New (To Me) Camry

[renmike]

Hey all,

I picked up a 1995 Camry with the 4 cyl (5sfe) from a co-worker a couple of weeks ago. I bought it with a rod knock knowing it would have to get a new engine, but for the price, I could not pass up a car that was otherwise very well maintained. Actually, that's probably why it lasted 267,000 miles in the first place, lol.

Anyways, I've been looking a few local pull-a-parts in the area and will probably pick up an engine this weekend. I know to look for the usual when it comes to pulling an engine (as low as miles as possible, remove the valve cover, oil pan (if possible), make sure the engine will rotate by hand (w/breaker bar, of course). I just wanted to ask if there's anything else with these engines I should keep my eye out for.

Also, when I do get one and get it home, what all should I replace before I pull out the bad engine and drop this one in? I'm thinking at least the following:

Water Pump
Timing belt
Thermostat
Spark Plugs (Denso? I don't know what came on there originally)
Timing cover/front engine seals
Exhaust manifold gaskets
Engine Oil and Filter (Mobil 1 and prolly the Oil Filter Toyota sells me or a Mobil 1 Filter)

I'll probably go with some RTV sealant on the Oil Pan instead of the felpro gasket (I took the one off of the engine I have, and that's all it had). I will also change out the transmission filter just to be safe. I also plan to change out the positive and negative cables with some a little bit thicker as well.

[marc780]

Buying a used engine without seeing it run? Thats a bit of a gamble, but if this is what you are going to do, pull out all the spark plugs and examine the tips. Tan or light gray is good, fluffy black is questionable, oily is a deal breaker because it means the rings and/or valves are shot.
Since you are pulling off the valve cover you know what to look for, maybe even measure the valve clearance too while youre in there. Not to adjust them of course, but to see how bad valve train wear is on the engine in question. Good luck on that deal renmike!

[renmike]

Well, people who I work/worked with (I used to be a heavy equipment mechanic before I got my IT job) have went the pull-a-part route as have I in the past with a decent amount of success. My personal experience tends me to look for cars/trucks that have been rear ended and totaled out that way, leading them to those places. I went looking at one of the local yards last weekend, and I found three 3rd gen camry's with the 2.2 engine (a bunch of the 2.0 2nd gens) but the lowest milage I could find there was 150k, which was a little too high for me. There's another place that's newer and looks much better kept that I'm checking out this weekend before making a final decision. And, the most they charge for an engine with accessories at those places is $250.00 with the core charge for the complete engine and all accessories still attached. And if I feel like splurging, I could pull the tranny with it for another 45 dollars. When I get it home, I am going to get deeper into it and possibly check out more tolarances before I put it in.

[Kep]

Since the engine will be out of the car, how hard would it be to go ahead and put in a new, good quality, head gasket? Just asking, don't know. Also, thoroughly clean the EGR system (valve, actuator, vertical supply pipe, hoses), throttle body, and IAC valve. Seriously consider replacing vacuum hoses, main seals, and there's some gasket around the oil filter that I understand can leak. While the engine is out you would have easy access to the rack and pinion for any service there. I'm sure that there is more. Oh yeah, clean the engine compartment and radiator!


Kep

[renmike]

The hoses on the car look fairly new, but I'm going do an in-depth inspection as I'm pulling the old engine. And the engine compartment will be squeaky-clean before the next engine goes in, as well as the engine will look as fresh as it can be, too.

I never thought about checking the steering components while the engine was out, great idea! I'd like to be able to get the engine this weekend, because next weekend my employee discount will let me get some needed parts pretty cheap (I won't say who's corporate office I work for. If you see my location, you'll prolly figure it out, just don't curse me out on it, lol. So, I'm not one of their store salespeople, and I've been around enough parts stores I know what to get where...)

I do appreciate the suggestions. I've always had GM's or another domestic vehicle of some sort, so while I know of Toyota's reliability, I just wanted to know what issues I needed to keep an eye out for on this particular engine.

[-SCWEET1-]

Good for you!!! What are you going to do to it?

[nevanerviss]

Hey renmike, when you pull out your old engine + trans, would you consider selling me your speed sensor? Either that or pull one off for me at the "pull-your-parts" place? I have the same engine and trans you do...

[renmike]

I'll try to get couple if I can while I'm out there. Do you have a pic of what exactly I'm looking for (location, etc)? I'd like to be able to keep whatever I can from the engine I pull as spare parts, because eventhough there was enough metal in the oil pan to make anyone sick, there weren't any leaks whatsoever so I'm hoping that other components were still in decent condition (external engine and such).

For right now, I just want a reliable car that'll give me decent gas milage. I've had an S10 pickup for years now, and I'm looking to get into something with a little bit more interior space, that'll be low in cost of maintenance and that'll be fairly cheap on insurance as well.

FYI, if there's anyone in the Memphis TN area looking for a project v6 swap or just parts, there was a complete 95 or 96 v6 (hit in the rear, 120k miles) at the pull-a-part on Mitchell Rd. If it didn't have locking wheel nuts on the rear, I would've pulled the rear brakes off when I saw it. Still might, if time allows...

