Agent001

to update u all on my 1988 sv21 camry, i had a nose to tail accident in peak hour traffic on the freeway last week. they just resufaced the road and it was still a bit wet, car in front stopped, couldnt stop in time so i hit the back of the car. so i got a few quotes, cost nearly as much to repair as the insurance value was, so it was written off as a repairable write off. they said i could keep the car and have a smaller payout which i chose. coz if they keep the car, i dont get the balance of rego or insurance back, and there is 6 months of rego still left. i was hoping to do some basic repairs myself and reinsure the car and keep on driving it as cheap transport. turns out, i couldnt and to reinsure it, i have to get it repaired, then get a RWC, and the get QLD transport to certify its ok , so overall its not viable. so now if i want to keep it and drive it, it will be uninsured which i am not willing to do. so i am going to cash in the rego, and put it up for sale. the car is in pretty good nick except for a few things here and there, eg leaking coolant. but the seats inside are as new since they have had seat covers on it all its life, and the engine is still quiet. its sad to see it go since it has been in our family since new. anyone have any ideas what the car would be worth if i sell it. any suggestions on how i should sell it eg carsales.com.au at a cost of $50. or should i send it to auction, or sell it to wreckers, or a panel beater or mechanic. above is the pic of the damage done to it. nothing major and the car is still drivable. would like to keep the car if i could. if u have any suggestions on how i could keep it but still have it insured, that would be great

yeah, the engine still runs pretty good for a 20 year old car. whenever i drive ppl in it, they always comment on how smooth and quiet the engine is, esp for an old car. they say' ur cars pretty old, but still runs pretty good' sometimes i hear the engine of other 20 year old camrys, but they are a lot rougher sounding. i'm still impressed that the car is still running. we never thought we would keep it this long

hi all, i have been checking the levels in the morning b4 i go to work, so the engine is cold and the the overflow tank levels are dropping noticibly weekly. the only leak i know of is in the engine which the radiator garage told me, said its leaking into the head gasket. the engine i have is the 2 litre efi engine in the camry sv21 with 225000km on the clock. but $800 to repair is not economically viable for a 20 year old car. but still cheaper than buying a new car, although u never know what problems the car will throw up next

its an old car, so dont wanna spend too much money on it. $150 is the cost for the mechanic to use that liquid head sealant, or DIY for about $15. to get it done properly by replacing the head gasket or something, the quote was $800. there is still 9 months rego left on the car. maybe i'll drive it around for another 8 more months and then just sell the car and get a new one. its served our family well for 20 years. shame it will have to go due to one problem. i'll keep on topping up with coolant. i use tectaloy extra cool gold which is $20 for 1 litre, which makes 15 litres once diluted. i'll see how that goes over the near future and will keep u guys posted. cheers hi guys, i have been checking my coolant levels more frequently. the coolant level in the radiator is still full over the past 2 weeks. its a different story for the overflow tank. i have topped it up twice too full, and after 1 week, it goes to the midpoint between low and full. anyone have any ideas where the coolant fluid is going. i have been putting a tray under the car where the overflow tank is, however no liquid is collecting in there. any help appreciated. cheers

its an old car, so dont wanna spend too much money on it. $150 is the cost for the mechanic to use that liquid head sealant, or DIY for about $15. to get it done properly by replacing the head gasket or something, the quote was $800. there is still 9 months rego left on the car. maybe i'll drive it around for another 8 more months and then just sell the car and get a new one. its served our family well for 20 years. shame it will have to go due to one problem. i'll keep on topping up with coolant. i use tectaloy extra cool gold which is $20 for 1 litre, which makes 15 litres once diluted. i'll see how that goes over the near future and will keep u guys posted. cheers

well, the verdict is back. i took it to a radiator garage, ran a few tests. came back that there is a small leak in the head gasket . can be fixed with some kind of liquid seal. they charge $150 to fix. or u can DIY by buying the seal for $15, flushing out all the coolant and filling it with water, put the liquid seal in, drive it for a day, flush to radiator and fill it back with coolant. if u dont doo it properly, u end up with all of this gel at the bottom of the radiator. but he also said its fine not to fix it and to just top it up with coolant every few days. i'll stick to the no cost option for the time being coz i am reluctant to spend money on an old car. although it is still very reliable (apart from overheating) and cheap transport.

just another update since my camry overheated a month ago, it did it again whilst i was stuck at an intersection trying to cross 4 lanes of traffic. engine got close to hot, so i turned left instead and pulled into a quiet street. called RACQ roadside assist. came in 15 minutes which was quick. he opened the radiator cap, and coz i kept a bottle of coolant in the boot of the car, he told me to fill it up. it drank 1.5 litres of coolant in 1 month. couldnt believe how low it fell considering it topped it up 1 month ago. never had the radiator ever drink that much. its been 8 months since i had the overheating begin and use to drink 1.5 litlres of coolant in 3 months. so RACQ made a list of things that I should show a mechanic to check. they included check for leak, check water pump, check head gasket. so do u guys think i should take it to a radiator place and get them to diagnose the problem and provide me a quote? coz if i just ask them to find the problem they may charge me. a mate of mine just told me to keep checking the radiator levels weekly and keep topping it up lately and it should be fine. should i just do this instead? or take it to a radiator place to have it checked out. when i took it back to the radiator place last month, they found a leak and tightened the hose clamp. obviously now it lost 1.5 litres of coolant in a month, rather than 3 months, so its worse than b4. other than the overheating problem which began 8 months ago, we have not had any other major problems with the car since we bought it new 20 years ago. some ppl say it might be time to get a new car,but would hate to dispose of the car since we have had it for so long, and had been so well looked after, and the engine is still pretty smooth and quiet for a old car. ur views apprciated, cheers

