2008 Camry - Good car? Fluids?

[Greg L]

My potential purchase for a 2011 Malibu fell thru & now looking at a 2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid.


Anyone had experience with this model and 2AZ-FXE engine? I assume it will need all fluids changed, regardless of what the dealer has done. And does this motor use 5w20 or 0w20?


Any recommendations on the coolant type & transmission fluid? (This dealer is a Honda dealer and acquired this car used from 2nd owner.)


GL

p.s. All original miles on this car are daily commuter miles in South Bay of San Jose, CA area.

 

[cptbarkey]

i personally wouldnt touch a hybrid with a 5000 foot pole. The 2008 is going to need new batteries in a theoretical 3 years, so budget at least 4-5k to replace them. you will not save that much in gas 3 years. other then its completely flawed drivetrain, it is a floating couch.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted By: Greg L
... I assume it will need all fluids changed, regardless of what the dealer has done. And does this motor use 5w20 or 0w20?
Why would you assume that!? Sounds wastefull. Our 2005 2AZ-FE took ILSAC 5w30 and that wasnt enough to keep it alive.

 

[Greg L]

Ok...


Sorry I asked.

 

[JHZR2]

It depends upon the deal and miles. It may be a smart buy, especially if the battery pack cost is put in (what is the warranty on it, BTW?), and the deal is good.

I personally would change all fluids becaue I like to have a baseline of when they were done since I have no real idea how gently the vehicle was used before.


Id run OE in the radiator and power electronics, as well as the AT. Use fluids of your choice for the engine and brakes.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Greg: I meant the 2az with a stick in a RAV was a wonderful engine, but my wife's driving style needed a bit more than ilsac oil was providing at the time. Wore inverted bucket tappets out of spec in 50K for ?? reason. Maybe to many sub zero starts (some weeks at -25c) without adequate warmup. The cam box, VVT and wet timing system has to come off to perform a lash adjustment.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
i personally wouldnt touch a hybrid with a 5000 foot pole. The 2008 is going to need new batteries in a theoretical 3 years, so budget at least 4-5k to replace them. you will not save that much in gas 3 years. other then its completely flawed drivetrain, it is a floating couch.


He should be OK on the traction battery pack until at least 150k. The 12v may be starting to die though.

I would drain and fill the transaxle with new ATF-WS. Coolant is OK until 100k, it uses Toyota SLL.

Brake flush should not be needed since the regenerative braking system does much of the work and the friction brakes do not see much heat cycling at all. The fluid stays in like new condition.

 

[cchase]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
i personally wouldnt touch a hybrid with a 5000 foot pole. The 2008 is going to need new batteries in a theoretical 3 years, so budget at least 4-5k to replace them. you will not save that much in gas 3 years. other then its completely flawed drivetrain, it is a floating couch.


He should be OK on the traction battery pack until at least 150k. The 12v may be starting to die though.

I would drain and fill the transaxle with new ATF-WS. Coolant is OK until 100k, it uses Toyota SLL.

Brake flush should not be needed since the regenerative braking system does much of the work and the friction brakes do not see much heat cycling at all. The fluid stays in like new condition.


Flushing brake fluid has little to do with how much the brakes are used and far more to do with time elapsed.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: cchase

Flushing brake fluid has little to do with how much the brakes are used and far more to do with time elapsed.


Not entirely true, it has a lot to do with the thermal cycling of the system. See the 100k test results on brake fluid for the Prius:

http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/maint100k/

 

[cchase]

Interesting read. I'm not sure I'm sold on the dissolved copper test being the "end all" in determining when brake fluid should be replaced. Certainly water in brake fluid can substantially degrade performance without necessarily resulting in corrosion.