hello all and !! some questions
 

yesterday i picked up a 07 camry Ce with 150k miles for 7500$ but in extremely good condition with all kinds of maintnance records, do yall thing i got a good deal? is that a lot of miles for this kind of car?

also i think the car vibrates a lil bit more than i thought it would, is that normal? (only at idle)

what do you do to a car like this as these miles to ensure that it will continue to drive smooth and well for many more miles?

thanks in advance!

did they gave you warranty for that? I think it's already a good but to be sure you need to get a warranty.

If a 4 cylinder engine these tend to shake a little at idle.

No 1 is make sure all the trans fluid was changed.

If the PS fluid is dirty, in between drives suck out the old fluid in the reservoir and add new. Do this until the fluid remains clear after driving.

The original coolant should have been long life (5yr/150K miles) thus if never changed it needs changing.

If up to it flush out the old brake fluid as this will aid in stemming future brake system issues.

No warranties since I bought from an individual but I will definitely get started on replacing and checking this fluids. I notice it shakes more when the AC is on.
Is it also good to replace spark plugs and fuel filters? Also do I have to use Toyota fluids only?

Thanks guys I get started this morning.

Check the owners manual to determine when the plugs should be replaced and service records to find out if they have. Typically something like every 80/100K. Suggest Denso or NGK brand, the brands and plug numbers are specified in the owners manual.

The fuel filter seldom needs changing and would not bother unless you suspect a fuel starvation issue which is very rare.

The owners manual should have the fluid types used (assume Toyota brand) plus a specification which aftermarket fluids can meet. Make sure any fluid used is compatible with the one Toyota specifies as one size does not fit all.

Suggest Prestone Long life or Zerex Asian vehicle coolant. Try to flush out all the old coolant. Toyota coolant is red in color.

The trans dipstick also has the type of fluid used stamped on it. After marker fluids are available but make sure they are compatible with the type of fluid the trans uses.

The PS fluid reservoir cap should state the fluid type which may be trans fluid.

Same for brake fluid. The manual should have a specification such as SAEJ1703. Make sure the fluid meets any specification stated.

Once you find out what fluids the car uses do an internet search to find compatible fluids and make sure when buying a product to read the label. There are many types of trans and PS fluids, you want the correct fluid for the car.

If doing your own work might pick up a Haynes service manual which provides a good deal or repair info for a reasonable price (under $20),

thanks a lot, i called 3 shops today + the dealership and 2 shops said not

to ever flush it, "just service it" which means remove the pan, replace the

filter in there and replace 3 or 4 qts of fluid. the dealership said the last

thing you wanna do is add new fluid to the old one, shops said flush

transmission only cause problems so what do i do??

Check the cars maintenance records and determine if the trans fluid was ever changed, either by flushing, a drain and refill of the pan, etc.

Trans fluid has limited life. The hotter it gets when the trans is operating such as stop and go traffic, the shorter the life.

Remove the dipstick and look at the fluid. What color is it, red, black, dark black, etc? Color is an indication of condition, the darker the color the worse its condition.

EVERYONE!!!! has their own opinion as to what a flush consists of and what problems it can cause to the trans. An internet search on the subject will find lots of posts and opinions. Also review posts at the ToyotaNation website where it has been discussed many times.

The jest of the non-flush position is if the fluid was never changed it is now dirty and worn out. This worn/dirty fluid has caused the various clutch plates in the trans to wear out. When a clutch plates is worn it can slip much like a clutch on a stick shift car. However the dirty trans fluid has debris in it, some which may be deposited onto the clutch plates. This debris may now acting as friction material to allow an otherwise worn plate to still grip.

If the trans is flushed (especially if cleaning chemicals are added) all this debris gets flushed out and now the clutch plates no longer have gripping material and the trans will slip. Typically this means when the trans is put into F or R it does not move, as the clutch plates are no longer working.

Flushing may also cause the debris to be circulated through the trans in theory plugging up valves, etc.

The reason some state not to flush is if the fluid was well worn out (jet black and thick) the grit will be removed and soon after the flush the trans will no longer work due to slipping clutch plates.

The question is what is the alternative, this being not changing the fluid in which case the trans is going to fail sooner or later as more damage is done due to worn out, dirty fluid.

The type of flushing machine or method used can also factor into whether trans problems might occur.

