Genaral info 95 Camry

Is that really 95k or is this a typo and you should write 195k or 295k ? My 1995 camry has about 246k on its odometer... :-)) in april this year I replaced both driveshafts and last weekend have done all four corners for new struts with my friend on his driveway :-) We had a lot of fun doing this job :-)

Why don't you check the Haynes manual with the real factory service manual available online

?

Well, if the mechanic is not sure than the best thing would be to find some other guy who happens to KNOW what is he doing?

Hi there,

YES it is 94.456 Miles as I just drove up to house. Its enough now with gas been over US$10 per UK gallon...4.5 litres. I have had it new since Sept 1995. All private mileage I am retired now.

I used to do the bigger work but I am nearing 75 years old . So not as agile as was.

The Toyota dealer here charges GB?92.00 per hours. That's circa US$184 per hour.

Local guy who has been quite good in the past is GB?52. So I just pick and choose work to be done. I was just surprised at his comments and I know he's been in the trade at last 30 years or so.

Some places here I would not allow my car near, dirty oily rubbish on the garage floor.

If I get a chance one day I will try to take a pic of a little local garage. It is unbelievable with rubbish stacked feet high and maybe 5 foot either side of the cars he works on its just a black hole. But I think if he saw me take a pic I would have to run like hell. Lol.

I will let this guy do the work he has agreed to and pass on the other just now.

Thanks for the reply

Johnny UK

Does it have a dristributor, are there timing marks at the bottom above the main pully, then check the timing.

Belts stretch, retarded timing looses you power and mpg, mine lost 4 mpg on retarded timing

I see... I live in US and we travel a lot. When the car was new I put a lot of miles traveling across the continent. Well, take good care about your car and it will last "forever"...

Maybe he just needs a good service manual? Does he has internet access? You could give him this link:

:-)

I am looking again at your list and I wonder why would you like to drain/fill the differential but not the transmission itself?

GOOD POINT,

Its easy for me to do the auto box myself. Which I have done circa every 15000miles. But getting to that top diff plug looks a bit of a pig. So he can do it while its on the ramp.

I have printed out the pages on setting the static timing on it. But I wont push the point. he might think me a smart ass lol.

I was employed in Bio medical electronics for 30 odd years, no mistakes allowed on life support equipment. And I was trained to BS ( British Standards Level ) so I am kind of fussy and to be honest it some times does not go down to well. Smart ass comes to mind again.

So I will see how it all goes down in the morning.

How do you like out Gas prices.

British Petroleum did today post there half year profits. its GB?6.7 billion. or GB? 37 million a day.

That's near US$13 billion.

Don't get me started lol

Bye Johnny UK

Hi,

At this point get the timing belt replaced unless you know it was done recently. This engine is a non-interference engine, but it is still a good move to do now. Some posters here advise having the water pump done at the same time if there is any seepage visible.

Yes, the engine timing is ECU controlled, but that is off the base of a manual setting which is a more coarse setting. It will not usually be out if the engine has not been disturbed, but should be checked with a timing light after the timing belt is done. After that the ECU takes over.

As to the diff fluid your mechanic should really have known that it was Dexron. This is not as all unusual as many diffs with auto trans use the same fluid. Up to about 95 (not sure) it was common (ie same fluid) in Camry trans. This is because the transaxle does not need hypoid oil.

On fuel injection, it would not be routinely necessary to check pressure unless there was some sort of undesirable sympton. The most common thing is for an on-car injection clean to be done at abot 100K miles. Even then many savants say it is not needed unless you have symptons like stumbling and hesitation.

Cheers

Same with me - my mechanic looked at me in a strange way when I dare to asked him why he is not using torque wrench on my car... I guess the only way you will know the job was done right is when you do it yourself.

We love our gas prices :-)) Especially that they go lower now... They topped at about $4.40/US gal here around Chicago couple of weeks ago. Now I noticed one station in West suburbs showing a sign with regular priced at $3.94. It looks so cheap now :-)

So what did you end up doing with the struts? And were those halfshafts rebuilt?

Sure, that's why I wouldn't go above 5years/60K miles even if they spec longer.

You can check timing with a timing light, easily done. But if timing triggers on crank signal instead of cam signal then it probably won't do a whole lot of good. However, you can't adjust timing these days.

According t the free online repair guide at Autozone for 95 Camry:

"All adjustments in the ignition system are controlled by the ECM for optimum performance. No adjustments are possible."

GM Dexron has become common in front drive cars' transaxles. Frequently you have one reservoir for both the transmission and differential. For lighter vehicles seems to work fine.

Don't want to steal the thread from Johnny, but yes - shafts were rebuilts from Autozone.

