Common Camry Problems

[ClearHooter]

We're looking at an 89 Camery SW. The motor and auto tranny has 73,000 miles. The body is straight. The engine cranks readily without rattles. Trans seems slick without clunks or harsh shifts. CV's are without clatter. All of the electrics work properly.

Are there any common faults I should be wary of with this type car? Blowing head gaskets, poor oiling, transmission faults etc?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[idmetro]

This generation of Camry:
- likes to consume ignition coils (toyota coils seem to have more longevity that the aftermarket versions but cost quite a bit more)
-commonly develops an internal oil leak in the distributor (can be rebuilt cheaply but takes several hours to do the job yourself)
-wiring harness tends to break where it goes out of the doors into the body, also where it goes along the deck lid hinge (in your case the tailgate) and into the body.
-Transmission is very sensitive to having the fluid level "just right" not too low and not overfull, mine particularly likes Mobil one synthetic fluid.
- Power steering takes the same Dexron fluid as the transmission, using "power steering" fluid will cause the pump to fail. Look at the fluid, it should be red, if it's clear someone messed up...
- Change the oil regularly some of the Toyota engines were prone to sludge buildup. why take the chance?

Those things said this generation of Camry with decent maintenance will run and run and run... My 91 has survived poor maintenance in its early life, 2 teenage drivers and a spouse who's idea of car maintenance is key/gas/go and it is still going at 225,000 miles. I think you will enjoy this car, my suggestion is if you buy it to change ALL fluids immediately, with only 73,000 miles on it this car spent long periods of time sitting and probably has moisture in virtually every fluid it owns.

[Mike Gerber]

"some of the Toyota engines were prone to sludge buildup."

That was not this generation of Camry engines. The sludge problem was in the generation 4 (1997-2001) Camrys.

Mike

[RIP]

I owned an 87 4 cyl for over a decade that I sold two years ago at 240K miles. It had it's share of small problems but I never had issues with the systems that got you from point A to B. Never changed anything under the hood except the typical scheduled parts. Can't say I stuck to the maintenance schedules either. If it weren't for the wife insisting I give it the heave ho, I'd still have it. It gave us 28-30 mpg on the highway and 22-24 around town and was the most reliable car we ever owned. I still see quite a few 2nd generation Camrys (87-91) on the road. Odds are you'll have a good reliable car.

OBTW - I put split boots on the cv joints on both sides 3 years after I bought it. They were still on it when I sold it 13 years later. Don't ever let anyone tell you split boots are a waste of time. They saved me a good chunk a change.

[typesix]

I had an 89 4 cyl that ran 224k miles. Common items for me were sparkplug cables needing to be replaced, needed 3 sets and all the cables need to be replaced at once since they're all permanently mounted to dristributor cap. Oil in dist. as previously mentioned, I had the O ring replaced when I had timing belt/water pump changes. The engine tends to carbon up at the throttle body butterfly valve and needs cleaning or you'll get the famous sticking gas pedal that suddenly breaks free. Pinging during the summer because of the carbon buildup is solved by using Regane, I tried Techron, but it didn't work as well as Regane. Never had problems with the igniter/ignition coil. These cars also tend to have rear ends that clunk after many miles, could be worn out rubber bushings.

[2000izusu]

Originally Posted by idmetro

This generation of Camry:
- likes to consume ignition coils (toyota coils seem to have more longevity that the aftermarket versions but cost quite a bit more)
-commonly develops an internal oil leak in the distributor (can be rebuilt cheaply but takes several hours to do the job yourself)

i experienced the coils and the distributors first hand on more than one occasion.

i will add water pumps. i had multiples go out usually under 90,000 miles. i will say most were remans but i did have 2 toyota pumps fail uder 100,000 miles. mike