Well, shit was bound to go bad at 162k.

[87Camry5Speed]

Yes I'm about to rant about my car, so if you'd rather not hear it feel free to hit the back button on the browser now.

For the rest of you, here we go...


I had no idea that the front springs actually went bad on our cars- I'm referring to the gen3.5's. The car crashes into and over bumps now, and one pothole the other day was so bad the chassis was quivering. It NEVER did that before. As near as I can tell the struts are still good, so I'll have to get my front springs replaced (not dropping it, just regular 'yota springs). My '87 rode better than this one does right now, and that was on 17 year old springs that were rusted pretty well (in all fairness we did replace the strut cartridges on that one). Honestly, this disappoints me- coil springs are apparently a regular wear item.

My brakes seem to be sticking just a little- you feel this when coming to a stop, when you go to lift off the pedal the brakes keep grabbing for a second or two after they should be and end up with a pretty abrupt stop. I'm guessing I have a sticking caliper- a slider pin in need of lube? Or does this relate to the worn springs and the inertia not transferring off the front end rapidly enough? It does feel like the nose stays down a little too long as the stop is completed.

I have to replace all four engine mounts now, on top of all that. The powertrain jerks quite a bit any time I so much as toe into the gas, and it's hard to drive smoothly in traffic as the car is in one of three states- not shaking when your foot is off the gas or at least 1/4 throttle, or just leaning into it ony to have the car jerk all over. I must look like an idiot to others. The car can be pretty hard to drive.

Are sagging roofliners common on gen3's? My gen2 never sagged at all. Period. Meantime this one has come off all the way down both sides! Fortunately it's still tight at both ends (near the windshields).

Looks like I won't be doing any mods soon, all my money has to go into repair work... on top of that I need to take a summer class, I have #350 worth of NYS teacher exams coming up, and the timing belt has more than 60k on it... I'm trying to plan long term on money management but I'm in trouble! On the bright side, I justifiably can't date now

The car has been good to me, but I'm disappointed by the build quality on this one relative to my old one. Maybe it's because I have a DX? In kenratboy's rant about his gen4 that point was made about the base model being a half-notch below the higher-level trim versions. Well, flame me back if you want, I needed to get this off my chest

Steve

[GaviN]

That sucks for you... My 93 is pushing 231k miles with no probs.. Yea my front right strut is shit but I just turn the radio up. I heard these cars were bad with struts. I too changed all the motor mounts and all 4 struts and got over it

[Edmond]

That sucks major ass. I'm just a few hundred miles shy of 162K and I hope nothing goes wrong. Well, shit has gone wrong already but for the most part, it's been a great car for me.

I'm doing this over the weekend:

radiator-it's leakin

fuel filter-I've never replaced it and is the original one as far as I know

oil change-been putting a lot of miles on it lately

I'm having some squeaking from the suspension.

And the tires need to be replaced.

[cman2000]

hey that sucks dude. sorry to hear all your $ problems. i totally understand. am a student now living off loans, so i try to save as much as possible. can't remember the last time i went ot the movies...$9.50 for a ticket is a ripoff

good luck w/ all the repairs. just be glad you don't have an american car...the stuff my parents went through w/ their ford taurus is worse than what you have...and it all occurred around 40K miles!!!

[CrawlingEye]

Don't think the roof liner sag is very common at all. My car has 161k on the odometer and my liner isn't showing any signs of sagging what-so-ever. Similarly, my springs/struts are in great condition.
I'm not sure if maybe the person prior to you didn't take care of the car very well or what. Either way, I don't think these are very common problems.

Then again, it could be a gen thing, I have a gen3, not the half-gen gen3.5

[em_]

i have 60k miles and when i accelerate from a stop i can hear 1 or 2 engine mounts jerking

it's a pissoff but it can wait a little

[p@nda]

I feel a wobble on my front axle on my gen 3 Camry with 178k miles. Maybe I should get that checked out....

[CrawlingEye]

Originally Posted by em_

i have 60k miles and when i accelerate from a stop i can hear 1 or 2 engine mounts jerking

it's a pissoff but it can wait a little

engine mounts are a wear and tear item, like your tb. not something you'll be changing every couple thousand, but come every 50-60k or so, you'll need to.

[87Camry5Speed]

Well ain't this a pisser- the Camry got the day off and I used the sister's car to go to class (once a week to keep that running and to keep the miles off the Camry). Went to meet some buddies at the diner in the Cam tonight to show off the new clears- hopped in, hit the lights, hit the key and NOTHING. All the dash lights went out. Car would not even turn over. So we have either a battery or alternator issue on top of everything else. FFFFFFUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so pissed off it's unreal. I wanted to get rid of it for the first time in months tonight, and quite frankly it'll be a long time before I trust it more than 30 miles in any direction.

Steve

[Edmond]

I know that feeling. When it rains, it pours. And electrical parts are never cheap. Hopefully, it's the cheapest and easiest thing to do.

I'm having a funny electrical problem. It's more of a minor hassle than a problem. Whenever I step on the brake pedal, the lights will slightly dim and then go back to full. It's been like that for more than 1 1/2 years and I haven't gotten stranded and the car has always started so I'm not looking too much into it.

[GaviN]

That sucks once again.. I tacked 133 miles on my Camry today driving back and forth from my old apt to my new apt and buying various things in between and I had not a problem.. just my struts banging around but Im used to it by now.. Oh, and one more thing, my lights occasionally stay on when I get outta the car..? Im used to them automatically shutting off but for some reason they're staying on ??

That sounds like your alternator 87Camry. You should've push started it Ahh the joys of driving a manual haha

[87Camry5Speed]

idk guys, all I know is that the more I read up on it the more I realize our cars are not blessed with particularly good electrical systems. OR particularly good spring-strut setups. Or trunks that are completely watertight (OK, most of the time). Or motor mounts that actually last a while. I could go on, but the point is that... shit i dont even know I'm half falling asleep as I rant about this. Well, I'll have to investigate tomorrow, dammit
Steve

[Stealth]

Yeah running into some problems now, but if you think about it, it's not really that bad. If you were to compare it to just about any other car, you'd have spent a few extra grand fixing things. My rear struts are pretty bad, hopefully will do all 4 struts and springs in the spring or summer. I think my wires in the passenger side door are fucked. Only the power door lock switch works on that side, which I believe is actually the master side. All the other power window and lock switches don't work at all right now.

[dna59]

That sucks ass for you. Look on the bright side it could be much worse.

[95camguy]

i think its amazing how far car technology has come in the last 20 years or so. i can remember some of my parents cars stalling or not starting. (sure they were american cars) now all we can find to complain about is loud struts and dimming lights. sure every repair costs money but at least cars dont stall and leave you stranded somewhere as much as they used to.

also a BIG part of the suspension problems us camry owners run into is caused by the sorry state of our roads. one of my buddies has a 96 ford ranger and that thing has more suspension noises than any camry ive ridden in. im sure it will be that way for a while to becuase he spends all his money on fixing other stuff in that damned truck.

bottomline: a camry is gonna cost you less per mile on average to maintain than just about any other car on the road. just ask people in the 200k mile club. alot of those cars would never have made it that far if the owner was constantly repairing it.

my $.02