Struts - I ended up getting Gabriels Ultra for four corners. Got also stut mounts, but not used them - original were good enough. I had two brokent coil springs on the fronts. It was hard to notice because the springs where missing only about 3/4 of the bottom turn. I went to the junkyard and got springs from a 1996 camry with "only" 150k miles, so they are "like new" condition compared to my original ones with 246k miles behind them :-) The springs on the rear struts were good so I left them in place. All 4 springs got sanded and wire brushed, painted with rust oleum and installed with new Ganriel Ultra struts. Suprisingly, original front struts, when removed from vehicle had the feel of new struts - the rod was moving normally with no pinching or any abnormality. The strut was also fully charged with pressure pushing rod up. This is amazing considering these were original toyota struts which made 246k miles!!! The ones on the rear were pretty bad. Left side seems to loose the nitrogen charge, the rod was traveling with normal resistance but pushed down did not bounce back up. The right side was completely dead and leaking. The rod was traveling without resistance, so I did not have the right strut one at all there.

In the process I had a hard time taking off the sway bar links on the rear struts. Had to cut off the nuts from the links, somebody before me tighten them too much? Working without torque wrench, maybe? I hate when this happens... Need to replace these next time I will have a chance. For now the link small ball joint in the rubber is beaten up pretty badly, but I have put them back on the car since I wanted to finish the job that day and did not have the spares.

Ride has improved a lot, but I am still having strange feeling of the car back sways to the right when I cross the rough railroad crossing or hit heavy bump in the road. Not sure what is it, since the struts are new and good. All of this behaviour I was blaming for the bad strut on the rear right wheel, but something is still bad there... Maybe the links need to be replaced, but I would not think they would do so much to the suspension...

Hi Guys,

Well the jobs are done.

Diff fluid changed. Brakes drained and refilled and bled. Safety inspection carried out.

Mentioned the beginning of rust on rear section of silencer its been on 13 years so I amazed its lasted as long. otherwise all sees tight underneath.

Also that getting the Refill plug out of the diff was difficult as was refilling.

Cost was GB£111 = circa US$200. It saved my old bones from a workout under the car So all in all I was satisfied.

I did have the timing belt done at 64000 miles. I changes a radiator out last year and the original Panasonic battery lasted 9 and half years, again amazed.

Thanks for the comments.

Johnny UK

Sounds like a prior budget street rod tuner got hold of your car and cut off parts of the springs then. A real tuner would probably used variable rate lowering springs matched with proper struts and polyurethane stabilizer bar bushings. But it's a common "budget" lowering practice that some of these tuner guys would do. So that makes me wonder what other things in the suspension system were modified.

If you didn't put the stabilizer bar links back it's like not having the stabilizer bar in the rear (for instance on some entry level trim there isn't one). The car should sway more in both directions depending on the turn but that is all.

If it only swing to one side then it may be worn rubber bushings in one or more of the strut rods back there or a weak right rear spring (equal ride height on both sides?) I would also wonder if the two rear springs are from the same set.

I hope the tuner didn't just use an assemblage of parts from different cars/years. That's would be a nightmare to try to fix.

No, no, no... I own this car since 1998, when it had 47k on the odometer. There was no budget tuner :-) The springs where not cut off, they were cracked. On the right side the broken piece was still there, cought between the spring and the strut spring seat. Rubber bushings on top of the struts/springs are OK on both rear struts. I put the sway bar links on the back, but I said the rubber was tired on the link ball joint. I might double check the sway bar bushings, maybe I missed something on these rubber parts. Can they make a big difference?

Ohh, ok . Then the condition of the front struts were pretty amazing, given that they take most of the load. By 50-70K miles most are like the rear struts you mentioned. The poor condition was also amazing relatively speaking, given that they take much less load.

The rubber bushings I mentioned were the "strut rods" that go from the wheel hub to the subframe, not the stabilizer link with (small) ball joints. While the stabilizer links need to be changed, I'm not sure they can make that much of a difference say than a weak spring.

Have someone sit on the left and then right side of the rear seat. Measure the ride height. If more than 0.5 inch difference then you know which spring is weak. The stabilizer bar should reduce the difference somewhat I suspect, that's its job.

Hey, looks like

junkyards are offering 50% off next week. Aug 8-10. :) :) :)

Well, I have replaced fronts anyway, since it would be stupid to do all this job and put the old part there, especially that the "pain" of spending money was already inflicted couple of days ago :-)

I see... in this case I have more work pending for the rear suspension... Strut rods... hm... what the hell are they? :-) I have to find a good picture...

Well, the car from the junkyard would be likely in a condition of my car, so using strut rods from junkyard is not my idea of making savings ;-) I can tolerate front coil springs from a car with 150k, because I know they will be better than my broken ones at 246k but other stuff that wears out? I don't know... would rather get new one from Autozone.com.

Thanks for posting. If you have any more info about the strut rods and their function as compared to the functionof the rear McPerson colums I would be glad to read about it.

Some struts have the inserts ? Is that what you mean? Instead of the strut assembly. I'm not to familiar with the rear assembly.

in this case I have more work pending for the rear suspension...

There are pic's with new parts at

I get a good deal of my parts there. For my '94 right at my front door.

The rear "strut rods" link the sub-frame and the wheel hub (kind of like the front lower control arm). The rear doesn't rotate like the front of course. I don't know if this is a true Chapman geometry. But do check the ride height.

On Aug 2, 7:54=A0am, "Pszemol" wrote: If you have any more info about the strut rods and their