I have a '98 4 cyl Camry, with 40300 miles, I bought it new. I have decided to keep it. I have had 4 new struts, radiator and auto trans flushed. Tires and battery are new. My brake pedal indicates brake repair.What else needs repair or replacement for the long haul? What does a good brake job consists of and what is a reasonable cost?
Your manual is thorough for milage and time, just follow it, you have alot to do just based on years of service.
I know it's 11 years old, but 40K miles and a new radiator already? Radiators do go out but probably not before 100K miles. So keep an eye on coolant changes (preferably Toyota Red and distilled water only), the radiator cap and thermostat too if you intend to keep it longer, because if the water pump seizes and engine overheats, then it's pretty much the end of it.
For an 11 yo car, the thing is with rubber deterioration. It ages, drive or parked, period. When it hardens in a transmission and causes an internal leak, for example, then that's that. So things like timing belt, water pump, oil seals, valve cover gasket, all coolant hoses need to be checked in addition to the regular maintenance items. I'd also have the Aisin A140E transmission pan dropped, wiped clean, magnets cleaned, and put a new strainer on there (a Fram ATF kit is only about $15-20). But cleanliness and accuracy is important with transmissions, so the shop doesn't cost you a transmission. I'd change out the $20 fuel filter by the air filter housing as well, be careful about the flare nut seizing to the filter -- twisted hose while taking it off.
Brake system: you should flush the brake fluid ($8/quart, but dealer charges ~$100 to do) every 2 years, especially if you have ABS. You should *not* need to touch the rotors if they have no warpage or scoring. Brake pads: just go with Akebono ProAct cermaic. The Toyota pads made by Akebono are a cheaper version (EE friction rating vs the FF for ProAct). Labor should be ~$60 per axle. So pads replacement only, front and rear, shouldn't be more than ~$220+tax.
Unfortunately, most of what you pay a mechanic to do goes to profit. Parts are like I have a '98 4 cyl Camry, with 40300 miles, I bought it new. I have decid= ed
4,000 miles per year? I'd say the best thing you could do for it would be to drive it more.
Why? Drive for that reason? Silly.
Good advice.
It's not so much how many miles you drive as how you drive. I've put as little as 2k miles per year on some of my cars, but I always make sure that when I run them, I run them long enough for the engine to get hot and burn off all condensates. I get literally decades out of cars that way. Short trips are hard on cars no matter how many miles total you drive, and longer runs (at least 10 minutes, preferably more, with at least some of it under significant load like highway driving or hill climbing, are better even when you don't rack up a lot of miles.
I don't believe anyone has mentioned replacing the water pump and timing belt. Although far below the recommended mileage, age will have deteriorated the belt and it is always wise to replace the water pump at the same time to avoid duplicate labor charges.
Thanks to everyone that responded with good points.
I have 1999 camry 4 with 180,000 + miles and have the same struts, I have gone through several tire sets and oil changes. Muffler was changed because it suffered damage not wear. The shift lever cable broke and new front pads and rotors. Other than that just regular maintenance.
If you live where Calcium Chloride is put on roads because it gets real cold check brake and fuel lines, mine rusted through at about 12 years.
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