1993 Camry, worth it? New to Toyotas.

[93CommuterCam]

Looking at a 1993 Camry in my neighborhood. Price is $1800.00. Driver's side front quarter panel has dent by no paint damage, few other little "door dings," overall body in good shape. Drivers side exterior door handle is broken, but operable (barely). Car has 186,000 miles. Drove around the neighborhood a couple of times and seems to run very nice. Does appear to vibrate a bit when stopped and in "D", I am assuming motor mounts probably need replaced. Only thing that really concerns me is the "airbag" light is on. I have read that Toyota requires the light to be reset every year after the car turns 10, is that correct?

Anyone have any thoughts about this purchase? Will be using the vehicle to commute 65 miles each way to work.

Thanks in advance,

J

[Koa808]

Welcome to TN.
I myself have a 1993 Toyota Camry LE.
It is a great and reliable daily driver. Gas Mileage is very very good. You should be getting around 28 MPG I believe ( Thinking on the top of my head )
If you are thinking about doing some mods to it, there are a couple here and there to make you car stick out from the rest of the Gen 3 Cams on the road.
Some mods can be done to improve the Gas Mileage even more.
The price you are getting it for $1.8k seems to be a little bit High in my opinion. Got mine for $1.2k with brand new tires, ac, oil and very little body damage. And only 124xxx Miles on it
Hope this helps you out with your purchase!

[JCamry94]

If you can talk the guy down to $1,500, or all the way down to $1,000, it would be a much better deal. Explain to him visually it is not worth almost $2k, and also compounding that with a high amount of miles, that he ain't sellin it for that much to anybody.

As for the vibration in "D", it is the torque rod connector (i think?), and is quite common in our Camrys. Simply slip it into "N" when you're stopped for a less vibration, since you're not putting as much load on the engine.

Hopefully someone here can enlighten you on the airbag light, but I know that all of us that have gen 3 camrys (1992-1996) have over 10 year old cars, and I haven't heard of such a complaint.

I have a 94 Camry, and I, as well as most of the others here can atest to its ridiculously good longevity and reliability.

If you want decent mpg, and something that will last you a long time, get it.

[Zviator]

Unless u know the history of the car well, it's might not be smart to purchase a car (any car) at that milage range.

The condition sounds similar to what I had, '93 LE 192k (almost 200k) for 1.5G.

The vibration at idle is common among the 4 cylinders as JC mentioned, but it came from the engine mount, later model camry uses bigger engine mount which reduce the vibration significantly. Check out the DIY section for the thread of "dog bone".

For the Airbag, u might want to ask a local mechanic to have the code read and posibbly turned off.

Have fun for whatever purpose you are looking for with the gen 3 camry.

[Albuynp Ryeno]

I agree with camricer, its dicey buying a car of that milage. (even tho toyotas r very reliable)

IMO a big problem with the 4 cyl is that the differential fluid is separate from the transmission fluid. That means its possible the tranny fluid is good and has been change, while the differential has been neglected.

Also i knocked into my steering wheel and now my check airbag light is on. its not big deal and the smog places dont car. Their is a way to reset it, but i am too lazy to find out how.

[Mazeraski]

Welcome to TN

As for your questions, the price seems a tad high for the amount of miles on it. See if he'll come down a couple hundred, maybe around $1200-$1500?

The driver's side exterior door handle being broken is rather common on the Gen 3 due to the age and amount of use it sees. Mine is actually that way right now. You could get one at a junkyard or on ebay for around $10.

The vibration at idle while in drive is also common on the Gen 3, and it is due to the Torque Strut mount (also called the Dogbone mount) being worn out and also the fact that it is slightly small in comparison with the Gen 4 ('97-'99) mount. A member here found that you can replace it with a Gen 4 Dogbone mount which significantly diminishes the vibration at idle as well as when driving. More info on that here:
DYI Improving Gen 3/3.5 vibration problem at idle

As for the airbag light, no Toyota does not require the airbag light to be reset every year after ten years. I'd say see if a code can be pulled and go from there.

Other than that if you do decide to go with it, the Gen 3 Camry is one great, reliable car that gets good gas mileage. It should handle the commute just fine so long as the previous owners performed routine maintenance. I would check to see if they have paperwork in regards to it's maintenance history, then go from there. Good luck and let us know if you end up getting it

[N35QU!K]

I definitely go with everyone else's recommendations on the price; with all those miles, it definitely shouldn't be above $1.5K. If he got that door handle fixed and all the other stuff, it'd seem a little more reasonable.

The vibration is the engine mounts, a very common problem with these cars, heh

That aside, the Gen3 Camry is a great car to have, and if you ever need any help with anything, this is definitely the place to go to ask questions.

Welcome to TN

[toyomoho]

There some past threads on what to look for on a Gen 3 when buying a car. Suggest you make a list of what wrong and the cost to fix then if still interested make an offer.

The airbag light on can be a large or small issue but the system will not work until the problem is fixed.

You can check for trouble codes without a tool.

In the engine compartment find a small box labeled "Diagnosis. " Location should be passengers side shock tower area. Open the lid and you will see wire terminals, the key to terminal location is under the lid.

With ign switch for at least 20 seconds jump the Te and E1 terminals with a section of electrical wire. Make sure you jump the right terminals or you can damage the electronics.

The airbag light will start to blink out a 2 number code, 1 number at a time. As in 1 blink, pause, 1 blink is Code 11. If more then 1 code is stored they will be displayed in numerical order followed by a 4 second pause and then will display all over again.

Read the code(s) then post back with the results.

[cmitchell5254]

Originally Posted by 93CommuterCam

Looking at a 1993 Camry in my neighborhood. Price is $1800.00. Driver's side front quarter panel has dent by no paint damage, few other little "door dings," overall body in good shape. Drivers side exterior door handle is broken, but operable (barely). Car has 186,000 miles. Drove around the neighborhood a couple of times and seems to run very nice. Does appear to vibrate a bit when stopped and in "D", I am assuming motor mounts probably need replaced. Only thing that really concerns me is the "airbag" light is on. I have read that Toyota requires the light to be reset every year after the car turns 10, is that correct?

Anyone have any thoughts about this purchase? Will be using the vehicle to commute 65 miles each way to work.

Thanks in advance,

J

Hmmm.....sounds like their might be a problem with the airbag system, so I'd get that checked out. That sounds like it's not working or already been deployed.

Other than that, Gen 3 Camry's are tough mothers. If you take care of it, it should treat you just fine.

[EEngineer]

the car is fine if you plan to live with all the problems it comes with
as soon as you try to solve some of the problems, it becomes a money pit.

if u just want to have a DD...it's probably the MOST cost effective car u can have for the reliability/comfort/practicality/fuel economy.

[Zviator]

Originally Posted by EEngineer

if u just want to have a DD...it's probably the MOST cost effective car u can have .

Not sure about that with many of us, after a bunch of mods