Interesting talk with Toyota

then to a dealership here in

non-interference engine or not.

To whom at Toyota did you talk?

Why do you think they would know?

BTW, the really important thing to know is the change interval, so you change the belt when you need to.

Jeff

HUH?!?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!?!

What do you mean, "Why do you think they would know"? Because they're Customer Care, and they should know what the hell they're selling!

Seems to me like Toyota needs to either train their personnel or get people that either know the answer or know how to *GET* the answer!

I have noticed over the years that the level of Customer Care has gone from people that know the product to people that know how to answer phones. Out of the last 4 times I had to call Customer care, one woman and one guy knew what I was asking or knew where to get the answer, and the other 2 calls were futile. 50%

Now I call TRD. The guys there know the cars well and can answer a LOT of questions...probably because they're Motorheads themselves...

Those are technical questions that the costumer care people might not know. In fact, we don't to whom the OP was speaking. Unfortunately, the car makers don't have online service manuals.

I really doubt that the costumer care people can be expected to know what an interference engine is. However, they should have been able to forward the question to a technical person with the knowledge.

That's an n of 4. Not much. There are a lot of different things to know about the products.

A place called TRD? Isn't that another name for a poopy?

Most people are not motorheads. Costumer care is not designed to answer motorhead questions.

Jeff

Yes, they do...funny, the one for Europe came right up in Google:

TIS:

Then they need to hire people that know what a *car* is, *and* take care of customer's concerns.

Years ago when you called Long Beach there were PLENTY of people that knew what they were talking about.

And there are a lot of generics. Like the General Rule of Thumb: if it's a Twin Cam it's Non-Interference, if it's a SOHC, it's probably Interference.

They should have some kind of base level knowledge about cars...

Maybe they'll know what an engine is? But I guess you'll be lucky if anyone in sales or customer care (or sometimes the service dept) can tell you the difference between horsepower and torque. Or the difference between a coil-over and strut. Or the difference between an alternator and a generator. etc etc etc

next; then to a dealership here in

non-interference engine or not.

I believe TRD stands for Toyota Racing Development. haa haa haa haa

I also believe "Toyota racing" is an oxymoron.

Bad bait.

Man, I hate trolls. But personally applied, you got half of your final word correct.

Toyota finished #1 in the Truck series, with Mike Skinner, just like with Motor Trend's Truck of the Year award.

Jeff

He's an oxy? What's that?

I wounder what most of the concerns are about. I doubt most are about technical questions. However, for technical questions, they should have people who know the answers or a computer system with accurate answers.

And the way we know this is not true any more is what? One caller with an ax to grind?

The general rule of thumb is not good enough. The OP was apparently asking about a particular engine, with different configurations (VVT), with some being noninterference and some interference.

Yet, I don't think this is a something that I would expect the first person answer the phone to know. In addition, the answer needs to be definitive. You don't want to give the wrong info. Of course, the right info is to chnge the belt when needed.

Jeff

Jeff: I didn't expect the Toyota 1-800 person to know; but, I did expect a service person at Toyota of Orange (or wherever) to know.

Keith

When you first asked the question, I went to

and looked at the service manual for your vintage Camry. I could not find any information in the manual that indicated whether the engine was an interference design or not. There may be other service information or training that covers this, but I suspect it is not a clear cut situation.

Over the years I've seen this question come up multiple times, and the answer is always ambiguous. Gates indicates V6s after 1997 are interference while people who have other sources of information say they are not (or not until some later date). I suspect that the engines must have very little clearance and that it is so close that some engines may damage valves under some conditions. For instance, an engine with the valves adjusted on the tight side, with piston to valve clearance on the low side, some carbon on the piston, and the belt breaks while the engine is operating at relatively high rpms. The same engine might not actually be an interference engine it checked when cold, but when hot and operating at high speed, it might damage a valve if the belt breaks.

If I was a professional mechanic (I am not) and you asked me this question, I'd tell you to follow the maintenance schedule and not worry about whether or not the engine is an interference engine.

Ed

I am not sure people in CART, F1, and NASCAR would agree.

Ed

Both awards require large injections of money....

Ed

Anybody knows the meaning of the SARD? Toyota's Supra HV-R hybrid race car was an SARD (S__ A__ Racing Development...?)

Also has been kicking serious @$$ in off-roading for YEARS.

Nah. I've been calling Toyota for years and have seen the level of expertise moving from people who knew the product to people that know how to say "No".

Yup. And he has a Twin Cam V6...probably NI

This is true...

NASCAR stock for one, is so far removed from production I wonder about the degree of correlation. Besides Toyota is basically running on GM and Ford talent who jumped ship when Toyota dumped tons of money on them.

Domestic teams complained that they don't have the money to match Toyota's deep pockets. Too bad Toyota didn't have any in-house talent is what I'm saying.