I need counseling

[masonm]

Just bought a new Camry and was a bit impulsive. I paid $2995 for it. It is seen here in the video I may post if you guys tell me to sell it:

You Tube

You Tube

I thought I was smart and bought it quick.

I then took it to my mechanic, and paid him a fee to assess the fixes needed in the next six months--I told him I would fix things myself. He said he would not put any money into it ( mind you he is a Ford man). He said the CV boots are torn (we all know what that eventually means), the radiator was leaking (easy and cheap fix), the Idle Valve was bad (poor cold starts), the struts needed to be replaced ( I don't really care), that there were a few small oil leaks ($350 repair), and that the timing belt needed to be changed ( I cannot do that one myself).

I was questioning his "opinion" and then I went to the first highly rated Google search result for a mechanic. Paid him a fee--also telling him I would fix things myself-- and he came back with the same results, plus he said that the transmission fluid needs flushed and that the Head Gasket was leaking (I can't fix that plus it ain't cheap).

My questions are these:
1) How can you tell if a head gasket is really leaking. I thought it was by checking for foamy oil...I also have no colored smoke out of my pipe. I just don't believe the "Google Search" guy (maybe because I don't want to face reality), being as my mechanic should have found it and it happens to be a $1600 all labor job that I cannot verify.

2) Should I keep the car or just sell it again? Craigslist average pricing in my area tells me I could get my money right back, and I don't want to hang onto a car just because I am stubborn.

So here I am. I thought I bought a gem, as I looked it over the best I could, but I now need advice. Please send me a response.

FYI: The guy who sold it to me was absolutely CLUELESS about cars, so I do not fault him at all. Also, there is a little bit of brake pedal travel, but they still feel solid.

[71Corolla]

The body looks kinda rough in places, but the engine sounds fine. Did you do a Carfax or other vehicle history before you bought the car?

[masonm]

Originally Posted by 71Corolla

The body looks kinda rough in places, but the engine sounds fine. Did you do a Carfax or other vehicle history before you bought the car?

Yep, two owners: The mom for the first 118k miiles and her 35 year old son for the next 8k miles...who sold it to me.

[DarkSideMoon]

Originally Posted by masonm

Just bought a new Camry and was a bit impulsive. I paid $2995 for it. It is seen here in the video I may post if you guys tell me to sell it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgXbVAq8lh0

I thought I was smart and bought it quick.

I then took it to my mechanic, and paid him a fee to assess the fixes needed in the next six months--I told him I would fix things myself. He said he would not put any money into it ( mind you he is a Ford man). He said the CV boots are torn (we all know what that eventually means), the radiator was leaking (easy and cheap fix), the Idle Valve was bad (poor cold starts), the struts needed to be replaced ( I don't really care), that there were a few small oil leaks ($350 repair), and that the timing belt needed to be changed ( I cannot do that one myself).

I was questioning his "opinion" and then I went to the first highly rated Google search result for a mechanic. Paid him a fee--also telling him I would fix things myself-- and he came back with the same results, plus he said that the transmission fluid needs flushed and that the Head Gasket was leaking (I can't fix that plus it ain't cheap).

My questions are these:
1) How can you tell if a head gasket is really leaking. I thought it was by checking for foamy oil...I also have no colored smoke out of my pipe. I just don't believe the "Google Search" guy (maybe because I don't want to face reality), being as my mechanic should have found it and it happens to be a $1600 all labor job that I cannot verify.

2) Should I keep the car or just sell it again? Craigslist average pricing in my area tells me I could get my money right back, and I don't want to hang onto a car just because I am stubborn.

So here I am. I thought I bought a gem, as I looked it over the best I could, but I now need advice. Please send me a response.

FYI: The guy who sold it to me was absolutely CLUELESS about cars, so I do not fault him at all. Also, there is a little bit of brake pedal travel, but they still feel solid.

Was there a maintenance history included with the car? My timing belt/water pump change was about 600 bucks, but they are both good for at least 80k miles. As far as the head gasket look for unexplained coolant loss, white smoke out of the tailpipe, foamy oil, and excessive bubbles in the cooling system. If none of those are present everything I've read would say your headgasket is fine. I have this same body style but the 3vz-fe engine and I love the thing, plus you'll get even better mileage than me, and I'd wager that car has alot of life left in it.

