Dollywobbler's Consolidated Tat Thread

[dollywobbler]

2 hours ago, Sham said:

At least it should be reliable, for the period of time before it dissolves.

 

I like it, but then I would.

Um, it made gurgling noises and puked coolant when I got home...

[Mrcento]

1 hour ago, Mrcento said:

in terms of cars you won't have to tinker with too often mechanically, that is pretty much right up there in terms of bulletproofness

 

5 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Um, it made gurgling noises and puked coolant when I got home...

A tale, in 2 quotes.

[St.Jude]

6 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Um, it made gurgling noises and puked coolant when I got home...

Rookie mistake.

You're supposed to burp them before you put them to bed.

[Schaefft]

You can now finally be a stereotypical soccer mum from 1994 or meth addict in 2021.

Normally this car should last forever, I don't think there are many with a better reputation for longevity than this gen Camry.

[Remspoor]

PetrolBlog onYT is also a UK based Camay soap fan.

[dollywobbler]

Here's a link if folk missed it.

 

Planning to take it on the shopping run this morning to see if it misbehaves. Have a LOT of miles to cover this weekend, so kind of hoping it isn't going to blow up or something.

[AxWomble]

28 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Here's a link if folk missed it.

 

Planning to take it on the shopping run this morning to see if it misbehaves. Have a LOT of miles to cover this weekend, so kind of hoping it isn't going to blow up or something.

Did the coolant vomiting situation reveal its origins yet? It's a cracking  looking motor - best of luck! 

[dollywobbler]

10 hours ago, AxWomble said:

Did the coolant vomiting situation reveal its origins yet? It's a cracking  looking motor - best of luck! 

Nope. All good so far and about 250 miles covered since purchase.

 

[MJK 24]

That’s a lightly used car if the mileage is genuine!

[Mrcento]

I'd be pretty confident it was the thermostat.

My Ignis used to do this weird thing as well when i first bought it where you could drive it around town, odd dual carriageway stuff etc all day and it'd be absolutely fine. Display zero symptoms, never ever overheat etc.

Then you'd take it on a long motorway run, and unless it was stuck in traffic for a long time, be more or less ok unless you really pushed it on for 50+ miles solid, then it'd start to get a bit hot. But mostly, it would do nothing until i got to its destination, i'd switch it off, it'd sort of burp, then piss it's coolant out an overflow pipe.

[stuboy]

looks ok that..

[Remspoor]

As a precaution check the fan(s) are working. The dropping of coolant maybe due to them not kicking in. If they do it will help save you from any over heating.

 

[Spottedlaurel]

On 12/16/2021 at 9:47 PM, dollywobbler said:

Um, it made gurgling noises and puked coolant when I got home...

HGF wasn't unknown on these. Also, when there were more of them coming up for sale, auto 'box faults. I don't know how they manifested themselves, or what caused them, but I recall it being an issue.

That being said, my £200 V6 saloon didn't suffer with either and it got used on Marham trackdays. PAS overheating on one of them was the only problem I remember, oh and one day on the road the oil filter mysteriously loosened itself.

A shame I have no spares now, everything went with the 2.2 estate and saloon when I sold them in the summer before the house move.

The killer on my estate was the ABS light being on, nobody could easily read or work out the fault. If it'd been an easy fix I'd have kept it going.

Do we get to see a photo or two of it here please?

[dollywobbler]

Cheers Nigel. For those that don't know, the fan is hydraulically powered on these. Most odd! I think powered by the transmission pump but could be wrong. Yet to fathom it out. Gauge stays just below middle, so where you'd expect. It hasn't puked since I got home after that first trip.

Some pics.

Most reasons seem to be of the rear for some reason... Weekly shop barely touched the sides. Kids are loving the rear-facing seat, though I'm reluctant to let them use it too much given the boot is a crumple zone...

Hit this milestone last night.

MOT history confirms the mileage. It did very few miles in the first ten years of life, then was off the road for five years, then used a little more to get to where the mileage is now. So far, we've covered over 250 miles in it and it's all good. Super-smooth transmission, lovely-sounding engine (despite or perhaps because of a slightly blowing exhaust) and feels so tight. Almost everything seems to work, though I can't stop the centre vents blowing cold air out. It's either LOTS of cold air, or a fair amount of cold air.

Downsides are no steering wheel buttons for the fiddly stereo, no cruise control and not enough cup holders. I find the lack of steering wheel buttons a bit odd on a Japanese car. Also, if the door mirrors ever were heated, they're not now. Ride is a bit Japanese for my liking, but tolerable. Finding it very interesting to compare with the Fairmont given they were Aussie-produced rivals when new (albeit the previous generation of Falcon). The main difference is the Toyota inspires a lot more confidence when cornering...

[dozeydustman]

I suspect you had a bit of an airlock in the system when you collected it. I don't think you'll have much to worry about unless it starts to use coolant

[dollywobbler]

1 hour ago, dozeydustman said:

I suspect you had a bit of an airlock in the system when you collected it. I don't think you'll have much to worry about unless it starts to use coolant

Yeah, but I also suspect Radweld or K-Seal has been used... Could be it simply hadn't burped all of the air out but I'm also concerned the coolant mixture is mostly water now. Wonder where my coolant tester is...

[AxWomble]

1 minute ago, dollywobbler said:

Yeah, but I also suspect Radweld or K-Seal has been used... Could be it simply hadn't burped all of the air out but I'm also concerned the coolant mixture is mostly water now. Wonder where my coolant tester is...

My coolant tester didn't even register the presence of antifreeze with our last purchase.....needless to say the first thing I did before the frost came was to drain and refill with 75/25 pink stuff. Used car from anywhere but here=crap coolant and old oil in my experience. 

[Zelandeth]

Interesting...first time I've heard of a hydraulically powered fan on a car.  That's usually something I expect to see on buses where the layout makes it hard to route a belt to it

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

Downsides are no steering wheel buttons for the fiddly stereo, no cruise control and not enough cup holders. I find the lack of steering wheel buttons a bit odd on a Japanese car

While it's almost executive in what it is, if you want things like cruise control and steering wheel buttons on a Toyota then you need to get the top top top spec of the model. Even then it might not be enough. My LandCruiser is an LC5, which is the top belts and buttons - but I've no steering wheel controls. Those are found on the Amazon, which is just the bigger version of the car.

Cup holders would be odd though. I've got 4 on my Corolla of the same vintage. Are you sure there's not a pop out one hidden on the dash?

[andyberg]

I have the same era, but a couple of years newer Xedos 6 'executive' saloon. Not one cup holder to be found anywhere...

[goosey]

Would the cooling fan be powered by the power steering pump on this ? 

just a guess 

 

[grogee]

Weird, I was just reading this about the Lincoln LS (because I'm sad) and was a bit flummoxed. Sounds like this Toyota has a similar setup. 

"Earlier LS models had a mechanical engine cooling fan that was operated with a hydraulic pump because the electrical charging system did not have sufficient capacity to effectively power an electric fan. A later revised alternator enabled the implementation of an electric fan for the 2003-2006 models."

It doesn't compute though. I mean, why not just fit a bigger alternator and battery? Instead of going to the bother of engineering a whole hydraulic pump for a fan?

Also: big estate envy, well bought sir. 

[Spottedlaurel]

Nice one, good colour too. Looks like the late, slightly lower-spec V6 with cloth interior - earlier ones only came with leather. Possibly no sunroof either?

Does it have a push button set-up for the HVAC, or rotary controls? There were some subtle differences on those from the last year or so.

I think you have a driver's airbag? Maybe also a factory immobilser/alarm (better than the UK-fitment system on the earlier model - I disconnected it on mine).

Does it still have a "Made in USA" sticker inside the windscreen?

The spare wheel cover looks to be unusually tidy. The way the loadbay works on these is fantastic, when you fold the seats down there are holders for the headrests to go into, and it creates a properly flat area with a fairly strong base. Lots of length for timber etc, but the spare wheel is a bit of an intrusion for wide things, 5-seater models wouldn't have that as the wheel goes where your 3rd row of seats are in the floor.

As for steering wheel controls and the like, my Mk1 LS400 doesn't have them. From memory, even the Mk3 LS still only had one-shot operation on the driver's electric window (and then only for down?). With Toyota and Lexus of that era I find it's not the toy count that, er, counts, but how they work. Takes a while to really appreciate them, which is why I ended up with a Camry of one sort or another for most of the last 15 years.

[dollywobbler]

Yeah, no sunroof but push button heater controls. The whole car is wonderfully tidy. Most seats look barely sat on. Rot around the rear window and offside arch though. Need to get someone on that to slow it down and if I still own it come summer, I'll get the rot seen to.

Another interior detail I love is that the load cover can be strapped up to allow space for the third row of seats to fold out. Not sure how you remove the load cover though...

 

[Spurious]

8 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Yeah, no sunroof but push button heater controls. The whole car is wonderfully tidy. Most seats look barely sat on. Rot around the rear window and offside arch though. Need to get someone on that to slow it down and if I still own it come summer, I'll get the rot seen to.

Another interior detail I love is that the load cover can be strapped up to allow space for the third row of seats to fold out. Not sure how you remove the load cover though...

 

Looking foward to seeing it in the metal.  Has it got a name yet?

Comparisons to your previous estate, the C5?  It's probably another step above the Primera in quality too, though I suspect it's probably not that much quicker being a big lump of a thing and the Primera was fairly poky.

[Yoss]

I nearly drove into a badly parked saloon one of these at work today. I thought of you. 

[Schaefft]

The hydraulic fan is an interesting one. My JDM Celsior has them as well (Separate fluid reservoir, no clue whats actually circulating it) while all other market LS400 had conventional electric fans. 

[dollywobbler]

PAS pump drives the fan apparently, with a thermal control to decide the fan speed.  Makes more sense on the Camry with its transverse engine. Odd to use on the Celsior as you say.

[Spottedlaurel]

5 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

Another interior detail I love is that the load cover can be strapped up to allow space for the third row of seats to fold out. Not sure how you remove the load cover though...

They're mildly fiddly, but there's a knob each side that pull out to release it.

For diagnosing any issues, I wonder if as a late one that you'll be able to get codes off it with a normal reader?

[brownnova]

This looks a super thing! Always had a soft spot for this gen of Camry