Hello Everyone.

I am now a first time Camry owner. We have had a Sienna for 11 yrs now. It was our first Toyota. Anyway, I picked up a 2002 Camry SE, V6 for free this past weekend. I drove it 3hrs back from PA. It purred like a kitten. It has 190,000 miles on it. Only 1 owner and was always dealer maintained. They had all the service records. It still needs a quite a bit of work to pass MD inspection.

It was recommended to them at their last service appt that it needed a bunch of things. But they knew they were going to sell it and didn’t want to put the $ into it. Can’t blame them. So that falls on me. I am looking forward to doing the work and showing some pics along the way. I’m sure I’ll have some ?’s soon enough. two pics to start.

Thanks for allowing me in the forum. Happy new year


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Welcome to CF.

Congratulations on your car purchase.

Its a good car with a great engine.

If up to it, post the list of items stated needing attending to here for review.

Makes sure the trans fluid is OK. Worn out trans fluid is the No 1 cause of trans failure. Nothing new with Toyota and affects all makes of cars.

 

sure. Don’t mind. What I’m planning on doing is giving this to my son for his 16th bday It should be a good, reliable car for him until he buys another one.

It needs a few things. Some are to pass MD inspection. Others I just want to do to make sure it goes another 100k miles for him. I’ll put the inspection ones first.

struts and shocks
Front rotors
transmission mount
new tires
inner tie rods
Vsc/trac light code (haven’t diagnosed that yet)


but I’m going to do the following

*new front motor mount ( other two replaced less than a year ago)
*definitely doing a tranny drain refill a couple times
drop pan, replace filter
*Valve cover gaskets ( they leak)
*tune up (plugs and coils, never done that I saw)
*Clean out intake plenum
*clean throttle body
*timing belt (last done at 80k miles)
while I’m in there, water pump, rollers, tensioners, seals, etc
*Replace bellows on rack/pinion (They have slight tears)
*diagnose weeping on the rack
*power steering belt
*replace both outer tie rods to go with inners
*ball joints on lower control arms (one has slight tear in cover, control arm bushing are good)
*both front and rear sway bar bushings
Replace left rear brake dust plate. (It’s half rusted off)
* left front wheel liner (it’s gone).

that’s enough. Haha.

Any tips or suggestions, I’d be glad to hear them

thanks.

 

That's a long list.

Is the VSC/Trac light on by itself or with the check engine?

Look into doing a trans "flush" using the trans oil pump to push out the old fluid while you add new. This will change all the trans fluid. The internet has thread on this. The trans model number is on a sticker on the side of driver door.

Find out if this V6 has vvti. If so if the timing belt breaks the engine will be damaged. The non-vvvti version of his engine model using in previous years was non interference.

Check the axles boots. If the axles have never been changed then might do do as a precaution. Get new axles not rebuilt!

The upper tank on the radiator can crack with age.

If your doing the suspension the sway bar bushings can wear and start the bar rattling over bumps.

 

yes. Planning on changing all the SB bushings. They are ripping and or hard as a rock.

it actually got a new radiator in December 👍🏻

I’ll keep an eye on those axles. Thx for the tip. All The boots look great.

I’ll dbl Ck on the vvti. I believe it is an interference motor, though.

the tranny flush I’m not gung ho on. I’ve seen several high mileage cars get them and then have slippage. Those little metal PCs get flushed out of the clutch plates and there goes their glue so to speak. I’ll do a few drain refills. Thx for the suggestion, though.

Yes, The vsc/trac light is on with no engine light. I originally had a boat load of codes on the ABS side. Basically all the ABS system. Wheels sensors, master cylinder, abs pump, etc. I started at the top and checked all the abs fuses. They were fine. The abs relays tested fine. All the test runs on my scanner came up good. So took off both battery leads to reset (and they were a bit corroded and cleaned them). The only code now is the C1336 zero point calibration of deceleration sensor undone. After looking this up, it appears I need to reset that zero calibration.

I saw some videos and info online about it. But all for diff model Toyotas. And I’m actually having a tough time finding the cg and ts slots on my OBD My scanner doesn’t have that reset capability. I am going to post that on the do it yourself section in a bit to see about help.

thx.

 

Its not a "flush" as in fluid is forced in and out by a machine. The fluid output line of the trans cooler is disconnected. The trans fluid is changed. Engine started and the trans fluid comes out on its own. When approx 2 quarts come out the engine is stopped and trans filled up again. Repeat process until fluid is clear.

See other post for zero point calibration.

 

Thats doable. I was hoping you didn’t mean the machine. Haha. What is the tranny capacity in that car. That’s if you know. Thx.

 

No machine! The trans own oil pump does the work of pumping the fluid out. The procedure is the most mild form of doing a complete change. Have done it myself many times. Works great!

Drain pan, change filter if up to it, fill with new. To save time estimate what came out and add back more or less. No need for precision as it will be pumped out. Get a clear or transparent 1 gal container to catch the fluid coming out. Pump out less fluid then you added and stop engine. The fluid comes slowly thus lots of time to react. Refill and repeat process. When fluid is now clear, accurately refill trans.

If an A241E capacity is 8.7 qts total and 4.1 qt in pan. For a trans holding 6 qts total have used 8-10 qts to get the job done including last refill so plan accordingly.

Use correct type fluid T-IV. The dipstick should have this. Its available from various makers.

 

thank you Sir. Really appreciate it This will be on the list. May just do this to my sienna, too.