niju321

hello.

i have a 94 camry with 117k miles. car started having transmission issues in Aug of 2008 (wtf, so few miles), hence my purchase of a 99 tl and subsequent AZ membership. after much looking around, i've finally found an honest transmission shop and therefore expect to receive my repaired car in the next couple of days (i suppose i should refrain from saying they're honest until i'm sure they did a good job, but they didn't try to give me the run around like the last 12 shops i visited). basically this car has been sitting in my driveway for over a year...we would start it and run it every month or so for about 20-30 minutes (with ac on, to circulate lubricating oil). fuel stabilizer was added about 6 months in. occasionally would drive the car for 10-15 min around the block or something.

so now....what do i need to do in terms of maintenance now that someone will be driving the car regularly again? i figure i should do an oil change...any other tips would be appreciated. if this is the wrong place for this thread, my bad.

fsttyms1

have the brakes bleed, change oil and take it for a nice HWY drive to burn any moisture out of every thing once teh trans is rebuilt.

Johnny_b

The good ole 94 camry. My sisters first car, I seem to remember the crap getting kicked out of it and taking it like a champ.

Oil changes and ATF changes. Check brake fluid, coolant and what else can you do? Car sitting there stagnant is never good. thought the tranny was bullet proof in those cars maybe you just had a bad one.

phee

iTrader: (5)

how did the tranny fail on that thing

my two 93 corollas have over 350k on them with nothing but oil changes and tranny fluid changes

ghttf

Replacing transmission fluid is crucial on the A240E. It's likely his car is on the original fluid.


To the OP just replace trans fluid and filter. Hopefully there has not been permanent damage to your transmission. Otherwise check car-part.com you can get another for about $400.

bigman

95 Camry in my garage. I've had to repair the exhaust, and will be changing the timing belt with some seals and gaskets in a few weeks. Other than that. The car is the bet car ive ever owned.

vas25tl

I had a 95 that I put about 10K miles on - bought it for $1000 when gas shot up quick to let my GS400 rest. Sold it for $3250 10K miles later...never a problem - it was an amazing car and got me 31mpg.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

It's unusual to see a Camry with tranny problems so early. You can still get over 100k worth of use on that car, no problem!

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Oh, to add to what everybody has said, I'd change out ALL of the fluids: tranny, brakes, coolant, power steering, engine oil.

niju321

thx, will do
i dunno maybe though we only changed the tranny fluid once...who knows
yeah i was expecting similar results from this one....
the guy rebuilding said that some heat warping of the valve body had occurred but that i had it rebuilt "in the nick of time." i'll be sure to change the fluid more frequently...how often should i do it?
same here...only things that have gone wrong (other than transmission) are things we have "broken."

yup, i still get 30+ on the highway

niju321

i'm not sure why this one died so early, we always drove it gently...but i hope you're right!

ghttf

my bad you have an a140e.

Replace whenever fluid begins to turn brown.

dallison

replace all the fluids and enjoy. my 87 went to 276k before i traded it.

vas25tl

It would be very nice!

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

man camrys never die.

niju321

k a little update now...
we got the car back and the transmission shifts beautifully, i would say better than new because the shifts are more comparable to the easing into gears that my tl does, rather than the harder shifts of our 98 camry (which i would presume has a very similar transmission to the 94). i'm not sure if it should be shifting that smoothly for that reason. also, the temp gauge takes a LONG time to reach full operating temp, and sometimes it goes DOWN from full temp, especially if driving on the highway. i'm suspecting the thermostat is stuck open or something...any suggestions? if it's not really going to affect major reliability of the car i'll probably leave it as is, i don't think the car is going to get more than 200-300 miles a month anyway.

Socol

Just replace the thermostat. An engine is designed for optimal operation at a certain temperature; constant temperature fluctuations will result in accelerated wear and tear.

aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

Thermostat is stuck open, I had the same symptoms on my mom's 92 camry. Replaced it and it warms up almost as quickly as my CL. Its an easy DIY.

The camry has 226k+ on it and still on the original auto trans and going strong. Its bulletproof. Although its as fuel consuming as the CL.

phee

iTrader: (5)

it shouldnt be. i got 45 mpg on the highway down to miami in my corolla

aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

different engine?

niju321

where could i find this diy?

i thought the corolla was a 1.8, the camry is a 2.2

phee

iTrader: (5)

yea. my dx is a 1.8. but his engine is seriously inefficient if it gets the same milage as a cl. the j32 is a guzzler

aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

correct, the 92-96 was a 2.2 I-4 known as the 5S-FE

I got the DIY from autozone's Z-net. check it out at autozone's website.

EPA rates that 2.2 auto camry as 18 city/25 hwy.
The EPA rates the 3.2 CL as 17 city/27 hwy.

