Hello,

Im new to the forums, but not new to camrys. My girlfreind has a 1997 Camry LE 4 Cyl (2.2) with 131000 miles that has ran great with no problems at all. Yesterday morning she started it up and it immediately starting making extremely loud clanking/knocking/banging sounds from the crankcase area on the passenger side of the motor.

The car doesnt seem to lose power, actually idles fine and runs good suprisingly. No smoke/smells. However i noticed coolant is pouring out from what appears to the the timing belt cover/area. (I couldnt tell if there is a hole in the block or the water pump is leaking.)

The car has been well maintained from when it was purchased new. Oil changes always on time. It was a half quart low on oil, and the coolant was very old. Topping off the oil obviously didnt fix the problem, and i didnt assume it would. There is a very slight oil leak from what appears to the oil pan gasket/valve cover areas (typical for the age i would say).

My last Camry was a 1992 that lasted 264K and the engine seized up out of random going down the road, but this one has way less miles on it.

I figured at this point it spun a crank bearing or threw the rod due to the randomness of it all with no previous symptoms/noises leading up to it. Am I jumping the gun here by looking into buying a used motor already?

 

Don't operate the car unless making a quick trip to have it repaired. When driving make sure the coolant is continually topped off (you can use water), you don't want to overheat the engine or the head gasket can fail.

If coolant is leaking the water pump appears to have failed. The water pump drive shaft bearing may be bad and now allows the shaft, impeller, etc to bang around. Get the problem fixed as the failure could become worse resulting in physical damage to engine parts.

 

Thanks for the reply. The car has not been drivin since the noise started, as i figured it was serious internal damage like crank or wrist pins, ect. The noise is so loud the last thing i would have guessed was water pump, since it made no noise what so ever before this.

I guess ill be looking into that next, ive replaced water pumps/t-belts on hondas and nissans. i just hate doing water pump replacements on cars that have them drivin by the t-belt.

 

It's unusually for a water pump to fail like this but it does happen.

 

Just an update,

I now know its not the Alternator or Power Steering Pump, the noise is still there when ran it without these belts last night.

I havent removed the Timing belt cover yet, so I dont know what it looks like under there. Ill be doing that tonight..