thommo

Got a 2nd hand Camry for our daughter back in December. Battery started playing up (car would not start, then recently the clock kept re-setting to 1:00 every time she turned it off/on). I stuck it on the charger for a few hours (trickle charge) which improved the starting for a short while, but then it went bad again. Swapped the battery with a spare NRMA one I had today & it started well, clock was behaving . I noticed the old one (a Marshall battery) is only a year old (May 2011 date on it)! She drives it probably 5-10 times/week, mostly short trips of just a few kms but the odd 20-40km drive every few weeks, so it's not like it sits idle forever. I looked for glove-box/boot lights not switching off, but the boot light is fine and the entire glove-box light mechanism has been removed (which rang alarm bells - perhaps the batteries had been draining for previous owners and they removed this light thinking it was the cause?) I notice it has one of those (allegedly entirely useless????) electronic anti-corrosion devices on it. Wondering if that could be the problem? Otherwise, I guess it's off to the auto-electrician to get alternator checked, or see if there is some other issue. Any thoughts welcome. Cheers.

Got it serviced including a cooling system flush ($200). My mechanic did not seem to think there were any major problems. It turns out the boot has likely been replaced, so for $20 got the lock re-done so it matched my keys. And yes, the fob is missing (this model does have remote locking), Toyota quoted $77 for a new fob (including programming) - our daughter can pay for that if she wants one cos i've spent enough !!!

Yeah, it is a bit red/pink, but also a bit greyish so probably time for a flush then. What is an fob? Is that a plastic bit without a key, but with a remote entry button on it? When you say cycle on/off 3 times, do you mean turn the key 3 times (but not far enough to start the engine)? I don't have an fob (I don't think) so i guess the locksmith can provide one of those & program it? Or perhaps I'll have to pay a fortune at a Toyota dealership to get that done? cheers

I'd already checked the coolant & all is full (though it is a browny/reddy coloured coolant - in all my other cars its been green.) But i don't think it is dirty - I think it must be a different type. Hope it has anti-freeze properties cos it gets doen to minus 7 where i live. I was thinking thermostat too. Will get all that checked at next service which is due in 800kms. It won't be going far till then and it won't be getting down to minus 7 before then either. The mystery deepens - both keys will lock/unlock the glovebox, but not the boot. One key looks like it has a remote button on it, but it is a fake button - it does not push in at all? I'll have to go to the locksmith and see what he reckons. cheers

Thanks Trent A couple of other weird issues (that's what you get when you buy privately & only get to look at it in the rain in a hurry!). 1. The 2 keys we were given don't open the boot. You can only open it with the lever by the driver door. It's been in an accident in the past (a little overspray around rear door, front bumper re-sprayed). Our local panel beater said perhaps a 2nd hand boot had been used hence the keys don't work on the new boot lock. He said something about getting keys re-coded? What does that mean? 2. Should this model (20 series 2002 Camry advantage, 5S-FE engine) have remote locking? The only way to get in is using the key in the drivers door which unlocks all doors & the indicators flash. The 2 keys we were given do not have remote buttons on them. cheers

I got our daughter a 2002 Advantage recently, only 94,000 kms on the clock. Today we were doing some parking practice in an underground carpark, and i noticed the temp gauge went a bit above half-way. We were going forward/reverse a bit for maybe 5 mins. It was not a hot day - probably only 20C here. Once we started moving forward again and onto the opem road, the gauge needle returned to a fraction below half way. We also parked with the engine running & i checked the 2 electric cooling fans. They both came on after about 30 secs, then stopped again after 30 secs. anything to worry about? Just that i've never had any of my other cars where the temp went above half way while just beetling around? cheers

had similar problems on our 2003 Altise sold it !

well, well, well - exactly the same as for our 2003 Altise . Our headlights were cutting out (as the recall said they might), we got the recall work done and since then, similar problems to those listed above - if you press brake, turn on a/c, use powerwindows, the CD/radio cuts out for a second and the headlights dim sounds like Toyota have cocked up the recall job. If i remeber correctly, the recall was for corrosion in a headlight switching mechanism. sounds like the new mechanism thay put in might be the problem?

Did you find a solution to this? we have same problem on our 2003 Altise. Headlights dim, radio cuts out on braking. Also sometimes when indicating or using power windows. We had the headlight switch fixed in the 2007 recall (corrosion in a switch would cause the headlights to cut out altogether), but that was a different issue to the current problem. Just like yours, it is intermittent, but becoming more regular. We also took it to autoelectrician with this latest problem, who could find nothing wrong except said battery was not strong enough. He put a new battery in which fixed the prob for 6 months, but now it is back. cheers