The ol' girl got some love...

[Novice_cardude]

Yep, my '96 Camry visited the shop with me (on my day off) with 119,545 miles. I got all OEM parts, totalling about $400, and set to the repairs. Thanks and massive credit to dz63. I would not have thought to remove and re-seal the oil pump were it not for his highly informative and comprehensive maintenance guide

It took about 8 hours with a fully equipped toolbox, lift, and air tools, but I really did take my time and get anal about everything. Replaced the valve cover gasket, spark plug tube seals, removed the spark plug tubes and re-sealed the lower threads, replaced the cam seal (a lot easier when you do the timing belt and valve cover at the same time. all you have to do is take a cam cap off and the job becomes a lot simpler), timing belt, idler, tensioner, water pump and all gaskets, thermostat, front main seal, re-sealed the oil pump, replaced the distributor o-ring, top dogbone mount, brake flush, couple tires, alignment ...

Still needs: Front motor mount at least, probably the others as well. Lower control arm bushings, flex pipe, probably exhaust manifold ... would probably be a good idea to replace the intake manifold gasket, because the valve cover gasket was leaking on it for so long... If anyone wants a pictoral how-to I might be able to manage it. but it will be from a fully equipped shop so it might not help the noble and bold garage do it yourselfers out there so much.

But she seems happier now at least. It's good to only need to worry about little things for a while ... at least until the clutch goes out. It's low now, so if it still hasn't gone out by 140k i'll be replacing that along with the rear main seal as preventive maintenance.

Anyone else spent an insane amount of time and money on an old car recently? Everyone at the shop was criticizing me for spending a whole day and $400 on a 14 year old car ... I told them it was better than getting stranded and spending $3,000 on a wrecker and a new car... that kinda shut them up a little.

[haux]

My 2000 Camry has over 335,000 miles and I'm spending $2,000-3,000 this year replacing everything from exterior body parts, interior, suspension parts including full strut assemblies/springs, bushings, sway bar links. Today I did calipers and I will also do the master cylinder. Water pump was replaced last year, along with oil pump seals/gaskets/timing belt and other random stuff like tensioner pulleys. The other day I did the valve cover gasket and tube seals, spark plugs and wires. Oh, and hub assemblies/bearings along with front halfshafts will be part of the suspension work.

Everyone in my family thinks I'm crazy for doing it as well...

Might also get a Whiteline rear swaybar, TRD muffler, and get my windshield replaced (huge crack) and windows tinted.

[Dick Tuck]

There are more than a few people out there who recognize the fact that someone is driving an older but well cared for car as a mark of intelligence. The "look at ME, I have a NEW CAR the bank lets me drive, boy am I swell" set doesn't understand that. There are well cared for older cars in wealthier
neighborhoods, it isn't an accident.

[Dick Tuck]

BTW when I do my front calipers - after 200k they are still OK though- I think I will just buy the V6 parts needed and upgrade. What is needed are the calipers, rotors pads, and the mount which bolts to the hub. Not much of a difference in price. THe mount is ten to fifteen bucks at most internet places. You have to buy the other stuff anyway. It is suggested that the V6 calipers cannot be used with the stock 14 inch wheels but I upgraded to 15x7 alloys and 205/60's a long time ago.

[xcmtb83]

That sounds like the same task that I have coming up on my '95 but have been apprehensive to order the parts without getting the exact part numbers. Can you post the OEM part numbers for the cam seal, timing belt, idler, tensioner, water pump and all gaskets, thermostat, front main seal, oil pump seal, dogbone and the distributer o-ring? (Your sig says you have a 4cyl so I am going to assume the 5SFE.)

The wrecker/new car example is something I have to use often. haha

[ekopel]

dude, thats awesome. that will keep that motor running prettier, longer. how did the inside of the engine look?

P.S. I just got me a new engine . 60k miles on it. Definitely wasn't cheap lol

[H.Rivera]

ah bit of an odd note.. but well i would get hatters but when i brught up the idea that the car took almost 200 miles ah day with no problem made them get quiet real quick.. and earned my car new found respect.. and now that im trying to return it to its previous glory they are actually helping insted of telling me to just buy new..

[Novice_cardude]

xcmtb83 - I believe I still have the receipt from the toyota dealer at work. If i remember i'll bring it home and post the part numbers. I don't know if anything changed from '95-'96, but looking at the pictures in dz63's post, there are a few differences in the parts. For example, my water pump 'gasket' was really just an o-ring that sat in a groove in the pump, then pressed against the block. also my distributor doesn't have an elongated hole to fine tune timing, so i marked everything, then discovered that i didn't have to The best way to ensure you get the right parts is to give the parts people at the dealer your VIN number, and make sure if they have any other questions you can answer them correctly.

ekopel - The motor looked really clean inside. There was no sludge, and only a little discoloration from the oil. That's one thing I wish i would have gotten a picture of. It wasn't perfect because it's not a new motor, but it did show the value of regular oil changes.

I worked on a '99 LX470 (Land Cruiser) a couple weeks ago and I was doing valve cover gaskets on it. The car had 155,000 miles, and the owner always brought it to the dealer. I popped the valve covers off and saw the result of regular maintenance with dealer recommended fluids and intervals. That thing looked brand new with 155k miles... I know i'm pretty much preaching to the choir here as everyone knows that regular oil changes are good, but it's always nice to have that idea reinforced again.

[JJ9284]

Yeah I have spent a good amount of money since i bought my camry in July. I paid $500 for the car (300 cash + 200 graduation present) and have spent about $1500 maybe in parts and stuff for my car. Ive done a good tune up with my dad whos a mechanic, good tires, windshield (was cracked), new exhaust from after the manifold past the cat (flex pipe was non existent ), new brake pads + rotors + park brake + all the hardware, fixed the AC system, fixed some little things here and there, oh and the 2-3 quarts of oil I go through a month because my valve guide seals leak and she smokes like a beast when i start her up sometimes . She just needed some TLC because shes been going for almost 200k miles now thats all .