thinking about buying 96 camry, need help

[djblackout]

went and test drove a 4 door white camry today. its got the 4 cylinder. its a 96 and has 114k miles on it. he wanted 2650. i can get it for 2200 tax title and licensing out the door.

it had some bondo work on the right rear door, and also the fender right by it. it was done ok. i noticed it tho. im not too concerned. i need something reliable.

i test drove it and upon WOT i could hear a whistle. I noticed the intake hose that connects to the throttle body has been cracked. is that the whistle i was hearing? i know its hard to e-diagnost but wondering if anyone has heard of that before.

also when should the timing belt be replaced? and is 2200 for a 96 camry with 114k miles a good price?

and how long can these run granted they are taken care of and not raced around?

i am really considering giving him my money and taking it, just need to know if i am making a right choice.

[djblackout]

also when i pushed the PWR button next to the trans shifter i noticed the second gear chirped. is that normal?

[zythr]

Easy. Look for another car. This one probably has not been maintained well.

[djblackout]

what makes you say it was not well maintained. i told you the whistle was from the cracked intake hose. thats not hard, just swap it out with an aftermarket piece from a cai/sai

[Nervous]

Originally Posted by djblackout

also when i pushed the PWR button next to the trans shifter i noticed the second gear chirped. is that normal?

This is wrong. Either wiring is messed up or - worse - something is wrong with transmission or ECU.

[eyeball96]

I'd take to a trusted Mechanic and have a pre-purchase inspection done if it were me!

If IIRC I paid about $35 the last time I needed that service.

[LynchburgCSI]

Have it checked out. I could have been HEAVILY abused... esp with that bondo work. The hose isn't a huge deal. The tranny SHOULDN'T chirp like that either. If everything checks out okay... i'd offer $2000 at most. Check the KBB and Edmunds values.

The timing belt is supposed to be replaced every 90,000 miles or so (IIRC). The 4 and 6 cylinders are non-interference engines. That means that nothing major is going to break when the timing belt falls apart. I'd still recommend replacing it ASAP along with the water pump. Also, check for ANY signs of oil leaks. Get underneath it or have your mechanic check.

[SexieWASD]

You have to understand that even though this generation camry, and especially the 4 banger can take a lot of abuse, and are really well engineered cars, They are not, and never were an expensive vehicle. Being such, and being so common a good amount of them where passed down to teens as a first car. Teens DO NOT take care of their cars, and do not have the funds to fix what is broken. They will race them, and bump them, and run them low on oil, well past a sensible oil change interval.

Poorly repaired bodywork is a good sign that the previous owner either did not have the funds, or did not care enough about the car to have it repaired properly, I doubt that would stop with the body work, the car most likely had some other problems on it's way to one hundred and fourteen thousand miles, problems that were most likely also repaired poorly.

If you have a shop that you trust, have them check it out, and ask them if they would buy it if they were in your shoes, if you don't have a shop that you trust to help you make that decision, I would keep looking.

[zythr]

Originally Posted by djblackout

what makes you say it was not well maintained. i told you the whistle was from the cracked intake hose. thats not hard, just swap it out with an aftermarket piece from a cai/sai

Bondo on the body for one, the chirping in second gear tranny for another. Like the other members posted, something may be amiss, then again it is your money.

[eyeball96]

Originally Posted by SexieWASD

You have to understand that even though this generation camry, and especially the 4 banger can take a lot of abuse, and are really well engineered cars, They are not, and never were an expensive vehicle. Being such, and being so common a good amount of them where passed down to teens as a first car. Teens DO NOT take care of their cars, and do not have the funds to fix what is broken. They will race them, and bump them, and run them low on oil, well past a sensible oil change interval.

Poorly repaired bodywork is a good sign that the previous owner either did not have the funds, or did not care enough about the car to have it repaired properly, I doubt that would stop with the body work, the car most likely had some other problems on it's way to one hundred and fourteen thousand miles, problems that were most likely also repaired poorly.

If you have a shop that you trust, have them check it out, and ask them if they would buy it if they were in your shoes, if you don't have a shop that you trust to help you make that decision, I would keep looking.

I respectively disagree! My 96 Camry Coupe LE V6, had an MSRP of over 23k in 96....there's plenty of nice automobiles you can buy today for less..The 2011 Sonata, and even the Fusion and Accord can be had for less.

So in there day they were quite expensive.

[bigbird]

2200 is too much i think. yes it has low miles but unless you get in inspected pre-purchase and everythign checks out, i woudl look for another...they are out there.

what worries me the most is the tranny issue. when you say cherp...do you mean you hear a cherp or the tranny is shifting hard and chirping the tires? becaue if that is the case, the tranny is damaged and the car is worth half of that.

[djblackout]

it only chirped once and it was slightly going up hill it might have been just a weird moment. because all the other times i was WOT it didnt do that

[eyeball96]

I purchase a 13 y/o Camry in 07 with 155k showing for $1500. It had a busted Steering Rack, leaking Valve Cover gaskets bad strut mounts in the front too. The interior was trashed , hell the rear seats were not even bolted in, the dash was hand painted, and the radio was gone. The door handles were busted and cracked. and it had been obviously wrecked in the left rear courter panel and had been repaired poorly.

After a few bucks, and repairs made by my Painter, mechanic, myself, and ASG14.....it turned out to be as good as new! Hell I wish I hadn't sold it!

I don't think 2200 is too much, if your Mechanic agrees.

[96ToyoCam164K]

I bought mine for about $2200 at 136XXX....but all together with tag and tax was like 2600.

If I were to do it again, I would not have purchased this car. Although the paint job looked very nice...it had 1 issue after the next. You would have thought the devil was plotting evil doings for me. 1st issue was a shortage in the ignition wire, which appeared a week and few hundred miles later (I'd bought it in a town 300 miles away).

Then the A/C evap exploded. Then the radiator went bad.

I know this all sounds like bad luck, but with used cars you have to say to yourself, "I know something may go wrong, will I be prepared to fix it?"

But, 2200 is 'fair' condition, and once you fix whatever is wrong...it may be good to go. And 114,000 isn't bad.

Personally though, I would not purchased something with body damage. Only reason Im putting up with the smashed door and dented roof is because everywhere else its doing good.

[djblackout]

should I keep looking for camry? I have about 2500 to spend. I need a reliable car, and i can work on cars.