this is why my camry is a piece of junk...

city driving today...15-20 mph in downtown Denver. i start to hear a clunking noise that i first thought was coming from a bus. the bus turns and when i approach a stop light i realize it's my engine. i roll down the window and hear that the clunking is more like a grinding sort of clunk. the light turns green, i hit the gas and my car dies. it won't start, the engine starts to smoke on the right side (when looking from the driver seat) and what i think was coolant (green substance) starts pouring out of the front center of the car. it's labor day, i know nothing about cars (maybe because i've always driven camrys), but i had it towed...who knows what happened?

98 4cyl. auto with 84,000 miles.

i've had every 15k checkup done at toyota and last time put $2000 into it for 4 leaks in the transmission and a new wheel bearing. i never let the oil go over 3,000 before getting a change. i did the timing belt and all that expensive shit just before it hit 60,000 miles. i do lots of highway driving and i treat it like an infant. i've never driven anything but a camry and their reliability is always above expectations, until now.

this is why my camry sucks.

Reply to
David Freund
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Sounds like you missed getting the new water pump put in when you had the timing belt done...You should not have green coolant in there, the Toyota red stuff is what is called for.

Reply to
ROBMURR

blah blah blah...

So you dont want to know what it is instead? If you know nothing about cars, you think you'd came here to ask question???

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Reply to
MDT Tech®

He sounds like a disgruntled Ford owner. If he looks carefully, he'll find out that it was a FORD he was driving.

Reply to
The Sharxster

Had the **exact** same experience on my 99 Camry LE 4 cyl. automatic in March, 2002 at 46000 miles. Water pump & t-belt were both replaced under warranty but I could've done without the excitement. Would you expect a water pump to have needed replacement at that mileage ?? (And yes, the car is properly maintained).

Also, the Toyota dealer service department replaced the red coolant with green coolant after a flush & fill.....when I asked, they said that green was OK but they would put red in if I paid extra. I left the green in, and it seems fine.

Not taking sides one way or another with the original poster, but the quality/reliability of my 99 Camry LE is not anywhere near that of my wife's

95 Camry LE or my previous car, 90 Camry DX. It does seem like Toyota has cheapened things up noticeably. Still, the Toyota's are decent cars compared to what else is available.
Reply to
M.B.

Hmm, did some googling and found that 1999 Camrys seem to have had a few water pump problems...Maybe just a bad batch made in

1999? My 97 had its original pump in it for 125,000 and when removed was not leaking and had no play in the bearing but was replaced with the timing belt as a precaution...it has now gone another 41,000 since it was replaced. Well sounds like the original poster needs a new one now...
Reply to
ROBMURR

I don't think i spent $500 on my Camry in 90k miles (not counting tires & oil changes). Time to cough up some cash though, it's time for the timing belt & water pump. The more you let the grease monkeys play with your car over stupid noises & tiny leaks, the worse it's gonna be over the long run.

Reply to
AV

I'll add my 99 LE Camry to the list of unreliables. It has died twice. First time was on September 10th, 2001 when the car had about 29.5k miles. Had to have transmission replaced (Still under factory warranty). Took a while due to 9/11. Second time was last December (02). The car died on the Capitol Beltway in December 2002 (at about 50k miles). Had to have the water pump replaced...supposedly a seized bearing. Luckily I had a 5 year extended warranty which covered replacement.

Zach Howard

Reply to
Zachary Howard

Interesting you mention that, I have seen a few 99 Camry 4 cylinders with locked up water pumps lately. In fact, some locked up so tight, the idler pulley broke off which is attatched to the oil pump, so several requires a new oil pump also.

Reply to
MDT Tech®

most of you guys diagnosed this pretty accurately. turned out to be the water pump. the bearing snapped and it took out the timing belt as well. too bad i didn't opt for the extended warranty. my transmission has been iffy for the last year, and probably won't last another 5k.

Reply to
David Freund

I'm finding this to be very true.

Reply to
David Freund

Ok whats the transmission doing and how has it been serviced? What about the transaxle fluid(it is a seperate chamber) has it been serviced regularly? Has transmission been flushed rather than just dropping the pan and replacing a quart or two?

Reply to
ROBMURR

Have these broken ones been using the red coolant or green? Just trying to find any pattern..

Reply to
ROBMURR

It would be intersting to know who and where those water pumps were made

Reply to
mark Ransley

when i had 75K service, the mechanic found 4 different leaks in the transmission, which were fixed and he said he found metal shavings when he drained the fluid. to him, this indicated the transmission was failing. the only thing i've noticed is when shifting from reverse to drive, it's sometimes slow and if i hit the gas too soon it revs up like in neutral, then drops into drive with an unplesant thunk. i'm usually pretty good about waiting until i feel it shift before i hit the gas. i don't think it's ever been flushed, and i know nothing about transaxle fluid. i've done every recommended 15k toyota service, but other than that i pretty much leave it up to the dealer to do what needs to be done. how important is flushing the transmission? it's a 98 4 cyl. auto with 84k.

Reply to
David Freund

Well I would have them drop the pan and show you metal shavings...Have it proplerly serviced by flushing it out, clean the filter and the pan and see if that helps. BTW even the Toyota dealer has skipped doing the transaxle on mine before. The flush is about the only thing you can do to it at this point. I have mine done about every 30,000 miles. I have over 165,000 on my 1997 now. Shifts great and I tow a boat once in a while too. Wonder if you have a bad motor mount causing that thunk noise when you engage the tranny...

Reply to
ROBMURR

I belive that it's normal to have metal shavings in a transmission. Check out CarTalk archives at cars.com

Reply to
Alan

To what end? Too late now.

Reply to
Philip®

Some "weepage" is NORMAL in every transmission eventually. For example, some "weepage" is going to occur from the pump seal. This weepage will show up between the tranmsission housing and the engine. If the car is RWD, there will be weepage where the driveshaft couples to the transmission output shaft. Eventually, there will be a little weepage where the half shafts fit into the transaxle. Oil pans always weep if not leak eventually. Some mechanics go nuts with the possibility of a Big transmission overhaul when they see some shavings in the oil pan. Big Deal. You're looking at the bottom of a gear box ... and gears (even those that are always in mesh) generate shavings. It is a subjective observation that determines if what is found in the bottom of the oil pan is abnormal.

Personally, if you drop the fluid out the drain plug every 15k miles or less, you will likely never have to pull off the pan to replace the oil strainer NOR will you need to "flush" the transmission.

Reply to
Philip®

Wrong again chip , if people knew what water pumps were poorly made they could AVOID these pumps when Replacing them.

Reply to
mark Ransley

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