[Jethro Beaudreaux]

Hello Toyota Nation,

I recently purchased a great 2010 Camry LE 4 cyl. Before this I had Volvos and a great T100 work truck I miss dearly.

We are a small family on a budget, our car has about 145k miles on it and runs like a champ. I think this car's too new/modern/computerized for me to do most work on my own, so joining ToyotaNation for advice to help me keep her running for as long as possible.

Thanks!

 

[Gazoo Zapp]

Hi. Decent car. Water pump and oil consumption issues. Did you get a P.P.I?

 

[Gazoo Zapp]

4 cylinder or V6?

 

[guyslp]

If you don't own an OBD reader, and intend to keep this car (or acquire any car of 1996 model year or later) for long term use it's well worth getting one, as it's the starting point for diagnosis (but, I hasten to add, is NOT the answer based on every code you might get).

Even a cheap ELM-based OBD dongle, paired with a smartphone that has the Torque app (or similar), is going to cover the vast majority of the codes that a home DIY mechanic can handle. But if you want to invest in one that can also read ABS, SRS, and other specialized subsystem codes that's not a bad idea, either.

 

[Jethro Beaudreaux]

Hi. Decent car. Water pump and oil consumption issues. Did you get a P.P.I?

We didn't get a PPI but the previous owner is a friend and he always serviced at a dealership, used synthetic oil and we have almost all maintenance records. Unfortunately he also rented it out as a car-share/rental for a little over a year before selling so there's some extra wear and tear on the interior.

I don't have tools or a place to work on cars anymore, so I'll do what maintenance I can and leave most work to a mechanic. But definitely will need help diagnosing issues.

I'll look into an OBD reader. Bang-for-the-Buck wise, any recommendations?

Every once and a while there is a leak, not coolant - seems like water/condensation, and the liquid ends up dripping and pooling up from about the middle of the bottom of the engine. Haven't been able to trace it back to the source.

Sometimes, after first starting the car in the morning, the auto transmission seems to either slip or get confused shifting into 2nd or 3rd gear if I'm light on the accelerator. One time it seemed to slip into neutral and the engine revved. When I took my foot off the accelerator it found the right gear. Any thoughts?

Any Camry-specific signs of a water pump that needs replaced? Sometimes there is a whine from the engine after a cold start, but even in the hot hot summer never had an overheating issue and coolant level is good.

Thank you!

 

[guyslp]

If you really don't intend to do any "heavy duty" maintenance yourself, and you have a smartphone, I really would recommend an ELM-type OBD-II bluetooth dongle (I like my V-Gate one that has an on-off switch, so I can keep it permanently inserted in the port in the car) and an OBD app on a smartphone.

If you're not a smartphone user then virtually any basic OBD-II reader will do. As you go up the feeding chain what generally changes is the classes of codes the reader can read. The basic readers can handle thousands of the most common classes defined by the core OBD standard, but don't do ABS (antilock braking system), SRS (supplemental restraint system - read: airbags), and certain proprietary codes.

I really like the Innova unit I purchased about 10 years ago, but use my smartphone setup more frequently since I don't have to dig the dedicated OBD-II reader. There are times, though, when I do.