A fire extinguisher, forgot about this but have one in the trunk. Have watched a few cars burn for lack anything to put out the fire.

With any repair there is always the unexpected.

Have been through your area many, many times. Trout Lake, Goldendale, etc.

 

do you have any pictures of your camry?

 

This is the only pic I have right now but promise to take some more soon. I only have a cell phone camera so the quality's not the best.

So Joey, l see now that you are from the PNW also ... yes, lots of beautiful country in this neck of the woods.
Some of our favorite camp spots are not too far from Trout Lake ... I especially enjoy Falls Creek and Panther Creek among others, we live in Carson Valley near the Wind River.

Fire Extinguisher can come in Very handy ... I remember years ago I pulled over to help a guy who's engine had just caught on fire due to a flooded carburetor, I happened to have a liter of soda in the car and shook that up and sprayed it all over the engine ... we got lucky and got the flames extinguished.
That was one heck of a sticky mess but you know, the guy didn't complain a bit.

 

rare you find one of those in good shape like that. how many miles are on it? keep up the good work.

 

It was my Dad's car, he took excellent care of it. It's got around 177000 miles on it so still got some life in it. I'm sure it helps that they don't salt the roads here, virtually no rust. Dad used a logbook and documented everything done to it which comes in very handy.

I've noticed that it does smoke a small amount if I'm sitting at idle for a long period of time.
Probably the valve guides, hopefully not rings. I'm not too worried about it and keep a good eye on the oil level but I haven't really noticed it going down much yet. I'll give it a compression check in the future to pinpoint the problem.

Hopefully putting new valve guides in is possible without pulling the head but I'm not sure, haven't checked that out yet.

 

Just filled the tank up and I got 29.6 MPG ...
... not as good as I had hoped but I think a lot of that was idling while working on the car. I also may not have let the pump shut off at the same time. I know I need to average of a number of fillups, use the same pump and just fill it until the pump shuts off (no top off) ... to get a more accurate MPG.
And ... keep the tires aired up, I think they are a little low now due to colder weather.

Living rural, most of my miles are highway miles but I do also make quite a few shorter runs to the grocery, auto parts etc.

Need to do a compression check on the car too, I saw a small amount of slightly bluish smoke when sitting at an idle the other day.
Probably just valve guides but a compression test would let me know if it's rings.

How complicated is putting in new valve guides?

 

The MPG is good, will get better with non-stop hwy speeds.

Typically worn guides and valve stem seals show up as a cloud of white smoke at cold start up.

Changing seals can be done with the head on the engine (but time consuming), guides no.

 

32.56 MPG today, it's getting better, Right you are Toyomoho!
That was highway going 60-65 MPH and up over a low mountain pass and back. I'm a happy camper now, and pleased with anything over 30 MPG.
Still need to do a compression check.
Even if the rings were not 100%, I doubt I'll do anything at this point.
Smoke only noticed when left idling for a few minutes.

I would imagine that if I put new rings in, I'd replace bearings, get a valve job and the whole 9 yards ... can't really swing that this year so I'll enjoy the current condition which is not bad.

 

I bet your current condition is still doing fine, no reason to replace it

 

i would seriously run that engine the longest you can. either save to rebuild it or find another engine and just rebuild it. its worth it the way that car looks. i would rather deal with and older car than a newer one and deal with all these sensors. id say keep it goin. if you were to take the motor out you minus well throw a new clutch in her too.