Few Issues with my 1998 Camry (Gen 4)

[AlmostAHandyMan]

Hello All,
Firstly, I would like to say what a great site. I have been having problems with my Camry lately and came across this site and I think I'm hooked. Thank you for having me.

Now, Down to business. First, my shifter cable is messed up. There is nothing wrong with the cable, but when it goes through the bracket mounted in the engine compartment to the rubber sleeve, it doesnt go straight down. It moves to the side. So instead of pushing the arm down on the transmission, the cable shifts to the side. I looked on google and found nothing. I dont even know how to refer to this part. I will enclose a picture to show you what i mean.

Secondly, My car shakes at like 68-76 mph. But not a normal shake. The steering wheel will rotate left and right rapidly and the whole front of the car shakes. I can hear my glove box door hitting the dash. I would assume this is a front end alignment, but the people at firestone told me the struts wont hold an alignment. This sounded screwy to me; So I figured I would check with the toyota experts here ;-).

Thirdly, Passenger side window will go down fine. Coming up is/was slow and is now EXTREMELY slow to nonexistent. But when I turn the car off and on again, It will go up a little bit. then off and on again, go up a little bit. I read the FAQ and I saw how to replace the motor, I just wanted to verify if this was a common problem or what else It could be. I also read it could be the regulator. Are these terribly difficult to replace?

Finally, the A/C. Just crapped out. I haven't even begun to look into it yet aside from seeing the yellow light blinking and finding out that it means the A/C is broke. Any Ideas what it could be off the top of your heads?

I think that is everything. The engine is fairly new. I had to replace it in like 2005 cuz the dicks at the oil change place messed up and forgot to put the oil plug back in. So I have 145k miles on the car but only about 60k on the engine. My wife and I are on the verge of donating it for a new one, but I would rather do the repairs and have it a few more years if I could. Thanks in advance for all of your help and I look forward to hearing your responses.

Nick

P.S. Ignore the zip ties.... It is my failed attempt at a temporary fix.

You can see how it lines up perfectly while in drive


The cable shifts over instead of pushing the arm down

[redtigerrocks]

Sounds like you might have to replace your struts (for the vibration issue). I have the same problem for my Gen 3 but its due to choppy/unevenly worn tires. Are your tires worn evenly? Have you driven your car for a long period of time on a bad alignment and then suddenly aligned your tires and gotten a tire rotation? if so , your tires either need to be rotated/balanced again or new set.

[AlmostAHandyMan]

This was happening before the last time I got them rotated. It seemed to help the problem a little bit, but it was still there. Also, I went to autozone to get a part for the shifter cable and the part they recommended (but did not have for my car) was a shifter cable bushing. Is this the correct part I would need? From what I can see, It looks like it would be a clip of some sort...

Thanks for the reply :-D

Nick

[AlmostAHandyMan]

Bump. Guys, If you get a chance, please put in your two cents. It is really appreciated.

[esvipron]

Originally Posted by AlmostAHandyMan

Hello All,
Firstly, I would like to say what a great site. I have been having problems with my Camry lately and came across this site and I think I'm hooked. Thank you for having me.

Now, Down to business. First, my shifter cable is messed up. There is nothing wrong with the cable, but when it goes through the bracket mounted in the engine compartment to the rubber sleeve, it doesnt go straight down. It moves to the side. So instead of pushing the arm down on the transmission, the cable shifts to the side. I looked on google and found nothing. I dont even know how to refer to this part. I will enclose a picture to show you what i mean.

Secondly, My car shakes at like 68-76 mph. But not a normal shake. The steering wheel will rotate left and right rapidly and the whole front of the car shakes. I can hear my glove box door hitting the dash. I would assume this is a front end alignment, but the people at firestone told me the struts wont hold an alignment. This sounded screwy to me; So I figured I would check with the toyota experts here ;-).

Thirdly, Passenger side window will go down fine. Coming up is/was slow and is now EXTREMELY slow to nonexistent. But when I turn the car off and on again, It will go up a little bit. then off and on again, go up a little bit. I read the FAQ and I saw how to replace the motor, I just wanted to verify if this was a common problem or what else It could be. I also read it could be the regulator. Are these terribly difficult to replace?

Finally, the A/C. Just crapped out. I haven't even begun to look into it yet aside from seeing the yellow light blinking and finding out that it means the A/C is broke. Any Ideas what it could be off the top of your heads?

I think that is everything. The engine is fairly new. I had to replace it in like 2005 cuz the dicks at the oil change place messed up and forgot to put the oil plug back in. So I have 145k miles on the car but only about 60k on the engine. My wife and I are on the verge of donating it for a new one, but I would rather do the repairs and have it a few more years if I could. Thanks in advance for all of your help and I look forward to hearing your responses.

Nick

P.S. Ignore the zip ties.... It is my failed attempt at a temporary fix.

You can see how it lines up perfectly while in drive


The cable shifts over instead of pushing the arm down

I have a 1998 Camry.

For the vibration maybe you just need to balance the tires and check air pressure.

For the window I had the same issue and replaced the glass motor which moves the glass up and down and problem resolved. Sometimes you have to replace the regulator. It is not a big deal if you do it patiently.

Here in Youtube you can see how to remove your door panel of a 1998 Toyota Camry (

You Tube

You Tube

).

[TOYOPARTSMAN]

Before I say replace the strust, I would check the strut mounts. the are infamous for goin out. The strut mounts are at the top of the strut and go through the A frame/apron. You can see them in the engine compartment becuase you'll see the three nuts on either side where the strut goes up through the apron.

I am not saying that you don't/won't need struts, but I agree with some in here as far as wheel balance/alignment, but at that time you can also check and see how your lower control arms are.

Now, AC, that gets a bit tricky when you say it just went out. I mean that could be just about anything from Compressor/clutch, to expansion valve. Your statement is a little vague so I am sorry if I couldn't help out a bit more on that one. As a Parts Person at a Toyota Dealer, I have replaced just about every part in the AC system.