My 2007 Camry warranty repairs so far.....

[ScottFern]

What kind of mileage are we talking about here?, perhaps the ride to work with a malfunctioning water pump raised the system temp and basted your transmission fluid causing the problems...

Highly doubt it. My water pump issue occurred 6-8 months before I brought the car in for the buring oil issue.

All I know is I had this dealer work on the engine with new pistons and 2 days after they give me the car back the transmission goes bad. Eight months later I spun a bearing. Seems every time I give them my car something else happens to it.

 

[BUTCH1]

Highly doubt it. My water pump issue occurred 6-8 months before I brought the car in for the buring oil issue.

All I know is I had this dealer work on the engine with new pistons and 2 days after they give me the car back the transmission goes bad. Eight months later I spun a bearing. Seems every time I give them my car something else happens to it.

Spun bearing?, damm, I gotta ask, are you kinda dogging this around a lot? what mileage are we talking about here..

 

[PottedMeat]

Highly doubt it. My water pump issue occurred 6-8 months before I brought the car in for the buring oil issue.

All I know is I had this dealer work on the engine with new pistons and 2 days after they give me the car back the transmission goes bad. Eight months later I spun a bearing. Seems every time I give them my car something else happens to it.

does spun bearing = new crankshaft?

wow, sounds like they should just put in a new transmission & engine.

 

[nerp]

Water pump failure isn't necessarily a Toyota issue, unless they're the ones making it. It's not too uncommon for a brand new car to have a part fail if the supplier's QC failed at some point. Warranty repairs are for this exact situation. In THIS, case, though, wow. It seems there's a combination of lemon-ish problems and some mechanic repair errors.

 

[ScottFern]

does spun bearing = new crankshaft?

wow, sounds like they should just put in a new transmission & engine.

Great question. Thats what I wanted to ask you guys.....They CLAIM they dropped the crankshaft fully intact and then simply replaced the pistons and rings only. Leaving the rods still on the crank so they are now treating this as a separate new issue.

@BUTCH1 - 86k mileage and no I am not abusing the car. It's a family sedan.

 

[1prophet]

well its not easy because every model can still produce a lemon. and even harder because many manufacturers seem to redesign about every 3 years.

for me, i try to look at whats under the hood. dual over head cams might sound cool and technically produce more power, but a traditional pushrod motor never dies. likewise, it might seem cool to have fancy traction control, but its just another feature that can break possibly causing other issues.

you just need to know what you need. if its a vehicle for transportation, then buy something modest and proven. if its more recreational, then buy whatever you think is fun and be prepared to pay for any potential problems.

Traction control/ABS will not be a choice in new cars soon since it is part of the now mandated electronic stability control,

http://www.motor.com/article.asp?article_ID=1775


as for the increased complexity of engines, a lot has to do with higher fuel efficiency/lower emission requirements.

 

[1prophet]

Great question. Thats what I wanted to ask you guys.....They CLAIM they dropped the crankshaft fully intact and then simply replaced the pistons and rings only. Leaving the rods still on the crank so they are now treating this as a separate new issue.

@BUTCH1 - 86k mileage and no I am not abusing the car. It's a family sedan.

I just looked at the Mitchell repair manual and it shows the pistons and rods being installed from the top of the engine block through a ring compressor after the crankshaft is installed,

I am most interested in this time saving novel procedure this dealership claims they used.

 

[ScottFern]

I just looked at the Mitchell repair manual and it shows the pistons and rods being installed from the top of the engine block through a ring compressor after the crankshaft is installed,

I am most interested in this time saving novel procedure this dealership claims they used.

Yeah I have a feeling this service advisor is not the most technical person. I have worked on engines with my buddies back in college, and I have never heard of this method either. Always, the rods and pistons are installed from the top of the block and lowered onto the crankshaft. I am thinking about going up there next Wednesday and speaking with the mechanic because this all sounds very fishy. And on top of it all they are asking for the warranty inspector to come back out to the dealer to re-inspect the engine so we get approval for bearing replacement.

The nightmare continues.

 

[deadken]

Just two things I'd like to add to this thread:

1) I worked at 2 dealerships during my time as an auto mechanic. I used to tell customers to bring the car in to me BEFORE the warranty expired. Then, I'd go over the car and do whatever needed to be done while coverage was still in effect.

2) I've heard that if you buy the extended warranty and never need to use it you can get money back when expires. I don't know how much money (could be insignificant) but if you never needed it, why not get a few bucks back?

To the OP: I was just going to say that the connecting rods had to come off the crankshaft. Let's just hope that the mechanic didn't mix up the caps (which shouldn't happen, but it could).

 

[ScottFern]

Just two things I'd like to add to this thread:

To the OP: I was just going to say that the connecting rods had to come off the crankshaft. Let's just hope that the mechanic didn't mix up the caps (which shouldn't happen, but it could).

I plan on calling them out on this on Wednesday. They are trying to feed me a line of BS. They just want position the issue to be something they don't have to cover and move all the expenses onto the warranty company.

 

[ScottFern]

Just called the warranty company and they said they are looking at the costs and are considering a full engine replacement. So the shop continues to look into this as well and they are deciding what is the "best" avenue to handle this. Translation: What is the cheapest way to fix the issue. Not sure how I feel about all this.

 

[DVad3r]

Post mileages with parts replaced.

Doesn't the water pump always need to be replaced with the timing belt?

Struts go every 150-200 k ish km.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Post mileages with parts replaced.

Doesn't the water pump always need to be replaced with the timing belt?

Struts go every 150-200 k ish km.

I don't think they changed it on the i4, but my dad's 04 Camry had a chain, not a stupid belt.

 

[ScottFern]

Post mileages with parts replaced.

Water pump/struts - 65k
Piston replacement - 75k (but it had been burning oil for quite a while)
Transmission replacement - 75k (happened the day after they gave me the car back)

Doesn't the water pump always need to be replaced with the timing belt?

No, its a timing chain. Water pumps for 07-08 Camry were well documented as being flawed.

Struts go every 150-200 k ish km.

Well, they still replaced them under warranty at 65k miles.

Response in bold.

 

[ScottFern]

Got the final answer tonight. They are replacing the engine, but that's incredibly ambiguous and have no idea what that includes. If they grab an engine from 07-08 we are right back to square one with the oil burning issue.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Got the final answer tonight. They are replacing the engine, but that's incredibly ambiguous and have no idea what that includes. If they grab an engine from 07-08 we are right back to square one with the oil burning issue.

Didn't you say that this warranty expires soon?


I would want to be involved in every aspect of this, as it's common for semi shady stuff to happen between the warranty co and mechanic (even a dealer) which you might not find out about for months... Just like now, where they replace piston/rings then you have a spun bearing 8 months later.

I hate passing junk on to someone else but personally I would sell it ASAP after it's fixed and buy a unmolested vehicle.

 

[ScottFern]

So I spoke to the dealer and they are replacing the engine with an 07 engine from a junk yard. So we are right back to square one with the burning oil issue and the bad water pumps. I am selling this POS and going straight to the Nissan dealership. What a nightmare this whole Camry experience has been.

 

[Eos]

My wife bought a 2003 Corolla (first model year) with 30k miles on it back in 2005. It's been a wonderful car for over 100k miles now.

We got lucky, I guess.

 

[ScottFern]

You didn't get lucky. Toyota moved its US manufacturing to the US (Kentucky) in 2006 and probably cut a few corners because of the economy and the 2007 - 2008 Camry were utter disasters. Bad water pumps, and I4 engines that burned oil badly. I am "lucky" that I had the intuition to buy the extended warranty even if they are shady 3rd party company.

 

[evident]

You didn't get lucky. Toyota moved its US manufacturing to the US (Kentucky) in 2006 and probably cut a few corners because of the economy and the 2007 - 2008 Camry were utter disasters. Bad water pumps, and I4 engines that burned oil badly. I am "lucky" that I had the intuition to buy the extended warranty even if they are shady 3rd party company.

I think Camry's have been built in the US since the 3rd generation. correct me if i'm wrong but I thought I remember my parents' 96 camry having a US VIN number.

 

[LTC8K6]

Camry has been built in Kentucky since 1988.

 

[kitatech]

My 05 Camry was made in Japan...as are all with Vin #s beginning with JT....

 

[LTC8K6]

My 05 Camry was made in Japan...as are all with Vin #s beginning with JT....

Yeah there are exceptions, but Toyota has been making the Camry in the US since 1988. So the premise in the post above about when production moved to Kentucky is clearly wrong.

Some of this generation Camry sold in the US are being produced at TMMK as well as at Tsutsumi Plant in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. A Camry manufactured in Japan is denoted with a VIN starting with "JT1", as well as a small hatch on the passenger's side of the front bumper containing equipment that is compatible with Japanese towing systems; US-made models are denoted with a VIN starting with "4T1"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Camry_(XV30)#North_America

 

[ScottFern]

Yeah there are exceptions, but Toyota has been making the Camry in the US since 1988. So the premise in the post above about when production moved to Kentucky is clearly wrong.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Camry_(XV30)#North_America

Glad we got that straightened out!! All I am trying to say is my Camry was made in Kentucky on a new design cycle and it was awful. The older Japanese models, like my mothers from 1996 were built much better. They made have fixed the issues with todays model, but 07-08 were simply put terrible vehicles.

 

[LTC8K6]

Glad we got that straightened out!! All I am trying to say is my Camry was made in Kentucky on a new design cycle and it was awful. The older Japanese models, like my mothers from 1996 were built much better. They made have fixed the issues with todays model, but 07-08 were simply put terrible vehicles.

Are you sure it wasn't made in Indiana?

In April 2007, Toyota began producing additional Camry models at Subaru of Indiana Automotive in Lafayette, Indiana. In a Cars.com American-Made Index study, the Camry was ranked highest,[169] all models sold in the US are assembled there.[170]

Consumer Reports 2007 Annual Car Reliability Survey gave the V6 version of the Camry a "below average" rating, due to transmission issues thus removing the V6 Camry from Consumer Reports' "Recommended" list. This rating does not apply to the four-cylinder and hybrid versions, which continued to be recommended. However, these problems have been corrected, and the V6 version has improved to "average".[171]