Just picked up a 2000 Camry LE 2.2L with 214K mile

[G35_TX]

Just picked up a 2000 Camry LE w/leather,sunroof 2.2L due to me loosing my job. Has 214k miles was well maintained for the engine oil change and most maintenance. After a full buff and detail inside and out here is a good pic of her. Sadly it started to leak badly on oil. So it went in a week early to my buddys shop to get the work done.

Not sure if I want to switch to Synthetic and just stay with a good Dino oil? What do you guys think of this and what is your opinions of the engine inside?

$2k worth of work. List below:

Putting new struts Monroe Quickstruts. Original OEM still on the car.
Change brake, power steering, coolant and trans fluid's
Timing belt kit with water pump, oil pump seals and gasket, crank and cam seals and distributor seal.
Oil pan seal
Valve cover seal with spark plug o rings
New plugs NGK and wires
New pcv valve
New air filter
New fuel filter
New radiator cap
New lower camber arms
New thermastat
New brake pads front and rear and resurface rotors/drums

The way the car looks now after a detail and some of the leak and in the process of leak being fixed. Also some shots under the valve cover. This used Kendall Oil (regular oil not synthetic) for the life of it. It looks great for 214k miles.

Oil pump fixed with new seal.

 

[G35_TX]

Also on the transmission, my buddies shop wanted to do a BG flush on the whole transmission, and I told him no. Just a drain and fill of Dextron III right now as I don't want to shock the transmission too much. It does shift a little rough. Fluid was a brownish/red. Didn't smell burnt either. The transmission was rebuilt in the 90k mile range by a shop due to a failure/crack in the housing inside.

 

[bigt61]

If all the seals and gaskets are new, might as well run synthetic. SuperTech would be fine. You probably made the right decision on the tranny IMO. Drive it gently and you should get many miles out of that baby. Nice looking car.

 

[G35_TX]

Originally Posted By: bigt61
If all the seals and gaskets are new, might as well run synthetic. SuperTech would be fine. You probably made the right decision on the tranny IMO. Drive it gently and you should get many miles out of that baby. Nice looking car.


Yeah, have to see what others think on the synthetic. The rear main seal is the one that hasn't been touched but seems to be holding.

 

[lubedude13]

A trans flush will only hurt a trans if there are already problems. If you put new trans fluid in it will clean but at same time the fluid won't last as long because its doing the cleaning. A flush with cleaner cleans before installing new fluid thus prolonging the life of the new fluid you are putting in

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Wow that is clean for it's miles

 

[Sawdusted]

Yup, that was my first thought!

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Wow that is clean for it's miles

 

[jrustles]

Originally Posted By: Sawdusted
Yup, that was my first thought!

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Wow that is clean for it's miles


+2 and even for a known sludger, that looks spectacular!

That's a pretty good score

 

[G35_TX]

It was a good pick up no doubt. What do you guys recommend for oil?

 

[04SE]

Originally Posted By: G35_TX
Just a drain and fill of Dextron III


Dexron, Dexron, DEXRON. There is no T in DEXRON.

/rant

 

[aznboi24]

Is this is 5S-FE engine?

 

[G35_TX]

yes

 

[Mark_Walk]

Very nice...I would run either PYB or a cheap Syn.

 

[aznboi24]

Originally Posted By: G35_TX
yes


Bulletproof engine. Look how many miles my camry has. It leaks oil but it's still a beast. A good amount of torque from that engine.

 

[901Memphis]

I don't think that model year had any super sludge issues unless you had the v6

 

[NightRiderQ45]

Originally Posted By: bigt61
If all the seals and gaskets are new, might as well run synthetic. SuperTech would be fine. You probably made the right decision on the tranny IMO. Drive it gently and you should get many miles out of that baby. Nice looking car.
Why??? It doesn't make sense. Do you see how clean that engine is by running dino Kendall? It's a straight forward answer for me. I don't see the need to even ask the question...especially being that this car has 214k

 

[NightRiderQ45]

Originally Posted By: 04SE
Originally Posted By: G35_TX
Just a drain and fill of Dextron III


Dexron, Dexron, DEXRON. There is no T in DEXRON.

/rant
Yeah I saw that but why Dex3? Lexus/toyota are typicallt T4

 

[G35_TX]

Originally Posted By: NightRiderQ45
Originally Posted By: 04SE
Originally Posted By: G35_TX
Just a drain and fill of Dextron III


Dexron, Dexron, DEXRON. There is no T in DEXRON.

/rant
Yeah I saw that but why Dex3? Lexus/toyota are typicallt T4


This car recommends Dex 3. Not T4.

 

[KitaCam]

Originally Posted By: NightRiderQ45
Originally Posted By: bigt61
If all the seals and gaskets are new, might as well run synthetic. SuperTech would be fine. You probably made the right decision on the tranny IMO. Drive it gently and you should get many miles out of that baby. Nice looking car.
Why??? It doesn't make sense. Do you see how clean that engine is by running dino Kendall? It's a straight forward answer for me. I don't see the need to even ask the question...especially being that this car has 214k


Yes...It seems crazy that people take an engine that seems to have been running perfectly for over 200k miles (and the photos show that) and want to change what goes into it...

...but I've done almost the same...Kitacam had been running dino for 100k and I've switched to syn (same weight specification) only because I got a couple pair of jugs/filters for $10/pair.
...I figured why not...
In fact the Toyo engine "seems" to run a bit quieter/smoother, and it recently ran from "F" to "L", a complete OCI in 5600 miles, so I'm pleased with that...a couple of jugs/filters and I'm good for oil for a couple of years...great.

 

[bigt61]

Use SuperTech synthetic - change oil every 10k. If rear main seal is leaking, use Valvoline MaxLife - red bottle - change every 6k. Use any cheap filter that fits.