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Car Forum / Toyota / Camry / December 2004My sons new camry
My son just got a 91 camry for 2500 bucks with 56, 500 miles-one owner well kept. He will use this to drive to college 8 hrs away every semester. I got an estimate on having the timing belt and water pump replaced from a Toyota deaker for 448.00 bottom line. Its time for this due to age of car and milage The car has two fan belts I large which was just replaced and a smaller one at the bottom of the engine which Im going to have the dealer replace. Also will have the dealer repalce the three? crank seals. I replaced the plugs, dist cap, rotor and wires as well as the engine oil and filter and t-stat. Here is my problem-the heater blows cold air only. The cooling system fluids were dirty brown and I was able to back flush the system and the heater core until water ran clean. I replaced the t-stat too. The valve on the firewall does open and close and the hoses in and out of the core are hot. Still the heater blows cold air only! Anybody have any ideas? We need to pass state insp and replace the timing belt and waterpump to make this car safe for the 8 hr trip to school. I hate to have the kid spend the dough for a new heater core when in fact the problem is something else. Any insight is appreciatd! This is not a common occurance on that style Camry so I have no silver bullets of wisdom for you, just diagnostic technique... If both of your heater core hoses are pretty warm, suspect a broken/misadjusted blend door inside under the dash. When you operate the temp lever (I assume you have the manual lever type control system) quickly from hot to cold and back you should feel the mass of the cable and door mechanism operating through the lever. If there's no resistance then your problem is with the cable or door. Hopefully its a cable that fell out of its bracket -- because a blend door problem means a new blower box or some crafty engineering. Either way it would require a lot of labor! If your cooling system is not even reaching correct temperature then suspect the new thermostat, especially if its aftermarket. That's one part to get at the Toyota dealer no matter what. For whatever reason, I've noticed that the good quality import thermostats, for example OE Honda and Toyota, can not be found as reboxed aftermarket parts. The aftermarket stuff is just horrible in my experience and not worth saving $5 on. Good luck, Toyota MDT in MO Thanks for the reply-I did use a Toyota T Stat. I do feel the cable moving so I guess it could be what you called "the blend door" Prior owner got an estimate of 500.00 to fix-Im trying to find out who estimated and what they were fixing! Comboverfish, Do you have any good online parts sources for OEM Toyota parts? Parts departments at the two dealers near me are "sad" in terms of counter help. I'd rather order online from a place where the counter people have a clue. Any referrals would be most appreciated. TIA DFB >This is not a common occurance on that style Camry so I have no silver >bullets of wisdom for you, just diagnostic technique... [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > >Good luck, Toyota MDT in MO "When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional rights it acts lawlessly and the citizen can take matters into his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all." - Justice William O. Douglas >Comboverfish, >Do you have any good online parts sources for OEM Toyota parts? Parts [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >TIA >DFB I suggest looking at the back of car magazines. Most of them are actual dealers but sell the OEM parts at about a 25% discount. There's shipping cost but most of the time, that's cheaper than paying for the taxes. I used to order Honda parts from Manhonda. I found them at the back of a car magazine. Sorry but I don't have a Toyota one as I deal with my local dealers. > Comboverfish, > Do you have any good online parts sources for OEM Toyota parts? Parts [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > TIA > DFB Sorry, I don't. I just get Toyota parts from the dealer I work at. Viperkiller had some experienced input on this. I have heard of large dealers selling parts nationwide but I don't know how they process requests from non-mechanics or DIYers. I would think proper communication would be the hardest obstacle towards shipping out the correct parts to the average consumer. Re: lack of counter help... I can sympathize, but as a highschool kid growing up I used to think the help guys at hardware stores and counter guys at auto parts stores were 'stupid and useless' because I couldn't always get the part or answer I needed. As humility set in (very slowly) it became apparent to me that most of these guys actually had quite a bit of wisdom in what they had to say. Now I think I can weed out the few truly bad apples much more accurately and I've learned to appreciate any counterperson's info or assistance even if their actions seem a little dopey, because we can't all be great at everything! >> Comboverfish, >> Do you have any good online parts sources for OEM Toyota parts? Parts [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] >assistance even if their actions seem a little dopey, because we can't >all be great at everything! I certainly understand where you are coming from. Not all dealership parts people are "sad", although referring to the two near me as such is a kindness. The third local dealership is a branch of number two and the parts department seemingly keeps little stock on hand. Example #1... Go into the parts department of dealer #1 in the middle of the afternoon and be told "We don't have time to take orders for parts we don't have in stock today. Come back tomorrow." Example #2... Different part, different day...Go into the parts department of dealer #2 and be told the part, a wiper arm you just removed from your wife's Camry, is not from a Toyota. When you explain that you bought the car new, have always done all the maintenance, and it most certainly is from a Toyota Camry, you are looked at with disgust and the next person in line is asked what they need. You are thus dismissed. I don't know if these two characters had any wisdom to impart or not. We didn't get that far. I got as far as NAPA, though. But there are instances when I would prefer OEM parts. I've had very good luck with online sources for my Caddy. The parts ordering procedure is almost foolproof. Combined with information from the shop manual there has never been a problem. Prices seem to be about 10-20% above wholesale. Cadillac dealer parts (counter people knowledgeable and helpful) run bust out retail plus 20%. I was hoping to find a similar online source for Toyota parts. As one poster suggested, Ebay might be an answer. Thank you for taking the time to reply. It is most appreciated. DFB "When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional rights it acts lawlessly and the citizen can take matters into his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all." - Justice William O. Douglas Ditto on the parts...when I need one I take the haynes manual in with me, the old part(if possible) and if I dont get help in parts I let everyone on the sales floor know too! Surprising what can happen if your the squeeky wheel running off showroom customers! BTW my dealer sucks. They dont even know where their TSB book is! Much less update it or look at it..SOP is to throw parts at a car and pretend not to hear problems..This is a large dealer in a major city too. > Ditto on the parts...when I need one > I take the haynes manual in with me, [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > to hear problems..This is a large dealer > in a major city too. You should walk into Personnel with a resume for the position they don't know they need filled!  Signature- Philip Did you back flush the core separately? If not the core could still be your problem. If you did and both hoses are hot then you need to get at the blend door as Tech said. FWIW YMMV DFB >My son just got a 91 camry for 2500 bucks with 56, 500 miles-one owner >well kept. He will use this to drive to college 8 hrs away every [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] >something else. >Any insight is appreciatd! "When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional rights it acts lawlessly and the citizen can take matters into his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all." - Justice William O. Douglas > Did you back flush the core separately? If not the core could still be > your problem. If you did and both hoses are hot then you need to get [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all." > - Justice William O. Douglas yes I back flushed the core utilizing the hoses that go directly into it at the firewall. Will look into the blend door location and see if my son and I can get at it> > Here is my problem-the heater blows cold air only. The cooling system > fluids were dirty brown and I was able to back flush the system and the > heater core until water ran clean. > I replaced the t-stat too. The valve on the firewall does open and > close and the hoses in and out of the core are hot. Still the heater > blows cold air only! Anybody have any ideas? Try making sure the hot-water tap is passing fluid when open,...if it's ok, its possible the car has been run without proper coolant maintenance for most of its life and the heater core is choked with particles of rust and minerals which drop out of suspension. Some cars do make it to the wreckers with good cooling sytems,...a second hand core should be relatively cheap or you can get the original one cleaned at a radiator service shop. Jason |
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