Upgraded to a Gen5 Camry, few Q's...

[jermag24]

Just sold my wife's 98 Camry CE base model with 156k miles and found a sweet deal on an 04 Camry XLE fully loaded with 45,000 miles. An older retired guy bought it new and recently traded it for a Lexus, BTW Lexus dealerships are a good place to find good used trade-ins.

First question: What's the cleanest way to remove the oil filter? I see it's tucked in under the exhaust, and will run oil down the front of the engine. Any tricks? I might try punching a hole in it to let it drain like I did for the Gen 4 I4 engine.

Second question: Is there somewhere I can get a free .pdf service manual for it? I scored a 3000 page .pdf dealer service manual for my '06 Ram and was hoping to find something free for the Camry.

Third question: What sort of general advice can you give me about issues I might see in the future, or tricks so I can do my own maintenance.

Thanks!

[GT-R]

http://camrystuff.com/

And choose your Gen.

[jermag24]

Originally Posted by GT-R

http://camrystuff.com/

And choose your Gen.

Thanks, that's perfect.

Any sites to check for TSB's or will the Toyota website have them?

[GT-R]

For TSB websites, I don't know.

There is a member here who posted a couple of TSB's for the Gen 6, you might wanna search and look it up. I think it was ngerald who posted those kind of stuff.

But I don't know if there is a TSB for the Gen 5.

[jermag24]

Any tricks to replacing the oil filter without making a mess? How about mechanical issues with the 04 Camry's?

BTW, it has the 3.0L V6.

[xpeed]

Hmmm, if you had the 2.4 I4, I could give you advice on the mechanics, but since you have a V6, I can't do much. As for the oil filters, just place a tray or oil collector under your car and unscrew the oil filter. There's no way to do it clean, just do it quick and let the oil filter fall out in the tray and some oil will spill out for couple of seconds. After that, just clean it up with some towels and you're set.

[Netforcer]

njerald

[islandboy57]

I haven't found a clean way with the V6 to remove the oil filter, so I just unscrew it as quickly as possible and remember to hold it upright so I keep whatever oil is in the filter, in the filter.

As far as problems - the steering intermediate shaft is a common one, there's a TSB out on that. I don't think you'll have very much trouble with the car other than that. Talk about an upgrade! A '98 CE I4 to an '04 XLE V6!

[Asteroid]

On my diesel Corolla I used to wrap a plastic bag around the oil filter and mount to catch most of the oil. It was a right nuisance on that car as the filter was HUGE and had a long thread, so it would dump most of the oil before I had the thing unscrewed.

[carlo$]

Congrats on your purchase. For 30 usd I take it to walmart for oil changes. BTW, how do you know an older person traded it in?

[jermag24]

Thanks for the tips, that bag idea seems good since there isn't much room to handle the filter. I can just see myself trying to keep the filter upright, then oil makes it slippery and suddenly the filter falls out and throws dirty oil everywhere (my luck).

It is a HUGE upgrade for us, my wife's dad picked out the '98 Camry for her before we were married and it must have been in a flood. It always smelled like mildew, most of the rubber parts on the car were dried and cracking, and the trunk had water under the spare tire too.

The dealership told me the '04 XLE had an older owner (I know they'll say anything), but it is 5 years old with 45,000 miles, and the owners manual has highlighting in it like the owner carefully read it. Only a mature person would do that!

Oh, and as far as Walmart goes; I don't think I'd let them check my tire pressure. I usually do my own maintenance, but otherwise I'll take it to an import maintenance facility with trained techs.

[xpeed]

^ I highlight my manual too. So does that mean I'm a mature 24 year old person? Haha, joking aside, the plastic bag is a great idea.

[islandboy57]

Originally Posted by xpeed

^ I highlight my manual too. So does that mean I'm a mature 24 year old person? Haha, joking aside, the plastic bag is a great idea.

that means you're old, period. Ha ha! Nah, I read my manual cover to cover but didn't see anything that needed highlighting. Now the only time I look at it is to reference the specs and capacities at the end of the manual - definitely comes in handy.

[ScrooYoo]

Here's a little shortcut I discovered a while ago: you don't have to jack up your car to change your oil. My last 20 or so oil changes I just lay flat on my back and everything is very easily accessible with plenty of room to work. saves a lot of time and effort and is probably a bit safer anyways.

re: the oil filter, other than draining all the oil before removing the filter (i have seen people take out their filter first, lol) I can't think of anything. The poking a hole thing is an interesting idea, but there's usually not that much of a mess anyways.

Also, I think there is a recent thread about this somewhere, but when you replace your rotors don't expect them to come off easily. Last thing, if your steering wheel starts to squeak then you need to lubricate the metal cylinder thing above the gas and brake pedals.

Other than that, the Gen 5 camry is pretty dead reliable and trouble free. Congrats & enjoy.

[jermag24]

That's funny you mention the squeaky steering wheel, my sister-in-law's 2000 Camry is doing that. I'll have to shoot some lube in there!

Thanks for the oil change tip, one reason I bought it was I could tell I could change the oil without jacking it up. On the '98 Camry I4 we just sold I would drain the oil and then punch a hole in the top of the oil filter to break the vacuum in it. The oil would then drain out through the engine and I wouldn't spill a drop taking the filter off.

Thanks for the tips guys, and YES reading the manual makes you mature (and a good car owner). It seems like people are becoming more and more clueless about maintaining their cars...