1985 Toyota Camry LE from North America - Comments

Lower control arms needed replacing at 206,000 miles.

Timing belt slipped at 210,000 but, since this is a non-interference engine, it just needed replacing and didn't cause any damage which was great.

Steering box has started to feel a little 'spongy'

All are relatively minor general wear-and-tear items consistent with the mileage on the car I think.

My goodness, this car has been amazingly reliable and great transportation.

It was my wife's first car when she was in college and, since we bought her a new car I have driven it for another 15-20,000 miles.

The car is obviously extremely well built and, although there are no luxurious frills it is very comfortable even on long drives.

It has been well looked after and the oil has been changed every 5,000 miles.

In my opinion, if you look after these cars, they will offer you fantastic service.

I have nothing bad to say about it at all as it has taken me from one side of the country to the other in 3 days without complaint.

If you can find one that has service history (with receipts!) and is in good condition then I think you cannot go far wrong.

I have owned a 1985 Camry for the past 14 years. I have 329,000 miles on it and just routine things go wrong. I purchased the repair manual from Toyota on it when I bought the car and do most of the work myself. Very easy car to work on. Have a lot of parts that I collected over the years from wrecking yards which is a money saver. I change oil every 5,000 miles and use Castrol 20/50 in it. Very reliable car and comfortable to drive and great on gas.

Glad yours has been reliable. My parents bought a first year Camry (1983) and it was pretty much reliable except for one horrible incident. I was driving the car back from college and was on the highway doing 65. The car suddenly decided to "power down" and I had no control over steering or any other electric function. Luckily no one was on the highway and I was able to coast to the side, but it could have turned out much worse.

Never had that happen on any car I have owned, foreign or domestic.

Hard to say what caused the power down as you describe it. Could have been a fuel pump, or the ECU. Some times strange things happen when you are dealing with a lot of electronics and sensors. My automatic locked up in low gear and would not shift to 2nd and 3rd. Had transmission rebuilt, changed the Neutral safety switch which didn't fix the problem. Checked out the transmission computer still couldn't find the problem. Changed the TPS, and selector display also. Then sent the transmission computer to a guy in Florida for testing and it was OK. When I put the computer back in it started to shift normal. Very puzzling problem with no real answer. If that ever happens, pull the transmission computer and disconnect it and then you can shift the automatic manually.

Sounds like you had an Igniter possibly go bad. They can be intermittent or just go completely which of course shuts down the car. You never stated what caused the power down? In spite of that, the 85 Camry 4 banger is a great little car. I would never own an American car again after owning several Japanese cars. Far better quality in them and longevity on the engines. Not to mention gas mileage.

There's a small (10 gauge) white wire that connects to the positive battery terminal, under the fusible link holder. If that wire is damaged or corroded, the car will lose all electrical power. That happened to me. It took me a while to figure it out, after replacing the ignition switch didn't fix it. The wire was so corroded that when I sliced open the insulation, it literally crumbled into dust. I repaired it with wire and a ring connector I had on hand, and no more problems.

The shop manual indicates that this wire supplies the starter and ignition circuits, but it must also pick up a relay that controls most other electrical systems. The headlights and flashers still worked, but nothing else did - not even the clock.

Yes, it could be an igniter problem. Had that happen to me while driving through the desert. Car would just shut down and then I could immediately restart it, and this happened several times over several hours, then it finally wouldn't start again. Had it towed to a Toyota dealership and they located the problem. It turned out to be the Igniter. Cost $214.00 for the Igniter and I was on my way in about an hour. They said that they had problems with them and that they improved the Igniter to stand up against heat better. When it got hot the circuit would separate and break the electrical circuit inside of it and it would go dead causing the shutdown.

I bought a 1985 Toyota Camry a couple months back, and it has been very dependable. When I bought the car. it had 128,000 miles on the odometer. I've only put about 2,000 miles on it since I've had it.

The motor does not smoke or knock, and it runs great.

Perfect interior and no cracks on the dash, and the body is perfect too.

I bought it for $700.00 because the previous owner said it had a bad CV axle, which I had repaired. I went to Barry's U-Pull It and bought one for about $20.00, used, but in very good shape.

The only problem I've had is the fuel pump died a couple days ago. I bought a new one with the filter screen. I've had not put it on yet, but plan to in a day or so. I've heard on some cars you can access the fuel pump under the back seat, but I also heard you had to take the fuel tank off on most cars. I really would like to know which way it is before I start working on the car? Some helpful tips would be nice.

If any one is trying to fault find a fuel pump problem on a 4 cylinder, carburettor model, Camry - don't immediately think you have a pump that has failed.

The pump power feed is from the alternator (so that if the engine stops running, so does the fuel pump- neat solution) directly.

A lot of pumps have been changed needlessly. Check the power feed from the alternator- the pump only runs when the alternator turns, not just if the ignition switch is on.

The colours change too much to able to specify which ones to look at, and the alternators are different too.

I purchased a 1985 Toyota Camry two weeks ago. It has ~82,000 miles. Everything works fine except that the car starting shutting itself off two days ago. It will start right back up. At first it would shut itself off when braking hard. Then it would shut itself off when I let off the gas. Now it shuts itself off while driving - but it always starts right back up. I stopped for gas and checked the oil which was very very low (barely got the end wet). I added a quart of oil and now it runs fine. Any ideas on this as I find this bizarre. The oil idiot light never came on.