one of our 6 camry gen 5.5 we had at work a few years ago had power seats. stopped working when it only have 1200km on the clock. the braking on the gen 5.5 didnt feel as sharp as the gen 5, so i told them, they said they used a brake metre and it was fine. work admin are a bit slack on servicing the car. one car had 25000km on it and it had never been serviced since new!!!! and didnt have any problems. it wasnt until i mentioned it to them, they did something about it.

Well I would like more power, but it is certainly more than sufficient for just daily driving. But when you want to put the foot down it can leave a bit to be desired, especially from a standing start. Mine is an auto, but a manual 4cy would be better, so that maybe something to consider if you can find one. i suppose that if you're buying second hand, you have to take whats out there, ie cant pick and choose a V6 or 4 cyl. just see what presents a good buy and go with that. when this model was the current shape, we had 6 of these at work, combination of 4 cyl and V6. the V6 is smoother and more powerful, but after driving around in both for about 2 years, it really didnt matter if it was a v6 or 4 cyl when i was driving around. 4 cyl is adequate, v6 is better, but not miles better. the v6 had a trip computer, and coz my work involves alot of stop start and idle driving and the car is shared around, we averaged about 16-17 litres per 100km, which is very high, but it wouldnt be like that for everyday driving. however, my gf has a v6 one, and on the highway, with 2ppl in the car, it did 7.5 litres per 100km. we did a long 1600km with the two of us and a full load in the boot and back seats, and consistantly avg 9.2ltr per 100km on the highways. i assume it is higher than the 7.5ltrs due to the added weight. manuals are hard to come by, but would expect they would be cheaper as they are harder to resell. ie not everyone has a manual licence, or if they do, prefer auto.

when my car over heated and i took it to the radiator workshop, they cleaned and filled it up with tectaloy extra cool gold. so when i came to top it up, i went and bought the same coolant, $20 for 1 litre. that coolant works great. the engine temp is alway a bit below the midpoint, sometimes when i drive on highways it sits at the midpoint between cold and warm, and sometimes stays close to cold. so it seems to keep the car pretty cool.

hi all, does anyone know the capacity of a camry sv21 fuel tank. is it 60 litres or somthing. also, does anyone know how far you can drive when the fuel warning light comes on before you run out of petrol. i've seen other posts on this topic on this forum for other cars, and it can range from 50 to 150kms.

fortunately i dont have milky engine oil, bubbles consistantky out of the next of the radiator and white smoke. thanks for pointing those symptons out so i know what what is wrong with my car if any of those things happend. the radiator cap was replaced about 5 years ago, not sure if it is still ok, but the rubber rings seem fine (based on my untrained eye). when u say filler neck cap, is tthat the clear/white plastic container near the radiator, and is the white thing the overflow reservoir, . so i should replace the cap on that if the rubber rings are worn? cheers

hi rollaboy i took it back to the radiator place. they looked at it and found a leak in one of the hoses that is leaking on top of the gear box where there is residual coolant there. so all he did was get a screw driver and tighten the hose clamps. that was great. easy fix and no charge for it. was getting concerned that i have blown a head gasket or something. cheers

thanks mate, i checked underneath the car, there doesnt appear to be any coolant or any other leaks. drove it around today. temp remained between 1/4 to 1/2 (warm), so its keeping its cool

hi guys, i've got a camry sv21 which has been in our family since new. 6 months ago, the car overheated, so i took it to a radiator specialist who took out the radiator, cleaned it, cleared an 80% blockage (thats what they told me), and then put new coolant in, which is tectaloy extra cool gold. 3 months ago, i bought new coolant, the same one, topped up the radiator because it was over heating a bit. i estimated i put about 1 litre of coolant in. yesterday, i drove it, it over heated again and was stuck in peak hour traffic, so i had to turn the engine off when the car wasnt moving. so it was on/off for about 20 min until i got to a carpark. anyhow, today, i topped it up again with another 1.5 litres of coolant. so my question is, in 6 months, it seems that a car would chew through 2.5 litres of coolant. that seems a bit high. in your experience, do you think that is high too. what could be the reason for this eg a leak somewhere none of our other 3 cars have to be topped up with coolant that often, yet alone that much. i'm planning a 550km round trip to the coast soon. was wondering if it is ok to drive the car that distance or will the engine blow or something. i tried it just over 6 months ago, car overheated, hence turned back home after 30km into the trip and it went to the radiator specialist. did the 550km round trip during easter. no problems at all. car stayed cooled the whole time. ur views appreciated. cheers