CarComplaints.com Notes: An increasing number of Toyotas are experiencing excessive oil consumption and the 2007 Camry seems to be leading the charge.
Owners are reporting that their engines are deprived of oil halfway through their maintenance schedules and in some cases the damage is so bad that entirely new engines need to be installed, paid out of pocket. The issue may be a result of defective piston rings.
Toyota has issued a TSB for this problem, but maintains their stance that vehicles equipped with a 2AZ-FE engine are burning through a “normal†amount of oil.
Camry was 10yrs old when transmission failed, warranty coverage expired. When I shopped around scrap yards and junk yards for used transmission $1200.00 was the cheapest with 30 - 90 day warranty. I would have to pick up transmission and drop off the repair shop. Then repair shop would install it - cost unkown. So I called Aamco Transmissions to rebuild it and install for $2,750 1 year warranty 12 thousand miles. If I had to do it over, I would have called more several repair shops for a cost to repair instead of paying 2,750.00 at Aamco. I feel Aamco is too expensive.
First of all, let me say that I am a huge Toyota fan (at least was!!!). I currently own 2 Toyota Camry (2104 2.5 SE, 2007 3.5 SE). I have owned the following Toyota vehicles in my lifetime (84 Celica, 98 T100, 2003 Solara, 97 Camry, 2001 Lexus ES300, 2007 Corolla, 2014 Corolla, 2014 Camry, and lastly the 2007 Camry SE V6). For the most part, I haven't had any serious problems with the vehicles. It was mainly maintenance items and tires for most of the cars.
I traded in my 2014 Corolla S on the 2014 Camry because I couldn't stand the CVT transmission, the way it shifted, and the horrible gas mileage I got while driving it. It wasn't even close to what was printed on the window sticker. I do a lot of driving and the 2014 Camry is a certified vehicle. I didn't want to mileage it out in the first year I owned it, so I bought a second Camry because I wanted a similar vehicle. I found a 2007 Toyota Camry SE with the 3.5L V6 and 125,000 miles. It is fully loaded with power heated leather seats, JBL Audio, Sunroof, and Aluminum Wheels. I have owned it for exactly 6 months and put 16,000 miles on it. I had new tires, an oil change, and an overall inspection of the vehicle done at Firestone Memorial Day Weekend. They told me everything was good on the car, but did mention that there was no way to check the transmission fluid because this vehicle came with a "sealed transmission". I had never heard of a transmission that was sealed and rated for the lifetime of a vehicle before. But if anyone could do it, I figured it would be Toyota.
Well, some how my "sealed transmission" lost all of the fluid that was in it and there was no warning whatsoever. There are no check engine lights or low fluid warning lights for the transmission because the engineers at Toyota really thought these transmissions would last the life of the vehicle, even though I hadn't heard of any real world testing done on the transmissions. Now the car sits at a repair shop that I currently owe $150 to for them filling my transmission with fluid and telling me that the transmission still won't engage a gear and that a new transmission is recommended.
So after a tow and initial inspection of the transmission, I am out $250 and am still no closer to having the car fixed. I am currently trying to find someone who can help me get it to a dedicated transmission shop so I can know for sure what I am up against. I am being told that used transmissions are almost impossible to find, and that a new one is going to cost me $5k, on a vehicle that is maybe worth $6500 on a good day! I will no longer be buying Toyotas, and really not sure what I will buy next. I will most likely have to dump my 2007 for a loss, probably a couple thousand dollars.
I will also be putting my 2014 Camry up for sale as soon as I can. I am deeply disappointed with Toyota and have no confidence in either of the vehicles I currently own. Open to suggestions as to what to do with a "low mileage" Toyota Camry(141,000), because Toyota says these cars are bulletproof and will go for over 300,000 miles. Engine runs great with no ticks or burning of oil or leaks of any sort!
We bought this Camry Used from one of the larger Toyota Dealers in the Pacific Northwest - McCord's Vancouver Toyota. We were also sold a 3 year extended warranty (National) from the finance guy, thinking if we had had any problems, they would hopefully occurs in our first 3 years of ownership. Boy, were we wrong.
Background: The 2007 Camry SE 3.5 V6 with 6 Speed Automatic was a great car in every sense. We had regular maintenance done by the aforementioned Toyota dealer, and I was always pleased with it's dependability and performance. Often, it was our go-to vehicle for longer road trips, and has always met our expectations.
This last weekend, we packed up to travel to the Oregon Coast for a family get together in Florence, Or. We had a problem free commute all the way to the intersection of HWY 126 and HWY 101 (Florence proper). Coming to a stop while still in Drive, I attempted to merge into the northbound 101 traffic and upon acceleration noticed that the Drive gear was completely missing. After hearing the engine rev due to no transmission engagement (while still in Drive), I then shifted into "S" mode, and manually shifted into every forward gear (all 6) to find any engagement. None worked. Strangely enough, Reverse did engage and work. After rolling our Camry to the side of the road, safely out of the way from traffic, we commenced to being stranded 100 miles away from our home on a Friday evening with all auto shops in this little coastal town of a couple thousand, all shut down right at 5:00pm sharp. We were stranded.
Thanks to a friendly lady leaving from work (Florence PUD was right near us), she offered us a ride to our hotel and was indeed a real angel in our time of need! Thank you Karen Howell! We really appreciate you!
Today, the Camry's transmission has utterly failed us, and I'm not sure exactly why. It shifts up and down in every gear with no sensors indicating any problems. Reverse, Neutral, and Park still work. Fluid was dark looking, but not burnt, and was full (@ 147k miles this is no surprise). Thank heavens for AAA, since our extended 3 year warranty was now passed it's date by a freaking month! It got towed back home in Vancouver, WA. However, I have to say "we've been screwed" is an understatement. To add insult to injury - we had a couple transmission shops quote us on replacing the whole transmission, not repair or rebuild it - for a meager cost of near $5,000 (parts and labor total). Ugh! The car is only worth about $1,500 more than this quote, and it's not quite paid off yet! We are in a real situation here.
1. Are there aftermarket transmissions available for this year/make/model?
2. Can a mechanically inclined guy swap out this transmission with another and have everything running back to normal?
3. Are there another issues that perhaps are being missed here: like a shifting solenoid gone bad, or electronic sensor not sending signal to shift when it's manually being told to shift, or? Obviously, the pump is pressurizing the fluid or our reverse gear wouldn't have worked. So, this feels like were throwing the baby out with the bathwater. And the idea of dropping 5 grand to solve the problem sounds foolish and costly. Or, am I off base here?
Please help us out with your thoughts and suggestions.
We have a 2007 Camry SE V6 with 102279 miles on it. Regular oil changes. Transmission flush at 53K and at 99K. The transmission pump failed at 102279 while on a road trip. Left us stranded. I cannot prove that the dealer did anything wrong (and I am not convinced that they did) on the last transmission flush but 3000 miles later the transmission suffered catastrophic failure. Our last Camry went 266000 with no transmission failure. I am leaning towards a production "irregularity".
This transmission was not abused. I did not tow anything with it. And even if it had been abused, it would be the clutch packs or shift assemblies that would suffer. Not the hydraulic pump. Toyota wants 4300.00 plus tax for the transmission. Oh....wait.....did you want that installed? Total bill (with flushing the lines and cooler, and towing) is just about $6000.00. I am waiting to find out if Corporate is willing to help me out to mitigate the cost to some extent. I'm not looking for a free transmission, it does have 102K on it, but a well serviced low mileage (11K a year) Camry should not be totaled after just 9 years.
Bought this car used and have had it for close to 2 years, it hardly gets driven and just sits in the driveway 90% of the time. Was coming home from a soccer game, stopped at a stop light and that was it. The car would no longer go forward, back, sideways, etc. Had it towed to my mechanic and they said that it is a complete transmission failure. Options to repair are with a salvage transmission for $3600 or a toyo reman for $4500. The car never exhibited a transmission problem, no slippage, hard shifts, gear change issues, nothing, just a complete failure. I am completely beside myself since this is the 2nd camry I have had a catastrophic failure with. I will NEVER buy another camry EVER. Over the last 20 years I have had 7 Toyos and 2 of them camry's, the other 5 were the best vehicles I ever owned.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Camry was 10yrs old when transmission failed, warranty coverage expired. When I shopped around scrap yards and junk yards for used transmission $1200.00 was the cheapest with 30 - 90 day warranty. I would have to pick up transmission and drop off the repair shop. Then repair shop would install it - cost unkown. So I called Aamco Transmissions to rebuild it and install for $2,750 1 year warranty 12 thousand miles. If I had to do it over, I would have called more several repair shops for a cost to repair instead of paying 2,750.00 at Aamco. I feel Aamco is too expensive.
- Peter E C., Yonkers, NY, US