain it is when it is running, the steering has sticky spots. When I turn the wheel in either direction it feels like it's getting jambed at certain points, once your out of that point, it's free but then it hits another point, almost feels like a bad bearing. I should note that if the steering wheel is in one of it's sticky spots and I shut the car off, the steering wheel releases and is totally free again, besides being hard to turn because there is no power. I lubricated the U-joint, checked the strut bearings, and sucked out a 12 oz cans worth of Power steering fluid and put in ATF synthetic. I also checked the Steering rack by poking a tiny hole with a pin into the boots to see if fluid came out(recommended by ex Toyota mechanic), nothing came out and boots feel empty(which is good). Still has the problem and seems to be getting worse, temperature and length of engine running time has no effect. Could it be the pump or some internal problem on the rack. The mechanic also recommend getting a PS flush.

Now today my Oil light decides to start blinking. The only time it does this is when I'm about to park my car and it's idling just below 1000rpm. The oil light blinks rapidly and as soon as I step on the gas or put it in park, it ceases blinking and turns off. My car does have a bad rear main seal and it does drip more on trips. Went into Menards and came out a half an hour later, approx 5 inch puddle on ground, nothing too big. I filled up to the half way mark on the dip stick prior to going down to Sheboygan, so I shouldn't be out of oil.

Any help would be appreciated, I'm not sure I'm ready to get rid of my favorite car, this is only my third. My first was a 87' Maxima that talked, then a 92' 626, and now my Camry which has been my favorite, which is funny because I always thought Toyota's looked too granny and weren't that great, boy I was wrong.

[tarbasd]

I think the three problems are unrelated. You still might be out of oil if the leak increased. Why do you fill it up to the half mark, why not the maximum mark (especially if you lose oil)?

The EGR system can make your mileage worse, but I don't think it would make it so bad as yours.

[Darchrow]

well... it's 230k miles. put'er to sleep.

treat yourself to a brand spanking new shiny car.

[BlueFusion6851]

Originally Posted by P A U L

treat yourself

x2

I only plan on putting 225k on mine at the most before giving her up to the ghost.

[jsl222]

234,xxx is a lot of miles. I've done almost 190,xxx so far and plan on putting it to rest around 24-5,xxx. Get another camry lol

[Dave's]

Just put my '92 down at 250K. Wound up with an '04.

[xylium]

Well I tried checking my PCV valve and broke it, so much for checking it. Luckily they had one in stock at the parts store. When I pried it out of there, it was all gunky, like sludge? I didn't think my year had sludge problems. My oil leak has seemed to pick up. When I drove down to Sheboygan and back (30 min drive), I only put it up to half way on the dip stick. Reason being, it leaks more the more oil I put in. By the time I got back home, it was completely drained, although it still read a little on the dip stick. So I lost a half of quart on a 60 mi drive. Strange thing is, I've accidentally ran the oil down lower than this before and the oil light has never come on, which makes me think something more sinister is wrong. My mechanic also said the steering problem is my Rack, I found one on ebay with a 2 year warranty for $100, but still trying to figure out if I want to put that in and have the car croak on me. I've been contemplating putting her down, but it's gonna be hard for me to part. Strangely enough I found a 2002 SE with alloy and spoiler for $9000 on cars.com with only 93000, makes me wonder whats wrong. Here is the link: http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp;?tracktype=usedcc&searchType=21&pageNum ber=0&numResultsPerPage=50&largeNumResultsPerPage= 0&sortorder=descending&sortfield=PRICE+descending& certifiedOnly=false&criteria=K-%7cE-%7cM-_47_%7cB-10000%7cD-_424_%7cN-N%7cR-50%7cI-1%7cP-PRICE+descending%7cQ-descending%7cZ-54220&aff=hertimes&paId=135535967&recnum=5&leadExi sts=true
I'm looking for a house right now so I'm not sure I want to spend that much even though if nothing is wrong, it looks like a steel, nice color too.

[xylium]

Last update: I changed out my rack and pinion (I will never do that again) and that fixed the problem. As I suspected, the valve that controlled which way the fluid flowed was most likely bad (it's built into the rack). My oil still leaks but as long as I keep it off the highway, it doesn't leak much. As for my gas mileage, I cleaned the throttle body and have yet to clean the EGR valve. I'm thinking of doing an engine flush, or is this a bad idea since it already leaks oil or is this a bad idea?

[BlueFusion6851]

Just a rule of thumb... if you clean out your crankcase... expect to get more oil leaking due to the fact that you've cleaned the deposits that are keeping your seals from actually leaking in the first place! So I'd say no to flushing. Just do seafoam and throttlebody cleaner and you'll be alright.

[xylium]

Well I'm glad I didn't put any more work into the car because my beloved 94' Camry had passed away at approx. 235,000 miles two weeks ago. While heading into the driveway of a Mcdonalds, there was a large clunk and then the car started "jumping" I thought my axle blew out and so my brother and I pulled it out and ripped it apart and found nothing wrong with it. We checked the next worse thing, the differential. Sure enough, metal fragments and the oil was black which means that was never flushed when the tranny was flushed at a Toyota dealer 4 years ago. Oh well, I now have a 2000 Camry 4cyl with 80000 miles on it, just a little less.

Does anyone know if the wires are there for adding the compass mirror and power trunk pop? I saw a compass mirror in a 2001 camry and a coworker said his 97 had the power trunk pop in it. I have the same alarm that is on the 2002-2005 so I know I can add it, it's just a matter of getting the right remote and getting the right latch.

[tarbasd]

Sorry to hear, man. Isn't it ironic, that with all those problems, something unrelated gives the final blow? As for the dealer not replacing diff fluid: I'm not surprised at all. I trust no mechanic. Car fixing/maintenance is the second dirtiest business in the US (after car selling).