Hello all,
I have only posted on this forum a few times, and have gotten excellent advice, so I would like to see if I can get lucky again.

To begin, I'm am by no means a car mechanic...I can check fluid levels and tire pressure, that's about it, lol...maybe change wiper blades, on a good day

I have a 1998 Camry LE 4 cylinder with around 104K miles on it. My wife and I got it about 6 years ago, when her grandmother passed away (bought it from wife's Dad, $3500, with 23K original miles on it...garage kept)

Well, the wife drove it to death for the first 4 years we've had it...that's where most of the mileage came from...now, it's my car

Recently noticed a water leak, come to find out, the water pump was going bad...had it replaced at a local shop, a tree-shade mechanic who lives next door told me to have the timing belt changed at the same time...which I did...apparently, it's a good idea to do that when changing the water pump?

Well...it just seems that since I've gotten the car back, it seems a bit sluggish on the road...doesn't seem to have the "pick-up" that it used to have.

So, I asked my shade-tree mechanic about a tune-up for this car...basically what he told me was that besides an air filter, spark plugs, fuel filter...there's really not much else a "tune-up" means on this car, because the "ECU" would need tweaking, or something like that.

Anyway, when he mentioned these basics, I realized that the fuel filter and the spark plugs has never been changed on this car, that I recall..at least since we've had it....so I'd like to get that done.

Do you guys think that maybe this is affecting the performance?...I know I need to change the fuel filter, and have looked at some of the Youtube vids out there (there's one with a guy with an accent that runs for 36 minutes, haven't had the time to watch the whole thing, and I find it hard to understand what he's saying)

Is there anything that changing out the water pump/timing belt may have to do with this?

I have a feeling my neighbor and me can change the fuel filter w/out having to pay a shop...is it a difficult task?...is there a better vid out there than I am missing?...the spark plugs would be easier than the FF, I know we can do those...between neighbor and me, we should have the hand tools needed

Thanks to all for reading

Sorry for such a long post from an infrequent visitor, but any and all advice would be greatly appreciated

Matt

 

I did find this here on the forum, which is very helpful: Toyota Camry 1997-2001: How to Replace Fuel Filter - Camryforums

 

that is the way its done
not an easy DIY because of lack of room

 

Thanks, I do see how it is pretty tight for space, even after removing the air filter cover...hopefully I won't have too many problems.

 

If all that was done was water pump and timing belt, and performance is notably worse than before timing belt/water pump change, get camshaft timing checked; even one tooth off on either cam will affect performance....

 

Thanks very much, I will have that checked out as well.

 

Who changed the belt, if a shop take the car back and have them check it out? Perhaps they left off a wire, hose, etc.

They can check the ign timing with a light or diagnostic tool to make sure it is correct. If correct the belt timing is OK.

 

Thanks for the reply!

Yes, it was done at a shop...perhaps I should follow your advice and take it back to them.

The car starts fine, runs fine, it just seems hesitant when accelerating.

I DID find where a hose was not re-attached to the air filter housing, but I wonder why they would be messing with that anyway, it's on the other side of the engine from the water pump (?)

After I re-attached it, the performance seems better, but still just doesn't "feel" right, like I am used to.