HOTPIG175

Hi people, This is the car I moaned about some time ago, as it always smelled as though it was overheating, was losing water, and was down on power. New radiator, hoses, PCV been sorted, and, MOSTLY, it's fine. Water loss has stopped, and temp still never rises above normal. It has been regularly serviced, and passed the VTNZ Roadworthy Test,(WoF in NZ), and they said it was in great shape, apart from a broken seatbelt buckle, which has been replaced. Lately though, it's been unwilling to run on 4 cylinders from a cold start, but always goes first turn of the key. If I start it in the morning, leave it idling, check the mailbox, then it's generally running on all four. If it's having a bad day, then it won't be happy about reversing up the drive, and can take 10 minutes before it comes right. No Engine Check Light coming up, and I just drove it 800km to my sister's wedding. Great fuel economy, plenty of grunt for passing and hills, but on a very light throttle, such as going down a hill that's not steep enough to coast, then it starts to miss badly. If I accelerate slightly, all good. If I back right off, all good. Will happily cruise at 110 - 120 km/h, but even warmed up, there is still a very occasional miss sitting at idle in Drive at traffic lights, and if I park up in Neutral, it occasionally misses a beat. I admit that I wound it out to the redline the other day, and it was off like a rocket, but this missing has me a bit confused. I suspect it's an ignition issue, as it stinks my carport out with raw petrol fumes while it's running on three cylinders. No distributor, unlike my '97 version, all separate coils. No obvious sparks arcing with the bonnet open in the dark. Wondering if perhaps the airflow meter thing is on the way out? (Hence the weird behaviour on a light throttle). Car is probably worth $2 - 3K, with all the other work that's been done on it now, but at nearly 250,000 km on it, is it worth getting into a bunch of diagnostics by replacing things piece by piece? Or do I condemn it to the role of beach car to tow the boat along 60 km of sand? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Andy

Hi people, Actually, the bloody thing is running ok, and the oil smell has disappeared. Checked the level, and it looks fine. I bought it off an old guy in Auckland, and he'd only driven it about 15km to work and back. He'd serviced it regularly, (or had it done), and it's got 252k on the clock, not rust and a minor ding. I suspect that I'm using it harder than he was, as I have an hour's drive each way for work, but it just did 600km on $120.00 of gas, including in town. I just wonder if I have burned off all the residue. Temp is staying just below normal, by about a millimetre on the gauge, it's not losing water, and I don't thrash it. Maybe it's ok! Compared to my Mazda Tribute V6, (12 MPG - on a good day), this is insanely good, and the Camry certainly beats the RAV4.(250-300km on a tank), plus, even though it's older, it's nicer to drive.. I still have to check the PCV valve, but work and physio got in the way. I wonder if the longer trips have cleaned it out? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Like they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and I REALLY don't want to rip it to bits for nothing. Has brand new radiator, hoses, thermostat, etc. Cheers people.

Hi ZZT86, Yeah, I think the PCV valve may be faulty. On my first Camry, it split, and the car just reeked of oil. I'd forgotten about that,so will give it a new one a try. Temp hits normal at around 5 mins. Got new rad and hoses. Wonder if the trans cooler hoses are fitted properly? As I say, it runs really well, and I have only put gas in it today, after running it for two weeks, and done well over 400km on one long trip, and much city driving. It had less than 3/4 of a tank when I bought it, so I'm impressed.. Oily smell is worse after driving up a very long hill, for a very long time, but oil and trans fluid are clean. Temp gauge reads just where it should, and even running arcon on the hill makes no difference. I check the coolant every morning, and it hasn't need a top-up, so definitely going to try the PVC valve. Thanks for reminding me about that. Will let you know the outcome. Cheers, Andy

Hi Ashley. The trans fluid is red, and doesn't smell burnt or anything. I still suspect the rocker cover gasket. I really appreciate your response, and hope that I can reciprocate if you need it. Cheers, Andy

Thanks Ashley. I'll take a look at the colour, and let you know what I find. I appreciate your response. Cheers, Andy

Hi people, I've owned many, many cars, both for business and personal use, but I am unnaturally fond of the mighty Camry. The wagons. Not the V6, but the old 5S-FE 2.2, and always auto. Had a company manual wagon, and it was a noisy dog, with less than 40,000km on it, but then, I guess everyone had thrashed it. The replacement Ford Mondeo didn't even make it to 30k. Anyway, I don't get why the Camry wagon disappeared, unless it was the death of Toyota Australia. Moving right along, I bought a mint 2002 wagon in Auckland, with one minor dent behind the l/h wheel arch, after my, (admittedly faithful KJ Laser ((320,00 km)) developed clutch and suspension problems), and it is SUCH a nice car to drive. My partner has a late model RAV4, and I despise it. A 600 page owner's manual, dodgy cruise control, and kind of like driving a photocopier. I thought Camrys were supposed to be the world's most boring cars? Try a 2.4 litre RAV. If you can stay awake. Think Datsun 180B on tranquilisers, and even then, it would be the better of the two... My issue is that the last Camry had done 380,000 km, and it was a sorry neglected old beast, and finally blew a big-end while towing a tandem axle trailer up a very long hill on a very hot day, while fully loaded inside and on the trailer. Once it had cooled down, it ran again, but sounded like a biscuit-tin full of very big bolts. Still traded it for more than I paid for it. On a Mazda Tribute V6. Not my best work. 12 mpg if you were lucky. Went like a bat out of hell, though. Gone now. It just seems that the latest one, with just on 200,000 km on the clock, is down on power, not that I need masses of grunt, and it is insanely economical. It runs well, doesn't overheat, has a full service history from the previous elderly owner, but I am wondering if I should be running it on 95 octane, as opposed to the old one, which was gruntier on 91??? This is the edit: it's not overheating, but it SMELLS hot after driving in suburbia at 70 km/h, admittedly up a long and steep hill, maybe 6 km. Fans are going as they should, no apparent oil leaks. Engine is clean enough to eat off. Not losing coolant. Oil is fine. Trans fluid is fine. Temperature gauge sits on just below midway all the time, and doesn't get there quickly. Yup, there's a thermostat in it. Has new radiator and hoses, and aircon works fine. Maybe a leak from the back of the rocker cover gasket where I can't see it, and landing on the exhaust? It would be sad to bugger it up by flogging it, and, as I said I don't need masses of power, but with the old one, I was confident about passing /overtaking. Not now. It kicks down and takes off, but just seems way slower. It's fine around town, and still uses hardly any gas. Amazing. Were the later 5S-FE motors less powerful? Or are the later wagons just heavier? That happened to me with Corollas - as they got newer, they just got heavier, and no way could a 97 Corolla 1.3 OHC perform as well as an '80 thru '84 KE70 1.3 pushrod wagon. Yeah, I know, I should have bought the bigger engine. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Sorry this is so boring, but I just need to figure out if something's wrong.