Camry quality disappoints, again !!

[optical]

First my mother's 2004 Camry with 22,000 miles has a bad water pump, luckily covered by 5/60 powertrain.

Now my 2005 Camry with 42,000 miles and almost three years old leaves me and my family stranded on Interstate 91 at 5:30 rush-hour. The battery lights comes on, the smell of rubber, and seconds later the temp needle maxes out. The serpentine belt came off, not broken. The alternator pulley is wobbling. It was towed to the nearest Toyota dealer.

Has this happened to anyone else?

How should I go about having the repair covered by Toyota along with paying for the towing?

[ebumdude]

First of all, sorry to hear about you and your family being stranded on an interstate. Especially during traffic. That really blows.

2: It is probably just the nut on the pully that was loose which caused the belt to slip. The belt slipped off, causing your fan not to keep your stuff cool, which in turn caused the temp needle to max out.

3: I have no idea about towing expenses being covered.

I don't know of anyone else this has happened to, maybe someone else can chime in with better info.

Good luck, and sorry to hear about your troubles.

[touringcamry]

Is that covered under power train warranty? I recently changed the serpentine belt on a 2AZ-FE with 75000 miles and 5 years old. Never had an issue with the belt breaking or coming off on that car.

[Aceventura9586]

Have you had any work or checkup done recently to the belt or the pulley? Cuz it could be a work quality error by a mechanic

[njerald]

There is no mechanical piece of equipment with thousands of parts that is perfect.

The sooner you understand that, the less stress you will have.

If your warranty is still in effect, you are okay. If not, just a few $$$$$$$.

[xpeed]

Ooo, never had that happened to me yet and I'm reaching 55k miles soon.

[theslowone]

i put 170k miles on ym 97 es300 and not one motor problem(1mz) well if u caount a starter at 120000miles

now i was driving my sister mazda protege 5 and had both drive belts fly off on me at 45000 miles, i ended up walkin about 6 miles (round trip) in about 95-100 degree weahter last summer bouth the belts and changed then in about 20 minites.not counting the walk.

water pump is a wear item, the leak sometimes, at least it dint leak on a timeing belt and make it slip.

i know on my tacoma and the mp5 , u have to manually adjust the belt tension. is the camry the same way?

[optical]

Originally Posted by njerald

There is no mechanical piece of equipment with thousands of parts that is perfect.

The sooner you understand that, the less stress you will have.

If your warranty is still in effect, you are okay. If not, just a few $$$$$$$.

The issue at hand is the expectation of superior quality of a Toyota vehicle. This is the reason every single Toyota owner has paid a premium over comparable vehicles in the market today and we did not purchase a car from the "big three"!!

As issues arise I am realizing that "toyota Quality" is more a perception than actual fact.

[eyeball96]

Have u had other problems with the 05? Or is this the first?

[TRD VVTi]

Originally Posted by optical

The issue at hand is the expectation of superior quality of a Toyota vehicle. This is the reason every single Toyota owner has paid a premium over comparable vehicles in the market today and we did not purchase a car from the "big three"!!

As issues arise I am realizing that "toyota Quality" is more a perception than actual fact.

The Camry doesn't exactly cost a "premium" over other vehicles as you state. They are relatively inexpensive.

You can easily get Toyota to cover the towing and repairs but submitting your extended warranty information to them. If you don't have an extended warranty, you'll probably have to pay for the repairs to the car because it's yours. Life is kind of crazy like that.

Having one problem with a car that's 4 years old, and one problem with a car that's 3 years old isn't exactly awful. I don't believe there is a car in existance that can meet your expectations.

EDIT: Apparently this is your second problem with your car. The other one (waterpump) was covered under warranty but you still complained about it anyways.

Originally Posted by optical

Is it normal for the oil to splash out of the oil fill hole on top of the engine, with the engine running, if the oil cap is removed? Soemone said that the engine pressure/suction should not be forcing the oil out of the oil fill hole.

You spend too much brain power hating your car...

[eyeball96]

The water pump problem was his momma's car!

[TRD VVTi]

Originally Posted by eyeball96

The water pump problem was his momma's car!

Duh! I had a brain fart.

I was looking at a different thread and got mixed up. Apparently his momma's free waterpump replacement still has him wound up and he just can't forget about it.



Wow, one problem in three years makes a poor quality car...

[Twisted Sid]

if you dont like the Toyota quality, then sell the cars. then go buy either something that you will spend more and and think it will last longer like a Mercades or a BMW and then have a heart attack when something does brake and you see what the dealer changers you to fix it. or go spend less on something like a Kia that you know the quality is crap so your not disappointed then when something brakes or wears out.