We got the car brand new and it showed three miles on the dash. It has the 3.0 automatic XLE fully loaded red.
The first thing that went out at 5000 miles was the electric moon roof. It had a broken gear in it. Fixed with the warranty.
At 6,000 miles we took the car to have it serviced and they noticed that it was 1/2 quart low on antifreeze. So they said that could be normal so they filled it up to full at no cost. Then my son started to check it every time we got fuel for it and only 400 miles later it was low again. I called and they told me to bring it in. I missed a day of work again. They checked every thing and said it must be normal. Filled up again and off I go.
400 miles again same story. I took it back and they had the big shop boss look it over. He said it had no problems with the cooling system because I told them it never overheated. They filled it up with anti-freeze and I went home.
It was low 500 miles later and I took it to another Toyota Dealership and told them of it all. They actually worked on it. They changed out all the freeze plugs and made sure the "heater-core" was good.
Same old story-500 miles later back again. This time they said it had to be a bad head gasket. So they put 2-new head-gaskets on it.
This still didn't fix it. We took it to a private shop and they checked everything and came up with nothing except a loose head-gasket bold. He put a new bolt in it, but 500-miles later it was still low again.
We learned to live with it and we were scared to drive the car too far away, but it had good power and drove like new.
Then at about 15,000-miles the car finally gave out and overheated and white smoke blew out of the hood and tail pipe. It laid down on me right as I pulled into work one afternoon. One of the head-gaskets blew out. Toyota put a whole new engine in the car this time because it damaged it so bad from overheating.
Our water problem was solved, but with the new engine came all new problems like the bolt for the alternator came loose and left me calling for a tow three weeks after the new engine. Toyota said after such a big job as an engine changing it is normal to have a few bolts work out.
Then not even to 16,000-miles the top of the engine started to leak out oil all over. It caused lots of blue smoke and the first time I called 911 on the freeway. I thought it was on fire. So the firemen called a tow truck to take it back to the dealership. Toyota put new head oil top pan gaskets on the car at no cost.
At 18,000 miles the transmission started to slip. We took it in and the transmission cooling line was too far over close to a part and wore a hole in it and started to leak out. The fluid fried in the transmission from us driving it so low, but Toyota said drive it. The transmission shifted harsh after this and it took a bit longer for it to go into D from N. They put 8oz of some extra special fluid in it to "heal it". I know the transmission is hurt and will go out soon. It happened all at once one day. We always look at the driveway to see if it leaked any anti-freeze every-time before we left the house and we never saw it drip any transmission fluid or anything.
At 20,000-miles the quick oil change shop informed me that the air filter element was full of oil and that the car was smoking out blue smoke and 4-quarts low on oil. He filled it up with oil. We drove it back to the dealer the next day and they got into a fight with my husband and finally told us that it was a used engine with 28,000-miles on it, but that didn't matter. They broke down the top of the Engine and found a bent valve and some air oil "blow-by" lines that were in the wrong place. They replaced the entire exhaust system and sensors as well. They fixed it all.
Then at 22,000 miles the back head-gasket blew back out on the on-ramp to I-40. Thank God for cell phones.
I missed another day of work and had the car took in and got a free rental.
3-weeks later they are done with new head-gaskets and it ran like new again.
The car has about 24,000 miles on it now and we are trading it off before something else goes wrong.
We are getting another Taurus. A New 04-Taurus and Ford is giving us $15,000 trade in. We told them of all the problems and they said they would wholesale it out to an auction. They didn't want to sell it to one of their customers.
We miss our old Taurus that got us 79,000-miles of no problems before we traded it for out Camry-Lemon.
Other people that we know have had only small problems with the Camry. We were told by Toyota that our problems are like 1-10,000++ Camrys. He told us that we had one of the first 2002. They offered us a new one at an even trade, but I don't think I could feel safe in another one. I want something like our old car.
The Camry does ride well and feels tight and has a good size trunk, but maybe a quality problem.
You were extremely lucky with your first Taurus and extremely unlucky with your first Camry. It's much easier to get a bad Taurus than a bad Camry. My Taurus almost sent me to the poor house. I'd bet on another Camry.
I have owned a Taurus and I have owned a Toyota. My Toyota was 100% worse than any problem every experienced with my Taurus. The only thing wrong with the Taurus after 10 years ownership was the AC evaporator was replaced twice, the first time under warranty. My Toyota needed a whole new engine after only ONE YEAR!!! My Toyota needed a whole new set of tires at 15,000 miles!!! My Toyota needed a brake job at 20,000 miles!!!
We have had problems with our Camry also.. it is a 2002 also.. The crank sensors went out and left the car to be towed away off the main rush hour traffic... I had to run across 5-lanes of traffic to get off the road...dnagerous...also the battery already went bad after only 17,000-miles, kind of odd.. Good luck with the taurus.. be sure to get one like my son's that lights up on the steering wheel... the cruise buttons... I think that the SLE or something like that is the only Taurus that lights up at night...
Sounds like you got a bad one. once they, they is anybody, Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Honda, etc. starts to work on a car and do major repairs on it like yours, it will lead to all kinds of small problems. This is because they are in such a hurry and will strip out bolts and put the wrong lines in the wrong spot. It is best to just get a new one. Good luck.
I have had Toyotas for over 10 years and they never had any major problems. I had a 1996 Camry that reached 200,000 miles before the transmission gave out. No major repairs, just periodic (every 30K) work. I now have a 2002 Camry XLE and it has exceeded my expectations. I have over 42K miles on it so far (in a year and a half) and have done nothing to it besides oil changes and a 30K service. In 2003 I bought the Toyota Tacoma pickup. Toyota produces the most reliable cars. The problems you have had was like being struck by lightning.