[vickpick]

nice buy.. not a bad car at all.

[carsrus]

In general its gonna be expensive to buy a car like that if you cant to most of the work DIY.

Struts can be done DIY easily with Quick Struts. The rad is easy. The timing belt is where the oil leak is probably coming from. Its not that hard to do and there is a GREAT write up on this site. Valve cover gasket can be done at the same time. Trans fluid change takes 15min as there is a drain plug and pan doesnt have to be removed.

RockAuto is a great place to order parts from. Quality stuff and I easily save 20-30% over going somewhere local.

If you put 500$ worth of parts into that car it'll be bullet proof. If you go to a mechanic youll spend easil 2k changing all that stuff.

[rhymz]

if u put ur mind to fixing the stuff urself, which isnt that hard, i vote keep it...the things u mentioned are mostly parts that u should be changing anyways, like timing belt and cv boots, ISCV can be cleaned/serviced by urself, etc

i have a gen 3 in far WORST condition...i wouldnt even post a pic with it how bad it is, but once u put a little money into it, its a car ur just gonna love...

[heartdisease]

Originally Posted by DarkSideMoon

Was there a maintenance history included with the car? My timing belt/water pump change was about 600 bucks, but they are both good for at least 80k miles. As far as the head gasket look for unexplained coolant loss, white smoke out of the tailpipe, foamy oil, and excessive bubbles in the cooling system. If none of those are present everything I've read would say your headgasket is fine. I have this same body style but the 3vz-fe engine and I love the thing, plus you'll get even better mileage than me, and I'd wager that car has alot of life left in it.

I am not sure about the rest but my experience with head gaskets is they don't always give the symptoms you describe. My pickup was dripping to the outside, no foam no noticeable loss for a long time. Then it got a lot worse quick. The only clue was a little smoke as the leak progressed and dripped on the exahust. If you aren't up to fixing a head gasket on your own and don't want to pay for someone else to do it than I would reevaluate things. The rest is minor compared to that one. Now that you have an Idea that it has these head gasket issues could you really unload it with a clear concise? I would drive it awhile and see what happens. do the easy stuff and if it really has these problems they will progess. don't screw somebody else

[fenixus]

what was the reasoning behind HG leaking? that's just an unverified opinion. everybody can say about most of old cars (because they are old and have rough idle) that proves nothing until someone does coolant pressure test, engine cylinders compression test or leak down test, especially that there is no white smoke out of exhaust, no milky residue under oil filler cap and engine oil looks normal.

thing you mentioned are NORMAL maintenance stuff, don't fret it, it's a nice car.

timing belt needs to be done every 90k miles together with water pump, idlers and drive belts. parts are like $200 tops, labor you could do yourself if you have time and place to do that.

it's a good habit to flush ALL fluids on every car you purchase, you never know what prev owner(s) did ... or most likely did NOT do.
that includes engine oil and filter, coolant, power steering fluid (ATF), trans fluid (ATF) and brake fluid, tune up items like new spark plugs, air filter, fuel filter, sometimes new spark plug wireset, etc.

struts go bad over time, yours are probably factory OEM ... the factor OEM front ones wouldn't survive 40k miles in my area haha.

CV boots are a pain, but don't worry, such stuff happens.

get a metric socket tool set, some cheap torque wrenches from Harbor Freight Tools, metric combo key set and start thinking about taking care of that car.

as above, cheapest parts from rockauto.com
if you need something crucial, go with OEM from online dealers (30% off MSRP over the counter locally).

Autozone will borrow you (refundable deposit required) most of one time use tools you will ever need.

think about doing a minor tuneup on car as well if there is no record history. there is a bunch of small things that should be in order and some of them work only right from dealer (radiator cap, fuel cap, thermostat, PCV valve and grommet, etc.)

get a Haynes manual for your gen3 camry and make yourself a bullet proof car

If you only knew what I had to replace on my cars (still not done haha)

[LynchburgCSI]

OP... PM coming your way.

[projektvertx]

Originally Posted by LynchburgCSI

OP... PM coming your way.

