03 SE 5spd New to the forum. Many Problems.. :(

[Balwin]

Hey guys Im new to the forum. The car belongs to my mom, but I wanted to register to learn more about this car. We have owned this car for about 6 months now and we are now figuring out that it is the epitome of a lemon.

We bought the car and it needed 4 new tires, new rotors & pads, and a new windshield. The dealership agreed to replace it prior to sale. It since had needed a clutch, a new front left bearing, and a window regulator.

Now this past weekend I was driving the car to PA because my Accord was in the shop. On the way there the transmission started to develop this problem where it would come out of gear by itself... wth!? So now the transmission needs to be replaced..

And to add further insult to injury, my mom calls me monday night saying the car overheated. We had it towed back to the garage and my buddy and I put a thermostat in there.

We test drive it and then find out.....


THE HEADGASKET BLEW! Im about ready to set fire to the defected POS.

Then my friend calls today(who works at Toyota as a tech) and says that the only other 5th gen that blew a headgasket he has ever seen did it just like our car did..... And it turned out that the threaded holes for the headstuds were stripped.



So now I must take out the motor, have the head inspected and most likely milled, the headstud holes rethreaded in the block, and the transmission replaced.


I am about over this car. The whole reason I chose it is so that we wouldnt have to worry about replacing things often and it is turning out to be a nightmare.


Has anyone else had this much trouble with their 5th gens or is myluck really that bad?



Here is a picture of the little troublemaker.. its a pretty fun car to drive when its not broken.. lol








And heres my beloved accord. I 5 speed swapped it this past summer. Recently I 5lug swapped it with an 11.2" big brake upgrade.

When it was 4 lug with generic wheels:


It now has been 5 lug converted (temporary wheels):


And here is a photoshop of how it will look with my next set of wheels im working on:


Heres my build thread:

http://www.hondasociety.com/board/sh...d.php?t=141674





I look forward to learning more about this camry.. who knows.. I might even lower it one day.. lol

[Glenn8963]

isn't this car still under any "used car warranty".......??
if so, get the dealer to pay for all of it or see if they will split the cost with you.

how many miles are on this car..??
if too many miles, then forgedaboud it, because
there may be MORE internal engine problems, maybe another engine would be the way to go..??

and lastly, please do not "drop the car", after-all you say its your mom's...?? she may not appreciated that very much.

by the way, sometimes when a transmission pops out of gear (manuals) that sometimes means either the motor mounts or transmission mounts are bad, or both........

[gdanaher]

Sorry for your troubles. This can happen when you buy a high mileage car of any make. The head gasket failure seems to be common for cars of your vintage. Search this forum for past threads on the topic. The threads can be repaired without pulling the engine and the head likely does not need to be milled unless it really got hot, but the process is time consuming and expensive. As for the manual transmission jumping out of gear, well obviously it shouldn't but is another symptom of a very high mileage car with a lot of wear. I do hope she paid low dollar for it, because it seems that is still more than it was worth.

damn i feel sorry for u bro. i miss my accord 96 too, my first car

[Punks_Not_Dead5]

You're the first that i have head with so many problems with the Gen 5. Sorry for your luck!

[arabianobsession]

I had pretty much every problem you listed when my husband and I picked up a cheap 95 Sunfire beater. It had 139,000 miles at the time. Although it wasn't a Gen 5 Camry (I have a Gen 6 now, no major problems yet! lol although it only has 1200 miles), it was a pain in the ass. We replaced the head gasket twice, had the head machined, the thermostat, front brakes, coil packs, spark plugs, and wires, battery, alternator, fuel pump, water pump, serpentine belt, tensioner pulley, a couple of rocker studs, and other parts I'm sure I forgot. It also would pop itself out of gear whenever it felt like, especially 5th gear. Oh, and the throttle cable got stuck ALL THE TIME, until we glued the damn thing to the cruise box, which also only worked when it wanted.

We only owned the car for a year. After doing the head gasket a 2nd time, fixing the water pump and fuel pump in a 2 week period, we sold the POS (it had 154,000 miles then). We were never so happy in our life. We just got sick of throwing parts in it on a weekly basis. I think we basically flushed the coolant 5 times that year......

Good luck. I know how it feels.

[gdanaher]

He said it was purchased 6 months ago, and with these problems it must be very high mileage, so no doubt it was an as-is type of deal. For me it would cost much more to fix these issues than to just junk it and start over with something newer/less used. By the time he gets the tranny fixed and the engine repaired he has spent more money than he could ever see as a trade in or sale. Couple with this the other things that should be fixed if the engine is apart. Probably time for a water pump, new hoses, etc. Just more good money after bad. I vote to sell to a junk yard. Hopefully it was purchased with cash and they aren't looking at a loan payoff.

