Question about my Mom's Car 92

[joshuaboston]

Hi people,

My mom has a 92 Camry with about 110K miles

first question....
When do you change the timing belt? and is it expensive?

She tells me that when she goes in reverse she smells rubber burning, like some belt some where.

Her battery is 10 years old, should I just change it? Or if it still starts just leave it?

I'm thinking about doing a tune up, spark plugs, air filter, and what else?

The car is just worth a few hundred dollars, does it make sense spending money on it? She has like 10G's to invest... maybe a Hyundia Sonata (seems like the best deal for the bucks). If this was the case, I would say drive it until it dies... what do you think?

OK... would like some input.

Oh yah... she talks about the car vibrating pretty bad when she goes in reverse (everytime she goes out of the driveway)

Thanks.

[fenixus]

timing belt should be changed together with a water pump and cam/crank seals, tensioner, idler and thermostat like every 90k miles.

sample of a nice (OEM) timing kit (it includes all that's needed even new drive belts):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fits-...Q5fAccessories
$169+s/h

rest is labor, which at the shop takes a lot of money as job takes time (4-6 hours depending on what items are done).

you can get the tune up done on it easily (if that is 4 cylinder we are talking about), get new NGK Iridium-IX plugs, new NGK wires (amazon cheapest or Advance Auto locally), new fuel filter from dealer, new air filter (any, even FRAM will do), new PCV valve+grommet from dealer. might also clean the Throttle Body with Sea FOam deep creep or something similar and oxygen sensor safe.
might be a good idea to start flushing all fluids if they were never changed.

question is is you want to that all on your own (cheapest method) as investing tons of money at the local shop on something that is not worth much and/or was neglected and might fall apart soon is not the best idea.

vibrations in reverse might be a few things, but most likely the engine mounts are worn, replacing all of them is pricey (top, front, rear and transmission, all OEM are like $280 for parts only at online dealer) especially when done with OEM parts and at a shop. check the exhaust flex pipe for cracks, usually it's burst open when mounts are worn out badly.

[Mister_Perkins]

Could be your reverse band in the tranny thats starting to slip but not felt when driving in reverse.
The highest psi fluid flow in the transmission is in reverse. therfore even though the smell isn't coming from the fluid itself but probably in the vent tube of the trans.

As long as the car cranks good in cold temperatures, I wouldn't worry about a 10 year old battery. Once it starts having a hard time cranking in cold (first time) Make sure its not something like a light left on or anything first. If nothing was on, then I would replace it then. That's what i do anyways.

follow what fenixus said on the tune up, thats the best thing to do.

The timing, its always a good idea to follow your FSM on belt changes. The FSM indicates every 60,000 miles for 92-96 Camry. You may need to change earlier than that depending on if you have seal leakage or not. Its always a good idea to replace the crank seal, and cam seal while you have the timing belt off too. Especially if its already leaking. There are many DIY on this site for changing the timing belts

[zythr]

[QUOTE=fenixus;3361620]timing belt should be changed together with a water pump and cam/crank seals, tensioner, idler and thermostat like every 90k miles.

sample of a nice (OEM) timing kit (it includes all that's needed even new drive belts):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fits-...Q5fAccessories
$169+s/h

rest is labor, which at the shop takes a lot of money as job takes time (4-6 hours depending on what items are done).



question is is you want to that all on your own (cheapest method) as investing tons of money at the local shop on something that is not worth much and/or was neglected and might fall apart soon is not the best idea.


You're suggesting that it is time for a new(er) car?

[LynchburgCSI]

^ No. Bluntly, he's saying if your car is a piece of junk (body damage, heavy interior wear) then you need to judge if it's worth keeping. Everything can be fixed.

[carsrus]

If you can do the work yourself and it doesnt look like a complete beater I would say definitely keep it.

Full Timing belt job+tune up+ battery+ a ton of other replaceable parts will come in easily under 500$ to get it running top notch. Not to hard to do the work either, as most of these things can be knocked out in one pass (tune up, valve cover gasket and oil seals are all easily done during the timing belt.)

I honestly think Hyundai's look amazing compared to whats on the market right now, but there quality is still not there completely.