Thanks Ken

To me, this car seems very fixable. Head gasket? That should be easily verifiable. Do a compression test. CV boots aren't that bad either. I would get a new halfshaft, truth is, it will cost you the same amount to rebuild as to replace with new. Either way, the shaft has to come off. Everything you mentionned is normal of an old car. I would keep it

[69GTSport]

I picked up my '95 for $2300 and it needed alot of work to make it so that I would feel comfortable driving it anywhere even though it had only 109K miles on it.
The low pedal travel is probably just the rear brakes needing cleaning and then adjusting. Mine were the same way and I also had the drums turned to get rid of a pulsation.
Here's an idea of what I have put into my '95: wiper blades, some light bulbs, serpentine belts, front brake pads/rotors, valve cover gasket, spark plugs/wires/distributor cap/rotor, the timing belt/tensioner spring/waterpump/t-stat/timing belt bearing pulleys/crank seal/cam seal/oil pump and its seal, radiator/ps steering/trans fluids, a rack and pinion rubber bellow, trans nuetral/safety switch, rear sway bar bushings, front engine mount, both cv axles, new tires, alignment, new battery, charged the a/c, and upgraded the upper engine dogbone mount to the newer style.
I also did some paint work (hood and rear quarter rust).
I did it ALL myself (except tires and alignment) which, as you can imagine, took some time to do. I just fixed the most important stuff first and then moved on from there. I probably have 40-50 hours of my own labor into it.
One other thing I had a snag with and needed professional help is since I live in the salt belt, I was unable to get the passenger cv axle out of the carrier bearing bracket, but it was still doable by removing the axle along w/ the bracket that holds the bearing, but it wasn't easy since that bracket has dowel pins you have to fight with. Then I had a local tire shop remove the cv axle/bearing assembly from the bracket with their torch.
Now that all that is done I'm not afraid to take it anywhere.

[zythr]

Originally Posted by 69GTSport

I picked up my '95 for $2300 and it needed alot of work to make it so that I would feel comfortable driving it anywhere even though it had only 109K miles on it.
The low pedal travel is probably just the rear brakes needing cleaning and then adjusting. Mine were the same way and I also had the drums turned to get rid of a pulsation.
Here's an idea of what I have put into my '95: wiper blades, some light bulbs, serpentine belts, front brake pads/rotors, valve cover gasket, spark plugs/wires/distributor cap/rotor, the timing belt/tensioner spring/waterpump/t-stat/timing belt bearing pulleys/crank seal/cam seal/oil pump and its seal, radiator/ps steering/trans fluids, a rack and pinion rubber bellow, trans nuetral/safety switch, rear sway bar bushings, front engine mount, both cv axles, new tires, alignment, new battery, charged the a/c, and upgraded the upper engine dogbone mount to the newer style.
I also did some paint work (hood and rear quarter rust).
I did it ALL myself (except tires and alignment) which, as you can imagine, took some time to do. I just fixed the most important stuff first and then moved on from there. I probably have 40-50 hours of my own labor into it.
One other thing I had a snag with and needed professional help is since I live in the salt belt, I was unable to get the passenger cv axle out of the carrier bearing, but it was still doable by removing it along w/ the bracket that holds the bearing, but it wasn't easy since that bracket has dowel pins you have to fight with. Then I had a local tire shop remove the cv axle and bearing assembly from the bracket with their torch.
Now that all that is done I'm not afraid to take it anywhere.

In short, you rebuilt the car?

[projektvertx]

Originally Posted by zythr

In short, you rebuilt the car?

I wonder what you would say if you saw a list of things I've done

[73sport]

In late 05, I paid 3400 for the 1MZ SE version with 140,000miles on it. I knew going in to it it needed Rack and both axles due to boot loss (only one was bad tho).

I'd make sure it passes DEQ, no engine light on, change the tranny fluid and find out why someone thought it needed a HG. Does it leak to the outside and run down the block somewhere?

As said, after that its all normal wear and tear you'll find on cars of this age.

Do Safety related items and items like the HG (if needed) so you don't kill it by over heating etc, and then pick off the other items as your budget permits.

Best of luck!