Hi Scotty,
I have a 2013 Camry XLE 4c. with just under 85,500 miles. I knew this generation of Camry had a common problem with the torque converter causing a shudder that typically starts around 60k mi. so before I bought it in October 2020 with 58,200 mi. I made extra sure, to do everything I could to see if I could get the car to shudder multiple times while on a lengthy test drive. Since there wasn’t even the slightest hint of a shudder, I went ahead and bought the car.
Within a week after buying the car, I had the transmission fluid inspected and changed at my local Toyota dealer. The mechanic and I both inspected the fluid and it looked good.
I thought I had dodged a bullet until it started shuddering sometime after 70k mi. I thought the only fix was to replace the transmission, which I couldn’t afford, so I thought there was nothing I could do. Even worse, within the last week the transmission suddenly started noticeably hesitating/slipping when it shifts from 2nd to 3rd gear.
Car Fax, KBB, Edmunds, Carvana, ThinkDriver, and Toyota never showed anything under “recalls”, so I was never made aware of the service bulletin to fix this issue until today, well past the 8 years of original purchase stated in the bulletin.
I feel extremely let down and kinda screwed over, seeing I was never informed about the bulletin, even when checking several major trusted and “reliable” institutions. Is there anything I can do now, or am I just SOL?
Thanks.
Take the car to a transmission pro and have him check it. If the issue is only related to the torque converter and there is no damage to the other part of the transmission, there is a updated part you can buy from the Toyota dealers. If I remember correctly, it is called "torque converter kit" and it is even cheaper than the torque converter itself.
You are SOL. I paid $5000 to have the transmission replaced in my daughter's 2012 last winter. So, of course, she was rear-ended 6 months later and the car totaled. My 2014 has 65,000 on it, I bought an Avalon and am selling the Camry now, before the tranny problems begin. Sorry you had to join the club.
You are SOL, unfortunately. I have been telling members to avoid the 2012-2014 (possibly even 2015) Camry’s to eliminate the possibility of a shudder - it’s a matter of when, not if, even if everything might check out OK initially.
This is one of Toyota’s low points in reliability.
Is there really any good modern Camry model?
Between high oil consumption (on 2AZ engines) on 2006-2011 models, Torque convertor failures on 2012-2014, Mediocre transmissions (U660 being very picky in regards to maintenance, and early U880 variants being jerky) on 2011-2019, and with all new Camrys having the unproven DynamicForce - for some reason there's always a weak spot...
-
I know there's a lot of Hyundai "distrust" on this forum, but a Sonata with a 2.4L Theta MPi engine mated to a conventional 6 speed automatics seems to be decent (until higher millages).
On the new models It's interesting to see how the new variant of the 2.5L Theta MPi engine mated to the good old 6 speed auto is going to hold up - But I have a good feeling about it.
I feel extremely let down and kinda screwed over
You shouldn't.
You knew about the problem and bought it anyway. You could have bought ANY other car.
I heard you could just change the transmission fluid and put a shudder guide fluid in during fluid change. I haven't tried it yet. Right now I'm using the paddles to change gears myself. I hope Scotty can give us all a good fix.