[shingouki808]

Just a thought, you might want to replace all the gaskets, and diffenately the timing belt. If you get the time and the equipment, do a compresion test and when you take off the head check the valve springs. Those are usually the first things I check for when I buy used blocks. Let us know how it works out bro.

[renmike]

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I am about to head out to start my search, I'll keep everyone posted!!!

[Your Uncle Moe]

Originally Posted by renmike

Well, people who I work/worked with (I used to be a heavy equipment mechanic before I got my IT job) have went the pull-a-part route as have I in the past with a decent amount of success. My personal experience tends me to look for cars/trucks that have been rear ended and totaled out that way, leading them to those places. I went looking at one of the local yards last weekend, and I found three 3rd gen camry's with the 2.2 engine (a bunch of the 2.0 2nd gens) but the lowest milage I could find there was 150k, which was a little too high for me. There's another place that's newer and looks much better kept that I'm checking out this weekend before making a final decision. And, the most they charge for an engine with accessories at those places is $250.00 with the core charge for the complete engine and all accessories still attached. And if I feel like splurging, I could pull the tranny with it for another 45 dollars. When I get it home, I am going to get deeper into it and possibly check out more tolarances before I put it in.

If you wanan splurge, why dont u get the V6 with the tranny? You Wont be dissapointed.

[renmike]

Well, I got back home by noon...

The first place I went to had 3 Camrys, all without engines...I did find a really nice 93 celica gt with only 82,000 miles on it, but when I raised the hood, everything had been burned to a crisp...

Then, across town, they had two 4 cyl camry's and a 92 celica gt with the 5sfe in it. I checked them all out.

One Camry had a ton of sludge when I took off the valce cover, so I passed on it.

The other Camry, the engine was just sitting there without the accessories or tranny. Looked clean when I took off the valve cover and oil pan, but when I tried to turn it over... I'd get like a quarter-turn (maybe that much) and it'd just hang. Makes me thing its got internal problems I just can't see. So, i took that as a sign that I didn't need that one, either.

I went over to the celica, looked okay under the valve cover, but there were leaks everywhere and the odometer read 219,000 miles, so I went ahead and called it a day. Talked to one of the manager's there, he told me that there were at least 3 more camry's in the back, but they wouldn't be put out on the line for another week or two. He wouldn't let me go back and see them, and told me that if they're in nice enough shape, that he'd prolly move them on to another one of their yards in arkansas, where they're a full service yard, meaning they'll charge more for the parts anyways.

So for the time being, I'm back to square 1. I'm seriously considering tearing mine down, getting it checked to see how much life is left in the block, and just putting in a rebuild kit and going from there, but I dunno.

EDIT: The v6 I saw last week had been crushed :-( They told me that it had sat out there for a couple of months, and they had to make room for more vehicles... argh

[renmike]

Here's an update:

After calling around again this week, I checked the local pull-a-part yard this evening. They had four more camry's, all 4 cyl, and one even had rear disc brakes , but upon looking, they all had over 200k miles, and three of the four looked pretty much picked clean already.

So, after calling a couple of machine shops I've dealt with in the past, I'm just going to go ahead and get the blocked checked out and just rebuild it myself, no biggie.

Now, here's my question. I have never rebuilt an OHC engine, and it actually looks a bit easier than engines I've dealt with in the past. In theory, just to get the block stripped down asap, could I just remove the head with the intake and exhaust manifolds attached? Just like, unbolt the head and lift them all up as a group?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[Kep]

renmike,

ebay usually has engines for sale. Some even come with warrantees. You might want to consider those. I don't know about your area but we have a Japanese engine guy here in Houston that sells the same type of engines. More expensive but then no shipping. These are engines from Japan that are supposedly around 60,000 to 80,000 miles. The story that I have heard is that Japan's polution laws are such that they have to replace engines in order to continue to use the car. It might be worth checking into.

Also, please take plenty of pictures. Maybe you can put a presentation together on the procedure.

Kep

[renmike]

Well, I tore down the engine this morning. What I went ahead and did was pull the head with the manifolds attached. It looked really clean, but I could see a couple of areas where the dreaded sludge I've read about had bulit up. It was quite heavy, but I didn't have to disconnect too many wires and pretty much kept a lot of things together (I have a bad habit of losing things here and there). The piston tops looked like what I would expect from a 267,000 mile engine. A slight ridge about 10mm down the cylinder walls, nothing a .0010 bore wouldn't fix, if the machine shop deems that necessary.

Disconnected the transmission, set it aside. Forgot it had fluid in it, so now there's a little trail from the carport to the backyard where I put it. Oil-dried that, then removed the oil pump. It's the original Toyota-Aisin (sp) pump it looks, and the gear seems to still be pretty tight, but I'm going to go ahead and get a new one anyways. Now I went ahead and turned the engine over and after removing the flywheel and torque converter, removed the rear main ass'y. With all that off, I began to loosen main caps. They all looked pretty decent, no scoring of any sort on the mains. But, that had me puzzled until I started removing the rod caps...






Ouch. I actually called a couple of fellow mechanics to take a look at this one. All I can guess is that somehow it got starved of oil, but now (I don't know the oiling pattern of this engine). When I ran a wire through the oiling galley on the crank, and it was clean.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks