Which way to go

[supton]

Took a sticker today, very happy.

When I pulled in, the mechanic asked "where did you get this?" Got up under the lift and all he did was swear. Told me to oil the snot out of the rear subframe as they are getting harder to find, but otherwise... good find.

Got a mile from the place and noticed I had a CEL. Got home and pulled a P0401, insufficent EGR flow. I had scanned a couple of weeks ago and seen that code, but it said it had been more than 40 starts, so I ignored it. Now I can ignore it for another year.

Took my Tundra in for its sticker and we had a good laugh at that one! Talk about timing.

 

[supton]

CEL went out yesterday. I read up on what the issue may be; pulled the EGR valve and it was fine (but cleaned it a bit with brake cleaner). The most likely part is the VSV, which is an absolute pain to get to. No idea why it is where it is; it's under the intake manifold . Wound up removing RF wheel, putting a 12mm and 6" extension onto it, and then pulling on the ratchet from the topside (as the bolt was surprisingly stuck in place, use a six point socket on this, I started rounding mine with a 12 point). I guess banging on it fixed it, but I'll probably order up one.

*

Picked up a set of RT43's yesterday, nearly new. Will likely get a set of 14" rims for it on Friday. If I find $100 snows I'll get those too. Only thing left is the timing belt. Maybe I'll try to do that before winter, along with changing the coolant from who-knows-what back to Toyota Red.

*

Gave in and bought the MVH-381BT stereo. About $100 once done--$78 for the radio, $10 for the harness, $17 for the cubbyhole. Expensive upgrade, but I guess inline with the expensive quickstruts.

Harder to install than it should have been; but not hard to do. Pioneer's wiring instructions suck. They gave pin numbers going from 1 to 21; but the connector only had 16 pins--and only 12 had wires. Scratched my head for 15 minutes, trying to compare notes, before I hit up google and "discovered" that "everyone" sticks to a common set of wire colors.

The next hard part was putting screws into the Pioneer. The cubbyhole kit wanted me to reuse the screws from the Toyota head unit; too bad they were fine pitch and took forever to cut into the metal. Of course whatever screws might have been with the radio got left home (was in a rush today, finished the job while at work at lunchtime) so that may be my fault. Worst part: I wanted the cubbyhole on top of the radio. That way I could rest my wrist on the shifter and work the radio, done that in all my vehicles over the years. Oh well, I'll get over it--and if not, radio came with a remote.

Didn't use the BT yet but wired up the microphone and paired my phone. Did listen to FM and mp3's on the drive in--and it was quite nice (radio left sitting on the seat). FM reception I think is better than the Toyota radio (a boon), I like the RDS, and of course the BT/mp3/USB/aux will all be great to use. Already quite happy with it. Only things I don't like are: no battery backup in the radio (minor but I've already had to program twice), and no single button seek (have to hold down to make it seek next strong station) (not huge but all my other stereos do that).

*

Got 31 or 32mpg on the last tank, so it seems to have settled into that for mpg. Not stellar but "good enough". Moved over my Garmin and it's the road warrior I wanted.

 

[supton]

Quick update. It's been 7 months and 14kmiles. Still going, which probably isn't surprising.

Let's see, $1,500 purchase, $1,517.51 in work--that includes TB, struts, tires, misc work, new radio ($104) and trailer hitch & wiring ($161). $975 in gas; average for the year is 31mpg. Ignoring reg+ins (which was like $200 for the year plus like $30/month) I'm at $4k into this car, or about 27c/m. Which isn't great all things considered but I'm content with it. [A new car could cost the same 27c/m in that my 10c/m purchase and 10c/m repair would easily be countered by 20c/m depreciation plus the same 30mpg over 100kmiles. New car might do better, even, once residual and better mpg is taken into account.]

CEL has been staying off lately. $50 part when I feel like fixing it should do the trick. Since replacing the rear hubs the road noise has gone done thus I haven't done front wheel bearings; so perhaps I should pony up for a proper alignment. I upgraded my phone and it doesn't like the radio--but that's not the car's fault. Have an exhaust leak that needs attention; suspect that's a new flexpipe and that might be a pricey repair.

But otherwise everything still works, a/c included. Gets the job done.

 

[supton]

Hit 200k last night. Only three things wrong with the car at the moment:
-rear defroster inoperative (I killed it removing the rear window tint, my fault).
-slight oil leak. Can smell burning oil when stopped. I did the valve cover gasket, still a leak somewhere. Probably the crank seal.
-The indicator for Drive on the dashboard burned out this past summer.

I've put on 60k in the 2.3 years I've had it, with a fuel cost of $4,767.38 and total repairs etc at $2,341.71. About $11k total bill, include ins&reg. Uses about a quart every 5k, not sure if it's all from that leak or not. Too little to bother with, it's a 4qt sump and I buy Supertech in 5 quart containers. Just shy of 31mpg, and I don't drive for FE. Probably its worst aspect at the moment is that it's roasted its current set of RT43's; the first set did 36k (and I bought them used for $100!) but this set is down to 3/32's after only 25k. It was aligned 2 years ago and I'm left wondering if the toe has gone out on it.

Edit: I keep track of the miles on my truck also. It got less than 16mpg last year. It also got driven just shy of 4,000 miles! I fill that up about once a month, this car gets filled up once/week.

 

[Nick1994]

My 97' Camry and 00' Camry both burned out the Drive indicator on the dash.

Mine had an oil leak a couple years ago, it was the cam seal/plug. It is on the driver's side of the engine, gotta look under the coil pack. That's where the distributor used to go on the older Camry's with the 2.2L. When Toyota switched over to coil packs, they put a plug in the hole.

 

[supton]

Pretty sure I got that sealed up.

Recently I drove through a bit of a snowbank, and I think I saw oil drops from the right hand side of the car. It never marks its territory other than this one time.

When I did the TB I didn't replace crank and cam seals, so my guess is crank seal has finally given up. Not badly but enough. I think I might do the timing belt again this summer, and replace the seals.

 

[JTK]

The problem with a high mileage Subaru won't just be with the engine or drivetrain, it will be with rust. Rear subframes, fuel system, brake lines, transmission lines, etc. I've seen where they look cosmetically OK from the outside and you won't know the full extent until you get under it.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by JTK
The problem with a high mileage Subaru won't just be with the engine or drivetrain, it will be with rust. Rear subframes, fuel system, brake lines, transmission lines, etc. I've seen where they look cosmetically OK from the outside and you won't know the full extent until you get under it.

Very true--which is why I start all used vehicle inspections by crawling underneath first. Well, I guess if the initial view of the car doesn't turn me off, I suppose.

I recall looking at a Silverado once. Seller had posted the VIN and I found a freebie site where I could get the build options. Had what I wanted at the time (5.3, 3.73's, G80, 2WD) but when I looked at it the first thing I noticed was the brake lines were gone. Paint was in very good shape, rockers just starting to go in one small spot but at the time I didn't want anything to do with replacing brake lines. I let that one go, quite easily.

My last two Toyota's were practically bought in the first minute--in each case, crawling underneath showed virtually pristine metal.

 

[hpb]

Wow, 100,000km in 2 and a bit years, you do some driving. And bonus points for doing it in a 20 year old Camry!

 

[supton]

The car itself, while "boring" isn't that bad. Most of my driving is done in 50 minute hops (commute to work) but I've done one trip which was 3.5 hours each way. Driver's seat could use more support but otherwise, not too bad.

We wound up living where we are as it was between our workplaces, and we wound up liking the area. It's a long drive, of course, but it's a town where we like living in.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by supton


My last two Toyota's were practically bought in the first minute--in each case, crawling underneath showed virtually pristine metal.



I'm with ya.

Seems to be the reason used 'yotas command high prices near me. They tend to stay clean underneath better than most.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by JTK
Originally Posted by supton


My last two Toyota's were practically bought in the first minute--in each case, crawling underneath showed virtually pristine metal.



I'm with ya.

Seems to be the reason used 'yotas command high prices near me. They tend to stay clean underneath better than most.

As long as it's not a frame.

All bets off on that item!