93 Camry XLE
170K miles

I am the original owner and have been concerned about the valve clearances for some time. I have taken the car to my local Toyo dealer twice and asked to have the clearances checked. I was told that they are, "good for life and adjustment is not needed". I understand. He would rather change oil on a Lexus than adjust shims on a 93 Camry and many people do not keep cars as long as I do. The valve guides are worn as evidenced by smoke on startup when the car has been sitting idle for a while and after the car warms up, I get metal roller skate sounds from inside the valve covers. The body and interior are in exellent condition. The tranny, which came apart at 80K is warranted for life from AAMCO. I am considering replacing remanned heads vs an entire remanned engine. Replacing anything on this car sucks. Which would suck the least? I am also concerned that if I opt to replace the heads and decide to replace cam parts that I will have to buy them from Toyo and will approach the cost of the remanned engine. Your thought are appreciated.

Thanks!

Barry

 

If the car is running OK I would not worry about valve clearance, especially doing the shim calculation and purchase/substitution hassle. Do you really want to pay a mechanic to adjust valve clearance shims and still be with a car that has bad valve seals?And what would you gain, a little more air/fuel/exhaust flow. I think the mecahnic did you a favor. If you were going toinstall newvalve seals then re-shimming valve clearances would make sense as the cam is off anyway. You can check the valve clearances
yourself, not very hard. Why do you need a remanned engine?Have you done a compression check or leakdown test to see if you even need a remanned engine/head? It's a daily driver, not a race car and at 170K I'd push it to the limit before I did anything.

 

Thanks Pedro! I agree with how you think. It is a daily driver but I need confidence for mama to take the kids places on occasion. It does run well and makes smooth power.The smoke could be embarrassing but I'm not proud. You are right about doing much work with leaking valve seals. Not sure I agree that servicing the rear cylinders is easy and if you find a clearance problem and buy the special tool to remove the shim, I have read that it is easier to just remove the cam shafts. I am worried about the friction sound I am getting. Kind of nasty sounding (my metal skate analogy). This is concerning and embarrassing. I don't know if the sludge thing is for real and depriving the cam shafts of oil. The oil levelis rightand I have used Mobil 1 full syth for years. I would like to hear which requires less hours, swapping the motor or reworking or replacing the old heads.

Thanks again!

Barry

 

Barry, I'm not sure about the hours, I guess it depends on if the new motor comes complete with heads and all other accessories. I don't know if you can get a complete, ready-to-start engine for the switch, at least not economically. I would base my decision on what is necessary.Have a leakdown test done and see if the cylinders are good for several thousand more miles. Not much point in paying for new heads only to have the rings go bad. It sounds like you have kept the oil changed regularily with synthetic so the crank bearings may be good for quite a while. Maybe someone else can give you an opinion on bottom end life expectancy. As for replacement heads try these people: http://www.cylinder-heads.com/

On another forumI visit they are quite popular and people have had good results. If I could avoid pulling the engine, that's theroute I personally would go. Whatever way you go be prepared for extra expense and time as the job progresses.

 

The 93 v-6 is not the best version v6 Toyota has made. What would suck the least is to drive it into the ground and move on. You could easily exceed the value of the car trying to fix this. Even if you put a brandnew engine in it ($$$$$), the car is still only worth so much.