1990 Camry HELP

[The Reverand]

I just bought a little old camry to bash about as my daily driver, but the steering is soooooooo heavy, its like worse than non power steering cars, and it makes a whining metallic type noise when the engines running, and the noise revs the same as the engine. Did thesse cars all have power steering? if so where is the pump as the belt i can see only runs the air con and the alternator? What else does anyone think this whining sound could be?

[Guest]

I just bought a little old camry to bash about as my daily driver, but the steering is soooooooo heavy, its like worse than non power steering cars, and it makes a whining metallic type noise when the engines running, and the noise revs the same as the engine. Did thesse cars all have power steering? if so where is the pump as the belt i can see only runs the air con and the alternator? What else does anyone think this whining sound could be?

it will be your PS pump/hoses/no fluid.

the PS pump is located at the back of the engine, if you look under the plenum you should be able to see it.

you can access it by removing the right hand front wheel, although its a ***** to get to.

it is probably one (or both) of the hoses... there will be a big thick one running from the pump to the res. and a smaller one running up from the pump to a metal hose along the top of the firewall. these are usualy the hoses that go.

but a good start would be putting some fluid in the res. and see if its leaking from anywhere.

[The Reverand]

where is the resivour? down with the pump?

[Guest]

where is the resivour? down with the pump?

it should be on the right hand side near the suspension column.

[Guest]

e.g.

[The Reverand]

nope mine definatley doesnt have one of them !

[Guest]

does the rest of the engine bay look like that?

[Whip Cracker]

What year is it again?

There are some Gen 2 Camrys from 88-89 that didn't have power steering at all... I know someone that's got one turboed that ended up installing it if I remember rightly. He has an 89 Gen 2 - username on here is 89camry.

[The Reverand]

1990 says the engine is 3SFE on the bonnet. heres some pics

[Guest]

holy cr*ap its a carby one :S

looks as if it does not even have power steering, so no idea about thew noise

[Whip Cracker]

Yeah... carby driven and no power steering... I only thought those were on the 88-89 models. Obviously not.

The ones with EFI came with power steering from my understanding - but after this... I'm not sure now hahaha

[The Reverand]

im pretty sure its not teh alternator as i listened to it when the car was running,............so its got me stuffed........

[sv21_ownR]

Hey, we have the same coloured Camry's *high 5*. Manual too, brownie points haha

Anyways, power steering was an option on the Camry's. Even though pretty much everyone adds it on, there are the few that decided to be a cheapskate and don't. I have an EFI and it didn't have power steering; the original owner wanted the cheapest new car he could get that the time. Manual mirrors, windows, normal locking e.t.c. The second owner put air conditioning in (yay!) and i put power steering in.

I can help with the heavy steering part. It happened to mine (which is why i converted), but it was as simple as changing the universal joint between the steering shaft and the steering rack. The bearings seize up and cause the steering to become heavy. In my case, the steering wouldn't self return and you couldn't turn the wheel when you went more than 50k's because the steering damper would kick in (increasing resistance). Otherwise, it means your rack is stuffed. Have you checked the tie rod end boots for cracks or tears?

Are you absolutely sure the alternator doesn't have worn bearings? Could the clutch in the A/C compressor be stuffed? Or maybe the belt is slipping?

Edited October 21, 2009 by sv21_ownR

[The Reverand]

im gonna get it checked out by the mechanics, and if its too much to fix ill scrap it or sell it ! Hey mine has central locking though lol.

[The Reverand]

it must be on a second engine cause the badge on the back says twin cam, and im presuming thats for EFI

[Guest]

it must be on a second engine cause the badge on the back says twin cam, and im presuming thats for EFI

afaik the carby ones are DOHC...

[sv21_ownR]

it must be on a second engine cause the badge on the back says twin cam, and im presuming thats for EFI

There's nooo way someone would be bothered converting a Camry of this age from EFI to carby. So much more work than swapping then same, lowe km engine in. You have the fuel tank and lines to swap out, probably mounts and a whole heap of electricals to deal with.

The universal joint is pretty cheap, like $20-$30 at the wreckers. Some might even just throw in the entire steering shaft just because they don't want it lying around. The hard part is maybe getting it off. You need several extension bars to get it off.

[The Reverand]

ok next question, does anyone have a set of cheap wheels layign aroudn i can buy ? need somethign with better tyres than what ive got to pass rego.........

[The Reverand]

Need urgent help, i degreased it today, now it wont start, and ive flattened the battery tryign to start it. Can i clutch start it or would the components being wet prevent this even?

[Guest]

Need urgent help, i degreased it today, now it wont start, and ive flattened the battery tryign to start it. Can i clutch start it or would the components being wet prevent this even?

you have probably wet the coill/dizzy/ign system... just leave it for a bit and try... or get in there with some contact cleaner

[Hiro]

Need urgent help, i degreased it today, now it wont start, and ive flattened the battery tryign to start it. Can i clutch start it or would the components being wet prevent this even?

If the starter is wet, then clutch starting will work. If it's the dizzy/coil/plugs/etc, then you'll need to dry it all out. Compressed air can work well here, as long as you don't blast it right down the guts of the dizzy.

[sv21_ownR]

Need urgent help, i degreased it today, now it wont start, and ive flattened the battery tryign to start it. Can i clutch start it or would the components being wet prevent this even?

If it's the dizzy/coil/plugs/etc, then you'll need to dry it all out. Compressed air can work well here, as long as you don't blast it right down the guts of the dizzy.

+1. You probably got water down the spark plug tubes. As for the tyres, you can go to pick and payless or pick and pull to get 2nd hand tyres

Edited October 23, 2009 by sv21_ownR

[The Reverand]

Wioll spraying some WD40 down the plug tubes help?

[sv21_ownR]

Wioll spraying some WD40 down the plug tubes help?

No, it will not. It's fairly deep. Just pull the leads out and check. If you do have water down there, get a syringe or turkey baster, shove it down there and suck most of the water out. Then stick a rag down there to completely dry it.

[The Reverand]

I tried to clutch it down the hill today, with negative results, so its now parked down the end of my street, at least i know it wont get flogged !

Yeah in a couple of the tubes there appeared to be a bit of wetness, i tried using my garden blower to blo what i could out. Its funny cause after i washed it it started for about 10 seconds then died in the *****, and yeah, now wont start.

Im gonna get nrma to come out, but not today as they wanted $300, if its within the first 48 hours of joining.