Some flushing systems have an external pump to push out all the fluid and replace it with new, others systems run chemical cleaners through the trans to flush out debris, still other machines use the transmissions own oil pump to pump out the old fluid and replace it with new.

One can also just drain the pan and replace the fluid. This replaces about 1/3 of the fluid as the rest is inside the torque converter. If one does several drain and fill operations over a short period (no need to keep replacing the filter), the fluid will sooner or later become reasonable clean.

The above operation is much like that suggested for the PS fluid where the fluid in the reservoir was removed and replaced with new. After so many changes the fluid is reasonable clean again. But it takes several changes, not just one to accomplish this.

The transmission has an oil cooler built into the lower part of the radiator. The trans is connected to this cooler by two hoses (fluid in and out). The trans has an internal pump that moves the fluid to allow the trans to operate. The trans plumbing routes the fluid through the cooler just before it flows back into the trans pan. In doing this the fluid is cooled down before going into the pan.

Many car owners do a procedure that does not flush the trans, it just removes the old and replaces it with new. In this procedure the hose going from the oil cooler to the trans pan is disconnected and arranged so any fluid coming out the hose will be routed into a transparent container.

The trans pan is then drained and refilled with new fluid.

The engine is started allowing the trans pump to operate. The pump will move the trans fluid through out the trans but instead of going back to the pan is routed into container. When the amount of fluid in the container is slightly less then the amount used to fill pan, the engine is turned off (or when the fluid stops flowing out in a steady flow because the oil pump pickup in the pan is now sucking air).

The pan is then refilled and the process repeated until the fluid coming out is clean.

In this process all the fluid is replaced using the trans oil pump (no high pressure external flushing system pump doing the job) and of course no chemical cleaners are used.

This fluid changing process is as gently as possible on the trans and just replaces the old with the new.

Some "flushing" machine designs use this same procedure (not all flushing machines are the same design). In the case the pan would be removed and the trans fluid intake pipe connected to the machine. With the engine on, the trans pump draws in the fluid, the old fluid will now dump into the area where the pan was removed for collection.

You want this type of flushing system or do it yourself using the method described above.

The link below has info about the types of flushing machines and their ideas of when not to flush.

Transmission Flushing

You want the pump inlet flush machine.

If my car I would use the DIY method stated above to replace all the fluid with new. I would steer clear of shops unless I knew what methods they were using and trusted them.

If you can’t do the fluid replacement job yourself, you should be able to at least to do several drain and refills. Not sure what the dealer is telling you, perhaps their position is drain and refills will never totally result in clean fluid so why bother. Still many car owners do this, again you need to repeat the process many, many times.

If going this route might have shop first do a “service” as they call it. They can drop the pan and clean it out plus the magnets in pan whose purpose is to cleaner metal debris. The amount of metal and debris in the pan is an indication of the trans internal condition. Seldom does the filter intake screen need cleaning but this seems to be a standard procedure.

Once this procedure is done you can then do your own drain and refills to clean up the fluid even more.

dam, that cleared my mind and thats what im going to do, is there a link that shows how to do this or maybe some pics (im talking several drain and feels+replace filter) the dipstick still looks red brown and smells used but not that burnt

the maintnance records only indicate oil changes, alingments, tires, brakes but no sparks, trans fluid ect... the guy i bought the car from put 80k miles in the past 2 years and said thats all he did to the car

do i have to get the fluid at toyota dealership or any syntetic fluid will do that says is for toyota would do?

im also replacing coolant, spark plugs, air filters, power steering

i know all that will allow the car to run smoother too

this morning i replaced 4qts of trans fluid (i ended up getting it from the toyota stealership)

coolant (prestone ext life) spark plugs (ngk idridum) both cabin and engine air filters

all for about 175$ and anout 3 hours total taking my sweet time, i only drove the car around the block a couple of times and it feels a lot better, i will report later when i drive it for a while. i will look into the PS and brake fluid later.

thanks to you guys for the help !!!

Great job on the repairs.

If the trans fluid still has some red color it should be OK to replace it. The problems various shops state are related to fluid that is jet black.

Not sure the 4 cylinder trans uses synthetic. As you have the container you can use this to shop around to determine if cheaper aftermarket fluid is available. Still even if you need to buy Toyota brand this is cheaper then trans repairs due to worn and dirty fluid.