The car was dealer maintained for the first 47,000 miles, I took it over after that because we moved. What the tech is telling me is that the gasket blew because the head bolts are loose. They are pulling the threads right out of the block. It’s going to have a short block installed later in the week. Im told they are fixing the ones that are caught under warranty, tough luck to everyone else. If anyone can hook me up with info about other owners,tsb or any like info I would appreciate it.
Thanks again, Mark

 

Keep all your records and watch for a class action lawsuit to get in on. I would be interested in knowing when Toyota was aware of this problem and if they attempted to contact owners to check heads for problems. I would also like to know when the dealership was aware of the problem and what they did to advise owners. If it was a matter of incorrect torque adjustment of head bolts then that would have been an easy fix if caught in time. I'd say if enough people are affected by this then class action will come forward. Also check with your state's attorneygeneral's office on if it can try to get something for you.

 

Hi,
I have the exact same problem and wanted to offer my experience, since there may be others that can benefit from it.
I have a 2003 Camry 4 cylinder, and the head gasket began leaking oil at 86,000miles. The leak was located at cylinder 4 towards the front of the car. I took the valve cover off and checked the head bolt above that area. It seemed loose, and definitely not the 70-80ftlbs from the factory.(I tightened the bolt less than 1/4 turn)Upon dissassembly,I noticed that head bolt in questionpulled the threads out of the deck. My opinion is that the threads gave up first and caused the head gasket to leak oil.

There is a fix for his, Helicoil part# 1130. I plan to repair the threads on this bolt and reassemble as soon as I get the kit, but I am unnerved that the other 9 head bolts may be ready to give up as well. I may just fix all of them with Helicoils.

I will let you know how it goes.

 

Oh Crap, my 1993 Camry 4cyl is doing exactly this too, its got 88k miles on it, and its leaked oil on the front side of the motor (not enough to tear it open), at what appears to be the head asket area (its hard to ID a source). BUT , I had a leaky radiator and through my own stupidity/laziness, it overheated. Now I know I got a blown head gasket, as theres exhaust fumes/bubbles in the radiator, the temp fluctuates all over the place (exh gas no doubt effecting sensors), and it starts up rough (never before). At $1400 to have it done at the local shops (two quotes, same) I guess I gotta do this one myself- and it appears my helicoils in the block are gonna come out, huh ? Sheesh.

On that note, is/are there any user writeups here on performing a head gasket replacement ? I do have a manual, but some DIY tips, tricks, photos, cannot hurt...

Is it recommended to go and purchase a refurbished head and swap the old one out ?

Does an otherwise well maintained 92 with 88k miles on it need a valve job, etc? Or jsut go 'on the cheap' and replace the head gasket, only... I don't know, looks like a ton of labor and I'd hate to repeat it....

thanks,
-z-

 

I guess the decision to swap out for a refurbishedor do the work yourself is the old, time and money argument. If you have a local machine shop that is reputable and can do the work on the head then that would be ok. Alternately you could go here: http://www.cylinder-heads.com/and do an exchange. I personnally would do the exchange although I have had local shops do the workin the past on other heads. As for the valve job it will be just lapping I would assume on a head with that low mileage, not a lot of work there. The exchange head will have all the valve work already done. The biggest tip I can give is to get the torque right on re-assembly. The head bolts/studs/threads need to be clean, clean, clean and should offer NO resistance to tightening to get accurate torque.Apply a little oil to the threads before assembly. Use top quality gaskets and do as much work as possible on replacing hard to get at hoses, etc. You might want to send the injectorsout for cleaning as well by a specialty shop such as: http://www.witchhunter.com/Just do general cleaning as well and replace all fluids before starting the engine.

 

Thanks for the info....!
-z-

 

Might also look at Time-Serts. These have been used by third party repair shops on later V6 Toyota blocks where the threads have pulled.

www.timesert.com

 

I am a service center owner and technician of over 40 years in SC. Recently, a 2003 Camry LE w/ 70,000 miles came into my shop with a coolant leak. I consulted this forum and others to find proof of the same instance in the Toyota Camry. I write this in response to some posts I read on this site. This is to be informative for those in similar situations. To do the exam, we pressurized the cooling system and put the car up on the lift. We immediately noticed coolant leaking from underneath the plastic INT intake Manifold in the rear of the engine. I also noticed a Large piece of foam rubber between the Intake Manifold and the Engine Block and Head. This was blocking our view of the leak. We could only see that the leak was behind the foam piece. The only option to discover the source of this leak was to remove the plastic intake manifold, which I did. After this was removed, it became obvious that coolant had been leaking a minor amount for quite some time due to build up between the cylinder head and block. The only option left is to remove the head, which requires an exstensive disassembly (R and R cylinder head). After Loosening the bolts in sequence, I notice the head bolts in the back of the engine are loose. From my experience in the field, I can confidently conclude that this only means one of two things: The bolts were left loose at the factory, or the Bolts are stripped. ( I commonly have seen stripped bolts in the Aluminum Cadillac North Star Block discovered through leaking coolant.)Next, I removed the head and sure enough, one bolt came out with aluminum in the thread...thus indicating a stripped bolt.MY THEORY: The placement of the (insulation) foam rubber piece between the Intake Manifold and the engine block created an uneven dispersion of heat, creating "metal fatigue" in the aluminum block allowing the headbolt to strip.If Toyota had out an Aluminum Manifold instead of Plastic, there would have been no need to insulate (w/ foam piece), thus eliminating the probem.The only solution to this problem is to unforunately replace the engine. The cost to repair it otherwise would be substantial. This is an engine defect and we WILL be seeing more of this.[/align]

 

All I can say is wow. I was surprised to hear this is a defect. Does anyone know if this issue has been addressed on the current generation Camry? I'm looking at getting a new car and being an Accord owner for the past 11 year, something like this would scare me away.

 

Do you know what years this affects. I have a 2004 4 Cylinder that gurgles but I do not see a leak at this time. I have a little over 60k miles.

Thanks