Well, this problem cost me some money, but in a round-about way.

I bought my 2003 Camry LE brandy-new in March 2003 and was 100% OCD with its maintenance. All work was done by the dealer.

The exhaust manifold *popped* at 59,600 miles and at the dealership's shop, I was told it had broken. I had to raise a stink to get it repaired under warranty. I've since learned that THIS is a common problem, too.

At 120,000 miles, it started burning blue smoke (oil) when the engine was started each morning. At 145,000 miles, I had to spend $1300 for a catalytic converter and oxygen sensor. At 150,000 miles, I paid $400 (parts and labor) for a new ignition switch.

Throughout the car's life, the transmission sounded screwed up and shifted *very* hard. The dealer never could find a problem with that. At 155,000 miles, the right rear wheel bearing started to go out.

And then at 165,000 miles, I heard that weird gurgling sound in the dash board.

I traded in the car and bought a new Hybrid. It was time.

My two daughters both need a newer car but I was *SO* nervous about this 2003 and its engine and transmission problems, I didn't want them to have to worry about it.

If I'd sold the car privately, I would have made a *LOT* more money than I got on trade-in, but I just didn't trust the car and couldn't sell it with a clean conscience.

I am a little disappointed.

Rose

 

sounds like the dealer rip you off , if you come to our dealer and your car have a code for a catalytic converter and you tell us the you have a oil burning issue ,i will not sell you a new cat. unless you are aware the it is a waste of time ,more then likely the cat when bad because the oil issue , a bad bearing at 155k a normal issue on most brands (way better then GM bearings 30k),hard shifting is usually do to a lack of trans fluid service, a 2003 have regular mercon III fluid a 30k fluid , don't be disappoint at the the brand , disappoint the service department , at the end any car will have issues some customer more lucky the others . enjoy your new car.

 

My camry engine which I had repaired with NS300L inserts with 155K miles on it, has just passed 205K miles.

With the repair costing $1000, those extra 50K miles means a cost of only 2 cents a mile.

I feel that's quite a tesimonial for the NS3000L inserts.

I'm especially pleased since half a dozen people told me to just junk the car.

-

 

I used this forum a few years ago to gain the confidence to repair my 4cyl 2003 Camry with Helicoils; so I hope this information will help others.

At 70,000miles, the head gasket began leaking oil externally around bolt #10. I took the valve cover off and sure enough, that bolt was hand tight. When i pulled it out, it had all of the threads still on the bolt and not on the block. (Like the pictures in other posts.)

I pulled the head off and inspected the other holes. The threads are several inches (maybe 6") into the block and a few of the others were questionable as well. I decided to helicoil all 10 head bolts using new inserts with the same thread as the original. This was not easy since no one made a drill bit or tap long enough to reach as far as I needed to go. I took standard components and welded a bar onto the end and then used my cordless drill to drill out and tap the 10 holes. Installing the helicoils was easy.

I torqued everything down and it worked well. Now, I have 140,000miles on the repair and all is still working very well. I would highly recommend this to anyone that has this problem.

 

I have the same problem with my car. I get a gurgling sound when I accelerate, I'm losing coolant all the time, there seems to be a slow leak right behind the piece of foam in the back of my engine. What is the easiest way to confirm that my head bolts are stripped? And has the ns300 insert kit with course threads worked with success with the 2004 4 cylinder camry engine? Is there enough meat in block to accept these bigger longer threaded inserts?

Does anyone have a kit they want to sell?

 

I have a timsert kit, used once for the fix and has everything except the thread thingys since they're in the head but they're cheap enough to buy $275 shipped anywhere in the u.s.

 

The foam area is the common leakage area for the head bolt failure problem. There are no other potential leakage points in this area beside the head gasket.

However a coolant system pressure test can be done to determine if there are any other leaks beside this foam area.

If the gurgling sound is from inside the car it could be from air inside the heater core coolant plumbing. Try turning the heat control to max to bleed out the air.

The final test would be to check the head bolts in the area of foam leak, if stripped they will not torque up.

Suggest when repairing the treads to us the Timesert system. Given the problem is so common YouTube may even have videos of the repair process.

 

On sunday I was supposed to be driving back to Rivrside from Vegas. I would be taking a full load of 4 passengers. Last Thursday I drove these passengers from Prescott Arizona to Las Vegas and this was the first time I witnessed my precious Camry over heating. The temp guage would dance around toward the red and then creep back down to normal halfway temp. Then it would do it again. I told my passengers if that needle gets to the section that is right before the REDZONE we are stopping. Sure enough it did so I pulled over. I immediately hopped out and looked and my engine. Both radiator fans were on. After a minute of looking at my engine then I came back into the vehicle, looked at the guage again and mercy, the needle was in the dangerzone red zone! I guess I should have shut off he engine asap instead of letting it idle like that. The radiator needed about 3/4ths of a gallon of water.
Should I risk taking it to Riverside or just leave it parked and repair it come Christmas break.
How do I know if its serious? I mean I everytime I drive it I have to take the coolant reservoir and pour coolant into radiator because radiator never stays topped off. I squeeze the upper hose to radiator and its just empty. No visible leakage until last Thursday when I hate to say this, I overheated my Camry!!
If I want to make sure my problem is what I think it is, what is the procedure for checking if the head bolts in the back are tight? What needs to be removed?
And finally, if I attempt to tighten the bolts and they strip out, then Ill really be out of commission because the latter result will worse.
Is it alto of work to get to these bolts to check them?
Would it hurt if I just refilled the coolant system overtime I drive and if I just drove it really easy? What's the worst that can happen, I most likely will be taking the head off sometime to do this sleeve insert repair procedure anyways
And which is best the course tread northstarkit or the fine less engaged thread of the timesert kits?
Any thought concerns would be greatly appreciated.
Thankyou for your time friends its a blessing to be able to help eachother out with our Camrys

 

Oh and Toyota really is lowering their standards. How can so many of the same problems with the head bolts stripping be neglected and ignored by Toyota! Toyota should take care of this blunder!!!

 

Everytime I drive my camry I take a look at the coolant level inside the radiator. I always have to put about half to a full bottle of water to get it to the top of radiator neck. I am talking about a small 500 ml bottled water. Now Ive been watching the coolant levels lately and it seems that after camry warms up and drives, fluid from the radiator moves into res tank. After the vehicle is allowed to cool down completely, the radiator pulls some back in, BUT, the radiator does not pull back in the same amount that it spits into res tank. In other words, the radiator does not recover the same amount of coolant that it is spits out.

Can the stripped head bolts cause this kind of behavior?
Can a higher water to coolant ratio cause this? I have never seen anything leaking on this car except last Thursday on the drive from Prescott to Vegas.
Is the radiator supposed to be topped of at all timesby itself, if the system is working correctly , the answer is yes correct?
One final thought I did cylinder compression check and they all were 165-175. However I heard two of the cylinders make a pop noise during the turning of the engine.