Factor in the age and miles on the camry and you can see why it would be close to the CL.

Majofo

I have a 94 & 95 camry in the family.. great cars. Minor brake work done but other than that they drive the same now as they did new. Every 60k miles I take the cars to my buddies shop, hook it up to the ttech & done.. The transmission has a mesh screen to act as a filter so flushing it is no problem, unlike the modern honda & acura trans..

Glad your up & running OP. Get that thermostat replaced & stay up on the brake fluid flushes..

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

my uncle across the street has a 94 Camry XLE V6. just oil changes and regular maintenance and the car is currently at 290k miles and running strong. we changed the valve cover gaskets last summer due to a slight oil leak. was a pain but well worth it. the engine purrs like a kitten and tranny shifts as if the car is new...

aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

our camry has a leak too but we havent touched it. as long as i dont need to add oil between OCIs then im golden

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

the V6 model is a pain cause the intake mani sits on top of the engine and you basically have to disassemble that whole thing to access the rear of the engine.

i-4 is easy as pie tho...

niju321

I will look on the autozone site. And I approve of your profile picture

Yeah, that's why we went ahead and had the transmission rebuilt..it is by far the most well-made car I have ever had the pleasure of driving (including my TL )

why didn't i get a transmission like yours but yeah the engine is fantastic, in park it's hard to tell that it's running

i sure hope so or i'm eventually going to lose a limb trying to change this thermostat

aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

<--

Majofo

Hey it's Taylor Swift

aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

gtfo

niju321

ok we've been running the car for a couple of months, time for a little update. it seems like the airflow controller is messed up because if i set it to send all air through the dash vents, i get some out the side vents, a little out of the defroster vents and not so much through the center dash vents. it also seems like a lot of airflow is being restricted, based on how much i am getting now for a particular fan setting vs what i'm used to.

more importantly...something is messed up with the steering. ill be driving along the road, and the alignment is off so i have to hold the wheel about 15 deg to the L to keep the car going straight (this also seems to be the normal center position of the wheel, im not physically tugging the wheel that much). then if i make a right turn, or turn the wheel R past a certain angle, it will sort of "pop" and then the wheel will be straight when going in a straight line. this has happened on highway curves when going over expansion joints. It is quite interesting to experience a sudden change in steering angle while braking from highway speeds in the wet. Any ideas on what this could be? For now the car has been pulled from highway service until we figure out what's up with that.

Also...occasionally when giving high throttle at lower rpm (i.e. accelerating from highway speeds without downshifting) the car will make a very loud noise that i cannot really describe...sounds like its running unmuffled or something....if i push harder then i get a downshift, rpm is higher and the noise goes away...is this knocking or something? wtf?

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

That's interesting. I'm not sure what it could be. Maybe inspect the underneath of the dash to see if you can see any major concerns with the steering linkage.

dallison

1. maybo something(dead or nest) is blocking the vents. it could be the hvac controls, i bet you can find one real cheap to check.
Do you get air on each setting when increasing fan speed?

2. i would jack up the car and start tugging and checking things out. Also take it in for alignment. If they find something and tell you what it is, they may not charge you for checking it out since they couldn't perform an alignment. Either you can fix or they can fix if anything is found.
It is possible if someone replaced the rack(highly doubtful but possible) that the steering column wasn't installed properly on the stud that sticks out of the rack.

3. if you are braking(not sure if it occurs on wet or dry) and the wheel needs to be turned to keep it straight, most likely you have a stuck caliper. the easiest way to check is to jack up the front or the rear. If jacking up the front, make sure the e-brake is on and a brick or something is behind the rear wheels. With the front end in the air, have someone start the car and put it in neutral and take foot off brake. see if you can rotate the tire. If you can do this easily it may not be a stuck caliper.

likewise for the rear, except take off the e-brake and chock the front tires.

4. so the trans is making noise or a muffled noise when it doesn't downshift when putting a good amount of gas on? this one i will have to think about.

niju321

Thanks for the help so far. I will look under the dash to see if I can see anything amiss.

1. I will try looking for hvac controls. I do get air on each fan setting, and I can hear the fan working harder as I turn up the fan speed...just not getting the airflow I'm expecting.

2. I will try the alignment. The steering column was replaced a few years ago, but I've only noticed this symptom since getting the car back from the transmission shop.

3. The braking anecdote is more related to the alignment issue than anything else. The incident I refer to was when I was on a curved highway onramp, during which i was forced to brake because of some stupid person who decided 40mph was a perfectly adequate merging speed. In doing so i crossed an expansion joint, and as it was a right turn, the steering sort of shifted as described in the earlier post and the car wiggled a bit before i got it back under control. Nice adrenaline rush, but the car normally brakes straight and true.

4. i'm not sure if its the trans, sounds more like the engine, but really i have no idea. keep that thinking cap on