Transmission went on a 2000 Toyota Camry

[tontod]

My father was backing up his driveway yesterday, partway up, there was a clunk, after which reverse did not work any more. So he drove it back in - I guess next, we will put it in Neutral, push it out and turn the car around at the bottom of the driveway. The car has ~155k miles on it. Any ideas as to what might be wrong? Is the transmission history? Its an automatic, btw.

 

[Tristicus]

Probably.

 

[MovingTarget]

That is an expensive repair..

 

[tontod]

Would that involve replacing the whole tranny, or would replacing the torque converter be enough? Hopefully can get a cheap one from the junkyard or something.

 

[skyking]

It has nothing to do with the TQ, if the car moves forward at all. It is a broken doohicky related to reverse.

 

[tontod]

So is the entire transmission toast? How much would a new tranny run? Might have to get one from the junkyard/used one to save some cash.

 

[disappoint]

Take it to a trans repair shop and ask for an estimate?

 

[tontod]

Take it to a trans repair shop and ask for an estimate?

Yeah, thats what he's going to do, but was just curious if the wise minds of AT Garage had any ideas.

 

[Rifter]

if it need's a rebuild it aint gunna be cheap, expect $1200 or more. This is why i will only buy a stick.

 

[skyking]

Yeah, thats what he's going to do, but was just curious if the wise minds of AT Garage had any ideas.

I'd tear into it, what have you got to lose? You could get a junkyard one if you can't fix that one.

 

[AMCRambler]

Same thing happened with my parents '91 accord. Reverse broke. $1400 to rebuild the transmission at the dealership. Worked fine after that.

 

[ShawnD1]

if it need's a rebuild it aint gunna be cheap, expect $1200 or more. This is why i will only buy a stick.

I was starting to think this after reading some edmunds reviews yesterday. One thing that really stood out was how several years of Toyota Camry have lots of posts about the transmissions fucking up. It only goes back to 2007, but there were lots of them. 2008 as well. 2009 as well. They're just piles of shit I guess.

manuals - pain in the ass but they last forever

 

[SearchMaster]

Yeah, but in 155K miles you're probably about into your second clutch replacement at what, $600-800 a pop (quick google showed $1500, ouch)? I'm hoping my next car will be manual but I'm not convinced it's a money saver in the long run.

 

[boomhower]

Yeah, but in 155K miles you're probably about into your second clutch replacement at what, $600-800 a pop (quick google showed $1500, ouch)? I'm hoping my next car will be manual but I'm not convinced it's a money saver in the long run.

In a Camry there is no reason why the stock clutch won't last 150k if driven properly.

 

[skyking]

I dunno, my 98 has 190K on and has never been serviced. Go figure.

 

[KIAman]

My POS Kia Sportage had 10+ years and 200k+ miles on the original clutch.

To the OP, that sounds like a classic case of transmission failure. Go to a good independent shop and depending on where you live (and how much labor is per hour) you will be looking at $1000-$1800 to replace it.

 

[tontod]

In a Camry there is no reason why the stock clutch won't last 150k if driven properly.

Its an automatic.

 

[ShawnD1]

Its an automatic.

He's responding to the claim about manuals costing roughly the same as automatics.

 

[jlee]

Yeah, but in 155K miles you're probably about into your second clutch replacement at what, $600-800 a pop (quick google showed $1500, ouch)? I'm hoping my next car will be manual but I'm not convinced it's a money saver in the long run.

If you don't know how to drive, sure.

 

[ShawnD1]

If you don't know how to drive, sure.

Some people are profoundly retarded.

My mom always loves sharing the story of the boyfriend who abused her GTO's clutch. On hills, he would hold the car in place by grinding the clutch instead of using the brakes. I've seen people do that a few times, like a car is at a red light and it rolls back and forth a foot. Some people look like they are trying to ruin the car.

 

[BornStar]

My 92 Camry had the exact opposite problem about 4 years ago with probably 125k miles on it. I was driving just normally and all of a sudden all forward gears stopped working. I was able to drive in reverse all i wanted but putting the car in drive resulted in the engine revving as if it were in neutral. I sold it for $400 (I had been planning on getting a new car around then anyway) to some guy who put a rebuilt transmission in it for his daughter. Apparently it's still driving around my old town.

 

[ShawnD1]

My 92 Camry had the exact opposite problem about 4 years ago with probably 125k miles on it. I was driving just normally and all of a sudden all forward gears stopped working. I was able to drive in reverse all i wanted but putting the car in drive resulted in the engine revving as if it were in neutral. I sold it for $400 (I had been planning on getting a new car around then anyway) to some guy who put a rebuilt transmission in it for his daughter. Apparently it's still driving around my old town.

I had this happen on a city bus once. We're going normally, then there was a bit of a lurching then the thing revved really high in order to move forward. It still moved forward, but it was painfully slow. I was sitting at the very back of the bus because I'm black, so I got an ear full of screaming diesel engine D: