Toyota Camry

[cbowditch]

On 10/29/2021 at 12:59 PM, DodgyBastard said:

I think it's ignition related as no spark, I might get a better look at it if it stops raining and I can find someone to give me a hand.

If you've got no spark then I'd like to think it will be an easy fix. My v6 just has old school dizzy, with coil and ignition amp. So check cap/rotor and replace the coil/amp. None of which should be expensive. I believe the ECU just does timing for the injectors and fuel mixture, so checking it for fault codes probably won't reveal much if spark is the issue

[EightMegs]

If it's got one of those Denso IIA distributors, the contact on the top of the coil is made of steel and liable to disintegrate. Have a nose under the cap to see if it's still there and not a pile of brown dust in the cap.

[cbowditch]

Been a while since I updated this, but being a Toyota its not given me too many problems.

The n/s CV Axle got noisy. For the last MOT I imported a new one from Rockauto and got the garage to fit it at the same time they did the test. There was also an oil leak from the rocker cover under the inlet manifold. I let the garage do that too, as I didn't fancy removing the inlet manifold. I had to supply the gaskets but I found them no trouble.

I did the service myself, but it didn't need more than Oil and Filter as I did the Coolant/ATF and brake fluid change last summer.

Since then the o/s cvle Axle has started getting noisy. I have bought another one from Rockauto, and will ask the garage to fit when the MOT is due in December. I think it can wait until then

The trip mileage counter broke and it annoyed me. So I sourced a 2nd hand speedo from another camry. It didn't look like I could split the trip counter out to swap them over. So instead I set the mileage on the "new" speedo to match the 165K on my car. To do that though I had to remove the speedo face and needle. It didn't occur to me that doing so would lead to the speedo being out. When I've done this on other cars, you just need to make sure the needle points to 0, when stationary and then it's all worked. But apparently Toyota speedos are spring loaded. I found a YT vid of someone calibrating their speedo with a bike speedo. However, that didn't work for me. The bike speedo said I was doing 35mph in 2nd gear at 2K - which can't be right. I don't know if its because my car is an auto. The car in the YT video was a MR2 manual

So followed several sessions where I would take the dash apart, jack the car up and move the needle up or down by 5 mph at a time. Then jack back down, put dash back together go for a road test, and then repeat. After the 4th session, on today's road test and the speedo finally seems to  be reading correctly. Hoorah!

The current todo list apart from the CV axle, relates to oil leaks. The rocker cover was the worse one as it stank inside the car of burning oil. However, it still drips oil on the drive after you use it. I suspect cam seals, and front and rear crank seals all need doing...

[cbowditch]

Another short update. My attempts to repair the trip counter ended in failure. After my last update I drove it a couple of times and the new speedo seemed fine, but after that every time I used the car it would either under read or over read. I'm not sure if I caused some damage which means the needle can move around a bit by taking it on/off a few times, or whether the 2nd hand speedo I sourced just has a fault. In any case, I had no choice but to replace the original speedo as I need to know the speed more than I need a trip counter

I recently completed a service, which as well as oil and filter I decided to change the Cap and rotor since there was nothing in the extensive service history stating they had been changed. At 165K I can confirm the originals were well worn!

The Camry today passed it's 25th MOT in a row! In other words, the Camry has never failed an MOT test in 25 tests 😮 That must be some kind of record? Please let me know if anyone else has a car that has never failed an MOT over a 25 year period (obviously the car would need to be at least 28 years old, unless submitting for multiple tests per year)

[Spottedlaurel]

Great news! So pleased to hear it's still doing its thing for you.

Two years on I am no closer to owning Camry #6. Got a Carina E which is a fine thing for everyday use, but even with the 2-litre engine it's not in the same league as a Camry....

[cbowditch]

Not much has happened with the camry in 2024. I covered 197 miles since the last MOT lol. Today it passed the MOT, that's 26 passes in a row  Shock horror, it did get an advisory for minor oil leaks though. It does dribble a tiny bit from the cam seals and rear main seal. I have no plan to try and tackle those oil leaks.