What's wrong with my Camry

[The Stig]

Hey

I drive a 2005 Camry LE with the 2.4 4cyl and automatic transmission. The car has 85000km's and to be quite honest is falling appart. Currently the car is shift really heavily and missing shifts between 2 and 3rd gear. When the car shifts sometimes it either rev's out then shifts, or it will shift really hard (enough to throw you forward in your seat). This is the 3rd transmission in the car since we bought it new, as well all the computers have been reprogrammed and replaced on the transmission. I've had the car in about 4 or 5 times to the dealer and they keep telling me that this hard shifting is completly normal for a camry... I can't quite belive this.

Does anybody know whats going on with my transmission, my warrenty is up in 15000km's and i'd like to get the problem sorted, the dealer keeps telling me it's normal for camry's to be this rough??

Since i've had my camry here's a list of things i've had to replace:

Front upper and lower A-Arms
Front and rear sway bars
All bushings in front end
New Computer
New ABS computer system
3 transmissions
All electronics on the transmission
New wiring harness in the dash board
All new brake lines

Wondering If anybody else has had these troubles or do i just have a lemon??

[gdanaher]

It sounds like a lemon to me, and guessing from your location, there aren't many dealers to choose from when it comes to service. I'd suggest getting an extended warranty but I suspect you needed to get that before the bumper to bumper expired, and that's long past now. See if there are any reputable after market warranties that might cover the power train.

Contact and talk to someone at Toyota Canada and see if they will provide another transmission. Can't hurt to ask.

[workerant]

Mine also have problem with 2nd and 3rd gear and especially when the engine is still cold + cold weather. Since they replace the transmission it is less. I'll see about it this year since last they did it during springtime.

[BlackCamSe]

mines fine..a bit on the slow side, actlualy on the very slow side.. but it hasent given me any problems

[CharmCityES]

sounds like a lemon to me
ive heard of hard shifting and hesitation with the gen 5 4cyls with the 5speed auto, but most of those issues are related to the DBW (drive by wire) throttle....
i have an 03 SE I-4 with 51k and i havent had any issues at all

[ucisilentbob]

The third transmission alone should make you eligible in most states to file for the lemon law. Push for it, you can use that money for a Gen 6.

[TRD VVTi]

Wow that's a lot of stuff. It could be a lemon (unlikely), or a loose nut behind the wheel (more likely).

Sell it if you don't like it.

If it's causing you that many problems and you don't like it, why would you keep it?

[The Stig]

Trust me it ain't a loose nut behind the wheel, had a bad scare bout 2.5 years ago, since then i've been a very very tame driver. Why don't i get rid of it??? because i own the car = NO PAYMENTS!!! it's nice to not have car payments, i like my money more than my car. Even though a Black Camry SE with the 17" wheels would look real nice in my driveway.

So according to the responses i'm getting, this is not a common problem with these cars. Is there any options with regards to the aftermarket to reprogramme the shift points, or anything i can get my dealer to do to resolve this issue.

BTW, I already have Toyota Canada involved. They told me that untill my current transmission kicks the bucket then they ain't gonna do squat...Even though it's my third.

Any other suggestons would be appreciated.

[eyeball96]

I'm curious, what was the problem they corrected, by replacing front and rear sway bars, and the other suspension parts? And why brake lines?

[skyxliner]

that is no doubt a lemon car. if you live in California they make it convenient.

u need to send the car in for 3 repairs or something like that...

you gotta sue and get your money back man, i would of recalled this car on the first few repairs.

[marc780]

BTW, I already have Toyota Canada involved. They told me that untill my current transmission kicks the bucket then they ain't gonna do squat...Even though it's my third.

Did you get all of these transmissions from the very same place? If so, it sounds to me like maybe they use a chimp for rebuilding the transmissions or something!

3 (THREE) bad transmissions in this many miles, it seems to me something is very wrong here. The transmissions they are throwing in your car haven't been rebuilt right. And they are no doubt too cheap to put in a new one even after 3 bad ones. Cheap bastids, i'd get a trans from somebody else! Because somebody in the repair dept doesnt know what the hell they are doing here.

[The Stig]

Three different transmissions, Three different Toyota dealers across the island. The first 2 were because, I'm pretty sure, they rushed my car big time. The third trans that is currently in her now and on it's last legs. I have a hunch that it is caused because of the driving conditions i was driving in. Where i happened to work involved a 1500m Climb up a very steep hill on a daily basis. I've resided that this one was not so much the fault of the dealer. But what gets me is Toyota wants nothing to do with me. I happened to be driving across the province 4 days after the 2nd transmission was installed when that trans up and quit, leaving me with 4th gear, reverse and park. Then when i called the dealer that serviced the car they told me "sorry sir but it's not our problem, your out of our local service area. We could help you but you'll have to have the car towed to us at the cost of approx $500." They wanted nothing to do with helping me out, even though they installed the transmission 4 days earlier.

Now my third trans is slipping bad and flairing, i brought it back to the dealer and here is word for word what they told me about the problem: "Sir we checked you're computer for any codes and couldn't find any errors in the transmission. Though we did take the car for a test drive and we know there is something wrong with it.....but because the computer couldn't tell us anything then we don't know what it is...thet'll be $83 for tech time." They know there's something wrong but can't tell me what because the computer isn't telling anything, do they know how to turn a wrench???? I'm begining to wonder?

[desentrix]

One word:

Sue.