1997 Toyota Camry XLE from North America - Comments

Thermostat @ 115K, rack and pinion @ 123K, power steering pump @ 123K, suspension is beginning to rattle now @ 130K. Now they say timing belt needs replaced.

Bought car on the preface of "Toyota reliability". I was told that these cars need no work until after 200K. I was also told that buying a Toyota with 100K was equal to buying any domestic vehicle that had only 50K. I can say that the whole "reliability" thing is pure farce, created by a foreign-loving media. I have owned a 1994 mercury Cougar V8 that ran until 220K with no issues whatsoever, and I can't say the same for the Toyota.

While I'll agree imports are overrated..., the fact is that you don't know squat about cars.

Its used with 100,000 miles. It'll only be a dream car like you've heard only if the previous owner babied it. I'm assuming the last owner wasn't too bad to it, but stuff

happens.

Thermostat? No answer for that, it goes sometimes.

Rack and pinion? Wearable part that will eventually need to be replaced.

Power steering pump? again, a wearable part that gave out, probably due to the driving of the previous owner.

Suspension? Another very common wearable part, you can't expect it to stay perfect forever, seals leak, valves leak, springs get worn, pistons wear out...

It probably needs struts too.

Timing belt? Another common wearable part that is supposed to be replaced every 60000-70000 miles so yes, yours is due for a new one. Unfortunately, that's how it works.

"I was told that these cars need no work until after 200K. "

Psshhhttt, yea whatever makes your toyota loving friends sleep at night. You have to change the oil as well, seeing as the car can't change it itself nor run on the same 4 qts for 9 years. Same with filters (air and oil)...

"I was also told that buying a Toyota with 100K was equal to buying any domestic vehicle that had only 50K. "

False, depends on the model (dodge intrepid? lol) and how the previous owner treated it.

" I can say that the whole "reliability" thing is pure farce, created by a foreign-loving media."

What media? Its all advertising and who wants to spend the most.

That mercury is a good car with the V8. I had a thunderbird 93 with the 5.0, loved that car until it got T boned, passenger side luckily by someone running a stop sign.

*sigh*

The foregoing is for the most part accurate, although it might have been said in a nicer way.

The original poster does show a lack of automotive knowledge in general. 100k miles on an engine is 100k miles, regardless of which manufacturer it came from. There are no magic conversion factors. There are no engines which can go 200k miles with no maintenance, they all require a certain degree of maintenance. Once you understand this, it gets easier to plan your purchases accordingly.

There are mundane maintenance items, like oil and air and fuel filters which anyone can do with a wrench and a little time... but what most consumers don't bother to understand is that there are also 'consumable' items that are also on the scheduled maintenance list. These don't wear out as quickly as, say oil or even spark plugs; but they do wear out.

For instance, the cam timing belt and all your belts under the hood will wear out eventually. But, when your a/c belt wears out, all you get is a non-functioning a/c unit or maybe a squeal from under the hood when you engage the a/c; it doesn't leave you stranded, but IS inconvenient.

A cam timing belt, however, WILL leave you stranded and most likely will lead to catastrophic failure with severe engine damage. Most belts are designed with a life expectancy of somewhere between 40k and 90k miles or 4 years, which ever comes first. So, even though you have a garage princess that only has 20k miles showing on the odometer, and by mileage rating has no need for any new belts, if it's 5 years old I'd say replace ALL belts. They are cheap (including the cam timing belt), but unfortunately, the labor to change them out (especially the cam timing belt) is very expensive.

Cars such as V8 american vehicles use no cam timing belts. They have a chain instead of a polymer belt, which can go the life expectancy of the vehicle and never need changing; usually something else breaks first and you throw away the engine.

So, why don't the japanese use chains? They do. Depends on the car you buy. But, polymer belts are mechanically more efficient than chains (less parasitic losses), so you have greater power output from the same engine, and less noise from the engine bay, as well as a cheaper to produce engine which does not require another sealed, oil-bath run chain.

But you buy this design with the implicit understanding that you WILL have to change this belt at a fixed interval and cannot ignore it just because it's inconvenient or expensive for you to drop off your car at the mechanic's every 4 years.

As a former mechanic, I always tell people to change their water pump and the idler pulley (another $80 or so in parts) at the same time as changing a cam timing belt... because it won't add that much more to the cost (the labor is practically free since most of the time is spent getting to the cam belt in the first place). It might be $800 or so for a cam timing belt change, so with the water pump and idler, maybe $900 or so. But, if you have enough miles or years for a cam timing belt to fail, then the water pump, although probably good still, might go soon.

If you are meticulous about fluid changes... like changing out coolant every year, like you're supposed to do, but which most people (myself included) almost never do, then change the pump. If the water pump fails, you're looking at: guess what? Another $800 bill because it's the same amount of labor to change the water pump as change the cam timing belt... so, while the belt is already off, change out the water pump please.

Notice I said 'coolant' and not 'water.' If you have water in the radiator, all bets are off. Even if you change it every month, you will have accelerated wear and corrosion because the antifreeze acts as a barrier to protect your engine internals and radiator from rusting. If you have only water in there, you will soon have brown rusty water. The antifreeze also acts as a lubricant to make the water pump last... if running straight water, expect much reduced life expectancy out of your water pump.

Very well put the last comment. I agree that the japanese cars are overrated (actually I am a Chrysler Intrepid owner with more than 100k miles on it, and besides of the regular maintenance just small things gone wrong with it), but no matter what car you own, as long you take care of it, she will respect you. I do this and the car is in a perfect shape.

Two weeks ago I did myself the whole work related to the timing belt replacing and the car runs like new. And again, I agree with the last comment that is wise to do all the related parts replacements in the same time. I spent for all (timing belt, water pump, belt's tensioner) 300CAD and of course, time. And you don't need to be a mechanic to do this, just common sense and some reading (I am not a mechanic, and I did the whole job inside of my garage).

And bottom line, maybe the job that you do for yourself might be better than one provided by a rushed guy from a shop. After reading the initial review, I realized that Toyota involved in this discussion worth every penny...