Quick question,

I own a 95 Camry LE that I intend on driving till it dies. I noticed today that the engine misfired several times on a trip down from DC to Raleigh.

I'm already using the highest grade fuel available.. As far as my limited understanding as to car matters, there isn't really much else you can do for this (please let me know if there is).

My question is what the best guess as to what this means in terms of what kind of engine life I can expect to still have? The engine has 120k on it, but it was somewhat rebuilt due to an accident about five years ago.

11/23/2005 10:06:28 PM

waht was rebuilt?

11/23/2005 10:15:45 PM

yeah, engine rebuild due to an accident???


when's the last time simple tune-up stuff was done?

11/23/2005 10:17:30 PM

Honestly I'm not entirely sure what was rebuilt, my dad owned the car at the time and he can't remember either, but seemed to think that some part or parts of the engine had to be replaced.. unfortunatly I can't elaborate.

I had a shop do a 'tune-up' on it about 6 months ago.. I do regular oil-change level maintenance on it myself. At the time I brought it in for a tune-up, it hadn't been misfiring yet.. that started about 3 months after the tune-up -- so I didn't have a reason to be asking these sorts of questions from the toyota dealer at the time.

11/23/2005 10:22:44 PM

Quote :

"somewhat rebuilt due to an accident"

youll have to elaborate on that, but even then noone can tell you what to expect in regards to your engine's longetivity, because its impossible to know the quality of the parts and work that was done.

toyotas by nature can last well over 200k as they are built, both the 4cyl and v6 camry engines are very well built. proper maintenance- especially timely oil changes have a lot to do with that. if you have a 4cyl, which is most likely, you may encounter normal wear and tear items, lets see, motor mounts, downpipes, oil pump seals, distributors, starter contacts, and valve cover gaskets are pretty common. as are power antenna masts, power window motors, etc, on camrys but they arent really engine related. if memory serves me, timing belts are due every 90k, and the waterpump should be replaced at the same time, as well as the camshaft and crankshaft oil seals. PCV should be checked every few oil changes, if it clogs or sticks then you WILL develop an oil leak, likely from the valve cover gasket or distributor o-ring.

anyhow, diagnosing your misfire problem shouldnt be all that hard, first while in gear with left foot firmly on the brake, give it enough gas to put a fairly good strain on the running engine- if there is actually a misfire that is manifesting itself under load while driving, this should duplicate it. if it does, then its almost certianly an ignition problem, suspect the spark plugs/wires. inspect and replace as needed, also ensure that oil is not leaking into the spark plug tubes in the valve cover and saturating the wires, that will certianly cause a misfire if left unrepaired. also check the distributor cap and rotor for corrosion.

IF that doesnot reproduce your misfire, come back and we will go from there.

11/23/2005 10:26:09 PM