New Camry owner here, got a couple Q's

[ghunt]

Hey everyone, I just bought a '97 Camry LE a couple days ago for a winter driver (not taking my Mustang out in the snow!). I think it will probably be the nicest "beater" I've ever had

I'm working on a couple issues with the car.

The biggest one is that the intermittent wipers only have one speed. Is that the motor, the switch, or the relay?

The other is that the driver's side front wheel has some "wiggle" in it that I suspect is a wheel bearing going bad. But before I tear into things I was curious as to how the wheel bearings are in these cars? I looked them up on rockauto and they look like some kind of small unit bearings or something. Are they pressed in?

Oh yeah, one more thing...is the Chiltons for these worth getting? I got one for my old truck and it was worthless, but the one I got for my old Mustang years ago was awesome.

Thanks

[BMR]

On my LE Camry, the intermittent wiper setting has only one speed. Not sure if/when it changed. Yours might be the same.

Here's a DIY for replacing the front wheel bearing. In a nutshell, they're pressed into the steering knuckle. So that has to come out so it can be put in a multi-ton hydraulic press to replace them. As for the part, you can buy the bearing with or without the hub. The hub with the wheel lug bolts in it is pressed into the bearing. Sometimes they're OK and can be reused, sometimes not. Impossible to know until it's out.

Dunno about the Chiltons manual. I've got a Haynes, and it's mostly good. But not great. Sometimes it'll tell you to "remove the vacuum fromulator valve" without telling you where it is or how. The factory service manual (FSM) would be best.

[ghunt]

The guy I bought the car from told me it had lost the intermittent speeds in the last year or so. I'd just like to know which component the problem lies in. The wipers don't "park" when you turn them off either.

As for the bearings...well, poop. I'm guessing it's not possible to use a ball joint press to do the job?

Might have to invest in a press, if a shop wants to charge $30-ish a pop to press out the old and press in the new.

[capnblinski]

The guy I bought the car from told me it had lost the intermittent speeds in the last year or so. I'd just like to know which component the problem lies in. The wipers don't "park" when you turn them off either.

Here's what I read on TN:

By removing the motor ass'y (easy) and opening up the plastic cover
(3 Torx screws, 1 broke during process, corrosion), I found inside a
PC board with 2 contacts facing each other.
A flexible blade (a mini-wiper itself controlled by a tiny cam) was broken.
I soldered the blade (not easy) to its other half mounted on the PCB.
My wipers are working now as they should: I regained the intermittent mode
and they also park correctly.
The entire job took me 2 hours and $0.00.
By soldering that blade, some of its flexibility was lost and I wouldn't be surprised
if one day it'll break again. But who's perfect?

Hope this helps.