Hi all..
I am the lady who bought the new Camry that had all the head gasket problems who wrote this review.
We did not get the Taurus, but we got another Camry.
Toyota gave us a straight cross trade, see we paid off the 02 when we bought it. They would only trade across for a base model, in stock only, but said that we could up grade at our own expense. We got a new 03 with 29-miles on it.
We have put 3000 miles on our new real nice Camry and have not had any problems.
We didn't get the new Taurus because Ford backed out of the trade in allowance that they promised us at the last minute, my husband told them take it or leave it. They left it and said that the manager said they could not make the deal. Anyway we got to drive the new 04 Taurus for 4-days while we made up our minds and then they backed out on us when we went to sign the papers.
The new Taurus drives so good. I think the Taurus has better seats and rear seat leg room and a lot of neat things that the Camry doesn't, but the Taurus sound like it had an exhaust leak at idle.
Lucky for us Toyota stayed good on their word, unlike the Ford place.
Toyota send our junk Camry to an auction in Kansas City, which is 600-miles away. I want that junk car to be as far away from me as possible.
Hopefully this base 03 will be so much better, we think that it will, we just got a lemon and the people working on it got some things mixed up.
I will let you all know how it goes once I hit the 10, 20, 30,000-mile mark…
Thanks.
Toyota made most reliable Camry's from 1992-1996.When they opened that Kentucky plant everything went bad, a lot of problems. Japanese made Camry's are the best.Period.You can put 300000 miles on them with oil changes and timing belt replacements.
Sounds to me like the service department you were dealing with did a poor job replacing the engine. It is not normal for bolts fall out no matter what. Perhaps you should find another dealership for service. I am confident you made the right choice sticking with Toyota. Best of Luck!
We've been fortunate to own the Japanese built Toyota's -
'89 Camry -242K - stolen, '86 4Runner -297K still running, '88 4Runner -177K wrecked, '95 4Runner -190K still running, '94 Camry -202K still running, and all without major repairs. The quality problems seem to have began when Toyota's were built here in the U.S, so the reliability playing field has gotten pretty even and based on the reviews on this board and Consumer Reports repair database. When the time eventually comes for me to replace the older legendary Toyota's, I will be seriously looking at the Ford or GM product line.
We have a 99 Camry and had to have the transmission rebuilt at 58,000-miles. Other than that we have had no problems. We think the transmission went out because it was serviced wrong. We had it serviced at Toyota at 55,000-miles and it started acting up that day. It finally went our 3,000-miles later and would not move till it warmed up.
We now have a new 04-Sable Mercury and the cruise control button fell out of place. Makes me wonder.
I bought a Camry in 1992 (made in Japan) ; I drove 90 Camry almost 240K. I had one brake job, 3000 mile oil changes, 2 transmission oil changes, and 3 sets of tires.
When I traded my Camry to get another car, I realized that Camry was made in the USA. I decided to buy one made in Japan. I bought a Tercel. This was a smaller car, but I did not want it to break down. I drove 210K with oil changes, 2 set of tires, and one timing belt change.
This year, I could not find any Japanese Toyota. I bought a 2004 Camry (Made in USA). I took to the dealer 3 times to replace the top console, driver side kick panel, and security system. The dealer told me those parts were broke, but they put them in at the manufacture anyway.
That is why we are exporting all of our jobs to another country.
If your looking for a car made in Japan look at the vin number,, all Toyota's made in Japan start with a J
I am looking for a Camry for my daughter,
I have spent way too much time in font of this computer as I am on vacation, ( (should be painting the house or something) ), but I have learned a lot from this board and I want to thank you all for writing your comments, I have a much better understanding on what to buy and what to stay away from,,, from your comments
thanks,
:)
I have had Toyota's since graduating college. I have never had major problems and have "talked up Toyota's" whenever people are discussing cars. Two years ago I traded in a 1989 Corolla for safety reasons only (I have 3 small children and this car did not have airbags or other safety features introduced in the 90's. This car had never had a problem. The clutch lasted until I had 130,000 miles on it. Before that I had driven 2 other Toyota's for over 100,000 miles each and never had clutch issues. 18,000 miles into it my Camry's clutch was shot (and only 100 miles after the dealer looked at it and said it was fine). I had it replaced at an independant dealer, but it has taken over a year to get toyota to pay for it. 1 day after they agreed to pay (and at 41000 miles) the clutch went again. I am waiting to hear what they say, but my guess is they will say it is operator error. I can't help but think there is something wrong with this car. has anyone else had similar issues, or know of anything besides just driver error that woudl cause this to happen twice with such low mileage.
I own a 2002 Toyota camry with the 4 cylinder engine. I have logged 43,000 miles with not a problem. Oil changed every 3,000 miles and a new K&N air filter. I an extremely happy with this car. Made in Japan model. Will definitely buy another again, sticking with the 4 cylinder, runs on regular gas and gives me around 30 MPG.
Aloha.
Just found this board as a new Toyota Camry owner. This is a great board and car!
For your information, most/all the new automatic Camry models available here in Hawaii are Made in Japan. The prices may be higher than in the other States, however if this VIN "J" label is a factor for you, then come on down. Why not make a vacation tip out of it and visit our Aloha State, drive in your new Camry, and see the island in style! It will run $1,000 or so to ship back to West Coast, but our general excise tax is only 4.167 percent.
We love tourists here, even more than our Toyotas!
Happy Motoring!
(Shaka Hele On!)
Ron '05XLE.