[arabianobsession]

Originally Posted by gdanaher

He said it was purchased 6 months ago, and with these problems it must be very high mileage, so no doubt it was an as-is type of deal. For me it would cost much more to fix these issues than to just junk it and start over with something newer/less used. By the time he gets the tranny fixed and the engine repaired he has spent more money than he could ever see as a trade in or sale. Couple with this the other things that should be fixed if the engine is apart. Probably time for a water pump, new hoses, etc. Just more good money after bad. I vote to sell to a junk yard. Hopefully it was purchased with cash and they aren't looking at a loan payoff.

I would too. Or someone wanting to tinker with it. We bought our POS for $600 and sold it for $800 to a guy who just wanted to take everything apart and put it back together the way it was meant. He didn't care how crappy of a car it was, he had spare time and some spare cash and wanted something to do.

[Punks_Not_Dead5]

Don't junk it! Part it out and make atleast SOME money off it! Those headlights will sell, and the tails. and rims....etc

[gdanaher]

Ah, yes , part it out. But we are looking at a young man with perhaps light duty knowledge of cars and his mother who simply wants to put a key in something and drive away. You on the other hand have the knowledge and TIME to part it. Nah, sell it fast and get something that the mother can drive for awhile. Given it was a daily driver for someone's mother and it was purchased well used and is 7-8 years old, they might not have much money to throw around.

[Punks_Not_Dead5]

That is true.

[Balwin]

The car has 80,000 miles. We bought it with 73,000.

Here my Accord has 180,000 and its running stronger than ever.

We bought the car 6 months ago for nearly $9,000 with a loan from a credit union. So now we have to fix it and she still has to make payments on a non-running car.

There is no used car warranty. The dealership is crooked and he basically told me Im SOL. The place is called Ceylon Auto in Easton, Maryland. Never buy anything from this crooked place.



We are by no means junking the car. She just needs some TLC. Shame on you guys for suggesting the ill fate on this poor unloved car. lol



Im planning to pull out the motor this next week and have a heli-coil installed for each of the stripped holes, the head is going to be milled, and the transmission is going to be changed.

The repair shouldnt cost much since my buddy (who is a toyota tech) and I will be doing all the work..

Im just mad that Toyota had to put the subframe under the engine so that we cant drop it from the bottom.. D:<

Originally Posted by gdanaher

Ah, yes , part it out. But we are looking at a young man with perhaps light duty knowledge of cars and his mother who simply wants to put a key in something and drive away.

yes I am only 20, but did you miss the part where I said I did ALL of the work to my accord myself?

Also, we have a garage and my buddy who works on these cars every day.

[Punks_Not_Dead5]

I was just suggesting the part out cause i want some parts

[arabianobsession]

Originally Posted by Balwin

The car has 80,000 miles. We bought it with 73,000.

Here my Accord has 180,000 and its running stronger than ever.

We bought the car 6 months ago for nearly $9,000 with a loan from a credit union. So now we have to fix it and she still has to make payments on a non-running car.

There is no used car warranty. The dealership is crooked and he basically told me Im SOL. The place is called Ceylon Auto in Easton, Maryland. Never buy anything from this crooked place.



We are by no means junking the car. She just needs some TLC. Shame on you guys for suggesting the ill fate on this poor unloved car. lol



Im planning to pull out the motor this next week and have a heli-coil installed for each of the stripped holes, the head is going to be milled, and the transmission is going to be changed.

The repair shouldnt cost much since my buddy (who is a toyota tech) and I will be doing all the work..

Im just mad that Toyota had to put the subframe under the engine so that we cant drop it from the bottom.. D:<



yes I am only 20, but did you miss the part where I said I did ALL of the work to my accord myself?

Also, we have a garage and my buddy who works on these cars every day.

Good for you. Since you're doing all this work, take a look at the rest of the car and see if anything else needs fixing. Do it all now while it's all torn apart and easily accessible. That way you won't have to tear it apart later

Sorry about your troubles. I hate shady used car lots. I dealt with one when I bought my Sunfire GT Convertible. Luckily I figured out what they were up to and told them I was going to contact the police (they were having illegal pricing cover-ups). They caved, I bought the car, and then called the police anyway. lol

[Balwin]

Originally Posted by arabianobsession

Sorry about your troubles. I hate shady used car lots. I dealt with one when I bought my Sunfire GT Convertible. Luckily I figured out what they were up to and told them I was going to contact the police (they were having illegal pricing cover-ups). They caved, I bought the car, and then called the police anyway. lol

win.