Weak Points on the 2001 Camry?

My neighbor is looking at a 2001 Camry with 90k miles for her college-age son to purchase and she asked me today to ask me if I could take a look at it for them. I figure that when my automotive hobby causes loud noises or other minor suburban disturbances I want my neighbors to think of me as the really nice guy who happens to make an occasional loud noise instead of the shiny happy person who is always terrorizing their way of life, so when one of then asks me for any automotive-related help, I try to say yes.

I figured that I'd hook up the OBDII scanner and see what it has to say plus do the normal used car looking-over. Are there any particular weak points on those that I should concentrate on? Other than being terminally beige?

I bought SWMBO a 2000 Camry over the winter and it's held up well. I did a tune-up ( plugs, wires, air filter,changed the oil, etc) and she hasn't killed it yet. Chased a clunking noise in the front end and discovered it was the sway bar end links, which from what I was told wear out rather quickly for some reason. Other than that it's a decent car,imo.

If that's new enough to have drive by wire throttle, I hope he doesn't mind a 1 second delay on the pedal. Instills a lot of confidence in traffic. Not just terminally beige, but laggy like its being run by a 486 with 32 megs of ram.

Not a dbw car. No real weak points... maybe sludge if you believe the hype. Rust. Aformentioned endlinks.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: If that's new enough to have drive by wire throttle, I hope he doesn't mind a 1 second delay on the pedal. Instills a lot of confidence in traffic. Not just terminally beige, but laggy like its being run by a 486 with 32 megs of ram.

I drove one of those once, it was actually rather scary, but the owner of the car had no idea what i meant.

If it had a V6, and he works for a car mag, he'll blow the engine a lot.

Swank Force One wrote: Maybe sludge if you suspect the previous owner didn't maintain it.

Fixed that - and it can be reasonable to suspect the previous owner just figured it's a Camry and will run forever.

I do believe the sludging as I saw dozens and dozens of short blocks swapped under warranty.

Thanks for all the replies!

In terms of the sludging, where's the best place to look for that without dumping the oil/pan?

Sludge is the biggest thing to watch out for with either engine, so look for evidence of maintenance. The front strut mounts go bad over time, giving a bunch of clunking noises. The 4cyl idles high at initial start up (like 1500RPM high), but that's normal. Timing belts should be changed every 90k.

Change the timing belt, water pump and OIL PUMP seals. Repeat every 60k.

Thanks again for all the info!

I took a look at it yesterday and it's actually in pretty good shape. It was truly a little-old-lady car that was maintained pretty well as far as we can tell. The used car dealer appears to have put fresh oil in it, the tires are name-brand and fairly newish, the battery is a name-brand replacement that's a couple years old, and everything seems to be in order. My guess is that when the little-old-lady found out that her next oil change was going to include a $500 timing belt/water pump service, she decided to trade up to a newer one. It looks like the valve cover may be seeping a tiny amount of oil, the brakes are okay for now, but will probably need to be done in the near future, and of course the timing belt/water pump service needs to be done. But, given all that, it is a 4cyl Camry with only 89k miles on the clock which has no rust anywhere and is straight as an arrow, and based on what Edmunds says the price "should be" and subtracting the cost of a timing belt service, they're still getting a good deal.

Not a car that I would buy, but it seems like a very nice driving appliance that'll get him through college and into his first "real" job with just a handful of normal maintenance things.

If the timing belt hasn't been changed at 89k based on mileage, it should have been changed long ago based on time. 6-7 years is longest I'd go without a timing belt change...

IIRC, that engine isn't a valve eater, so on the deffered maintenance program its not a huge deal. So long as the oil was changed and the trans serviced correctly(IIRC, that 4 speed box has a separate diff sump).

My girlfriend's parents may be giving her their 2001 Avalon, so this thread is highly relevant. Anything to know about the V6 in these things? Transmissions? Any potential surprises in a well-maintained 250k mile example?

I know with saab.. they recomment sticking a wire down the dipstick tube to check for sludge.

hotrodlarry wrote: Chased a clunking noise in the front end and discovered it was the sway bar end links, which from what I was told wear out rather quickly for some reason.

Maybe because the only real force fighting to keep the car level goes through there

Had an 02 Camry w/4-cyl & AT for SWMBO. Did regular maintenance on it and it had >129k on it when we got rid of it. SWMBO wanted to trade it in on a new car instead of replacing shocks and some other long term replacement items. Still going strong when we got rid of it. Good car. FYI, replacing serpentine belt requires the rear engine mount to be disconnected and engine lifted off of mount.