3rd & 4th Generation (1992–1996 & 1997–2001)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 1992-1996 & 1997-2001
Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving America's favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
I am looking at purchasing a 95 Camry, I believe it's a DX but not sure. Anyway it has full amenities, power everything, leather, moon-roof, 5spd.
It's a good price, clean title, never wrecked, beautiful interior/exterior condition, engine bay and engine look clean, motor is in stock condition.
I am going to look at the car soon and do a comp test on the engine and take a peek at the timing belt... But what really concerns me is the mileage.
The seller says that it doesn't use any oil and drives/idles smooth. The mileage is 250K.
Now, I have a friend who before he swapped his 94 celica with a 3sgte, was running a 5sfe pushing over 200K, I think like 220K or something... ran beautiful and still pulled real strong. Only thing he had was the occasional puff of oil smoke on start up probably due to valve stem seals.
I have a little bit of experience with the 5sfe's, mostly in the celica's, where they get the shite beat out of them usually.
So how many high mileage 5sfe camry's are out there? I'm going to check the obvious things, underside of oil cap, smell the oil, oil color, compression test, timing belt, coolant condition... But, hell it could all be perfectly fine and then a month down the road a compression ring or oil ring could go out... or head gasket could fail. So I guess I'm really looking for a little peace of mind here lol.
Oh and Toyota started to use metal head gaskets on the 5sfe's right? If so, about what year would that be? I would have more peace of mind if I knew this had a factory MHG.
um, i have a 96 camry le with 202,000 miles or so... runs good, the last 3 oil changes i ran an oil flush additive thru it, so now it barely burns any oil inless i drive 5,000 miles or more which is why i change it around 4k miles.
"it has full amenities, power everything, leather, moon-roof" => DX is the lowest trim, and doesn't have luxury option, XLE only come with auto, I'm guessing SE.
What do you mean by "The seller says that it doesn't use any oil" ??? He never had an oil change ???
About idle smooth, it's obvious that mannual (5spd as u said ) trannny at idle is in neutral gear.
I've seen cars with 300k on it, yours should be fine ...
Last edited by lgcongbach; 06-04-2008 at 09:04 PM.
hey
just wanted to add my input
i'm driving a 93 camry v6le - this is the second camry in my family
dad had a 96 camry LE before and it died at 535,000 kilometers. .. imagine that! 535K! that's insane!
Dad loved the camry so much that he went seeking another one and found the 93 which I'm driving now.
Dad bought a 2000 ES400 recently and I took the camry off of him.
I wouldn't trade this car for anything. It's running at 275K right now and smooth as ever. And I make frequent trips within Toronto, London and Windsor.
Just regular maintenance on the car so far. And from what dad tells me, the older camry .. he also did the regular maintenance and it died at 535K, and it was the transmission that died.
Hope that sheds some light on how well these cars drive.
__________________ 1993 Camry V6 LE 4 Dr - 236K as of Feb 2008. All Stock.
No worries. I got up there and looked at this thing... big puddle of oil under it, right around the crank pulley. So I'm lookin tryin to see where it's coming from, at first I thought it was just the valve cover seal... but I couldn't really find any fresh oil around here... So I start it up, check under the engine again and oil is just pissin out. So I pull the plastic cover by the crank pulley away and look at the oil pump and see it's all wet.. So it needs a new oil pump gasket or shaft seal.. either way, more work than I want to get into. He was at 1800 firm on it... but the valve train sounded like shit too. Now if I wasn't 3000 miles away from home I may of considered it a bit more.. ya know, 400 bucks for a good low mileage 5sfe.. could've had a very nice camry for 2200 bucks then... but I can't do that kind've stuff here, I just need a good reliable car that I don't have to work on.
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Quick question about high mileage Camry's
1993 Camry V6 LE 4 Dr - 236K as of Feb 2008. All Stock.
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