My daughter is 2000 miles away in grad school and has this older Camry 4 cyl. , 5 speed, that started running badly, on 3 cylinders I guess, so she took it to the local shop that people on campus said was good and honest to have them look at it. They told her it has a breathing problem and would cost $600-$1000 to fix it. They may have told her what they thought the problems are but she doesn't know about cars so it would have been gibberish to her. I have heard over the years that 4 cyl. Camrys from the late 80's had problems in the intake system but I don't remember the details, and looking through past posts I don't see anything that sounds like what the problem may be.
The car is in better than average condition for the age at about 130k miles, no rust or damage, new tires with about 10k on them, and has been very reliable up to this problem. I'm thinking it might be better to fix the car even as old as it is due to the overall condition rather than replace it with an unknown used car.
I realize I'm being vague and that I haven't talked to the shop she took her car to, but I'm thinking this may be a common problem with the car at the mileage and that someone may have experience that I can learn from. I'd like to have more background before I do talk to the shop. I worked on foreign cars in the 60'c and 70's so I'll understand any advice anyone can give me. Thanks for your help.