Hello, I posted this on the toyotanation forum and no one responded. That forum is also very slow/frustrating to scroll through. Here is the post with info/history of the car and fixes I'm pondering:

"Hello, I do not have any pictures at the moment but I have had the pleasure of driving my mom's Camry for a few years and it is probably my favorite vehicle that I have driven. Looking at detailing and some repairs to get it feeling closer to factory to give back to her after school, or when I buy it from her. Suggested Info:

1990, 4 cyl approx. 125,000 miles, automatic, timing chain and cv joints have been done once, budget collision repair of metal in front of hood and driver's headlight/grille after rear ending someone in the rain...

So I'm pretty pissed that I wrecked this car but it's the fourth or fifth minor accident it's been in. Wish I had some pictures immediately available and hopefully soon. Car is nice stock looking and will probably keep that way.

History: We have always been very easy on motors and I'd argue this car has never been given over 1/2 throttle and only driven in serious winter salt like twice, however I'm bad at braking apparently and like to save gas so I haven't slowed down to avoid potholes, speed bumps like I should. I have taken it down some roads and trails i shouldn't have, a flooded field, and played burnout once in the ice and burnt down to the pavement. Just enough to smell a tiny bit of tire, but felt the transaxle wasn't done any favors. Also Ran over an icy curb in the winter, lots of e-brake slides. Also almost got pulled through a car wash in park once...stupid. All this on the new cv joints/axles. So that is the history on the car, I'm trying to change my habits and set a goal of 400,000 miles. Also, my dad once let it run low on ATF to where it wouldn't even go up a hill, have since fixed the pan leak but it shifts hard going into second.

So: the car has a definite clunk going into drive and reverse, and when coasting downhill I sometimes hear a faint click/thuck noise with upshifts. I'm hoping this is not a fatal internal problem developing and something I can either live with or improve. Also the shocks seem to work somewhat still but have gotten noisy to the point i can hear air noise and a lot of creaking going through a bad parking lot and sometimes with letting on/off gas and momentum changes; I've heard the mounting points get noisy. So I'm interested in new shocks and possibly replacement mounts, struts, bushings etc. while at it. Springs have always been spongy and would like something with less give unless new shocks can do job. Tightening or replacing CV's again is not out of the question.

Throttle has also stuck at idle for years but is somehow better now, diagnosis was needed induction cleaning of throttle body but never happened.

So looking for part suggestions, junkyard springs i could swap in, and most importantly any insights on the condition of the transmission. Love these carsand others from the era and I'm very interested in getting an all trac, particularly something with a motor swap at some point in the future. I'm also into Ford Couriers at the moment. Fire away ya'll."

 

Welcome to CF.

The car has certainly gone through a lot but older Toyota's were tough!

400K might be a challenge for the engine and trans.

What it the idle speed? To high can cause a clunk when putting the trans in gear.

Is there any delay between the time you move the selector to a D or R and the actually trans engaging (clunk)?

Suggest you do a complete trans fluid change (this forums has post on this), and clean out the trans pan of debris.

The suspension noise could be sway bar bushings or upper struct mounts, suggest you start here. Springs don't go bad but can sag, is the car sitting lower?

Bad CV joints generally express themselves as a clicking noise when making sharp turns. You can check their boots for splitting which would cause the grease to come out and debris enter.

What does the throttle being stuck at idle mean?

There is a thread at this forum about the joys, trials and tribulations of the All-Trac.

 

Thank you for the reply, finals got the best of me getting around to this.

I hadn't thought about idle speed but I want to say it's around 900 rpm? Possibly 1100 but I don't think so, if anything it's lower than it should be. I think i heard 1000 was where it should be roughly? I once put a code reader on the car at o'reilly's and the idle speed seemed to drop afterwards because of it, which would make no sense. A/C, lights, fan all add to change the idle speed with 4 cylinders also. Thanks though, i'll check and maybe set to lowest stock speed?

There isn't much delay when going into gear but it's not instantaneous. R and D engage at the same interval. Seems normal, my friends truck takes seconds for the solenoid to engage for reverse or first. I hear "Click (shifter) thuck (trans)". It doesn't always make the noise it seems but I've stopped shifting from reverse to first at any roll also.

I had a recent trans fluid change and the shop said the old fluid didn't look very good. Condensation in the dipstick had me worried after going through some water. I think filter was changed also. We've gotten lazy at the house since misaligning an oldsmobile filter and the trans burning up. Dad now just wants "plenty of fluid" which i think can cause harder shifts...sigh. The car did shift particularly well after the fluid change but then dad added more fluid of course.

I'll see what the auto parts store has for bushing kits and strut mounts, i saw a lot of complaints on edmunds or somewhere about strut mount noise. The shocks seem to work (only bounces once when i test, but ride seems rough somehow) but make hissing noises, maybe air rushing in and out of the rubber covers? I can get the noises by pressing down the bumpers on seemingly all four corners.

Don't think the car is sitting lower, and didn't expect springs to make noise. I was interested in stiffer springs or another way to make the car sway less and bottom out less easily. Or I could use the brakes like i mentioned...

I don't think i've detected bad cv's when turning, i heard how that sounded the first time they went out and that was just from 100,000 miles of grandma driving. I just hear the occasional "cv sounding" click from down there but i don't associate it with turning maybe more like going over pavement/gravel bumps etc.

"throttle stuck at idle" meant that the gas pedal was stuck in the off position and had to be tapped several times and messed with from a stop to get the car to go. someone offered to induction clean the throttle body but i think i ran a fuel system cleaner and it might have finally freed that up somehow. doesn't happen anymore.

maybe next will be fixing the sunroof that doesn't quite seal up. vibrations i thought could have been motor mounts were apparently junk i had in the glovebox etc. and my subpar collision repair on the grille area rattling somehow around 1100 rpm only. a friend crawling in through the roof and denting it simultaneously made the sunroof start working again and damaged it's track so that it doesn't quite seal right. Thanks again for the suggestions, cheers

 

Idle should be 700 +/- 50 RPM.

Don't shift on the roll as this will eventually cause $$$ problems.

Do you mean engine oil. Condensation on the trans dipstick as it is not exposed to engine combustion operations or gasoline.

Check trans fluid color, should be red, reddish. Place a few drops on a paper towel and check the outline. The more red the better, the darker the worse. If black its too old. Heat kills trans fluid as in stop and go driving, pulling a trailer, etc.

Not sure on hissing noise but if common and suspension seems otherwise OK would discount this.

Sway and bottom out? This can be struts. Springs will sag and the car sit lower. Not sure there are stiffer springs out there.

The "CV" noise if going over bumps may be the sway bar bushings (common) or upper strut mounts (less common).

For the throttle issue check the throttle cables and throttle pulley at throttle body for sticking. Take note if the car has cruise control, the throttle cable from the pedal goes to the cruise control box, then another goes to the throttle. Is is possible something inside the box is wrong. You can remove the box cover and watch the operation as the throttle is pressed and released.

Might try lubing the sun roof track with silicone lube and see what happens.