Is this motor shot? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

chevyman95 · 03-12-2009, 12:21 PM

My friend has a 1999 Camry 2.2L with 200k miles on it. He noticed a slight knocking 3 months ago and decided to ignore it until the car would barely move. You can hear a loud knocking sound coming from the motor. I looked up used ones online and they seem to be in the $1000-1500 range. I can rebuild it for cheaper but the question is can a motor this bad have potential to be fixed?

***toyomoho*** · 03-12-2009, 04:46 PM

Use a length of hose as a stethoscope to locate the noise area. If in the block then could be a rod or main bearing.

The rod knock will get louder when you give the engine some gas or when the engine is under load. If a rod bearing you attempt to find the knocking cylinder by disconnecting the plug wires (if possible) or injectors one at a time with engine running. This will reduce the bearing load on that cylinder and the noise

If bearing knock the issue is crank journal damage. You need to inspect the journals and most likely regrind the crank or need another one.

Make sure the noise is not coming from the bell housing.

These engine have thrown rods out of the block thus suggest you stop driving the car.

frenum49 · 03-13-2009, 07:47 AM

If the crank journals are hashed it will be a lot cheaper to just swap in a yard 5SFE. These are pretty cheap around here at $200-250. If you do the swap yourself this will cost you much less than having the crank machined and bearings replaced.

chevyman95 · 03-13-2009, 04:16 PM

so can I just take any old 5SFE motor and swap it in? Like a 95 celica motor or something like that? Will everything line up and all the electrics work? Current tranny hook up fine? The 97,98,99 camry yard motors around here are all 1000+ but if I can get him back on the road for 3-400 I wouldn't mind swapping in an older motor.

***toyomoho*** · 03-13-2009, 10:57 PM

Suggest a TN search of Camry on 5S-FE engine replacement. This comes up often.

The later model engine had a different ign system design, the block and crank changed a little somewhere in 1994-95.

chevyman95 · 03-14-2009, 05:13 PM

Well had a mechanic friend stop by today and he says the motor is toast. Apparently the piston is slapping the head. I am looking at some 92-95 camry motors I might try and put in this car if its not too much trouble.