Good morning Scotty. I sort of inherited a smelly 1999 Camry LE. 158,300 miles. Automatic. I hooked up the Autel to it and the only code was for the EGR valve. I'm a real estate investor. I bought a house and the car came with it. I've done a superficial clean up on it, replaced the battery and it cranks right up and runs and drives well other than a sticky throttle. The car sat in the carport closed up for about 8 months and I suspect the previous owner had dogs/cats. So it has a strong moldy/musty/pet smell.
Well I took the Camry to a mechanic and had it inspected. He said the car is in better shape than most that are this age that he's seen and it would be a decent little driver. However, he said it's pretty wet underneath. He said that the 2.2L 4 Cylinder is one of his favorite motors but as they get older they really leak oil. He said even after all this is done it's not going to be a completely dry car. That it will always leak. He cleaned the transmission pan and tightened the bolts. He said they were pretty loose and that tightening the bolts might resolve that issue. However, it could be a bigger problem and we won't know until they get in there.
Here's the list of things he says it needs.
Replace EGR, VSV and Modulator/Clean EGR supply ports: Parts/Labor $615.86
Timing belt/Drive Belts/Water Pump/Thermostat/Resealed oil pump housing/Replace Cam Seal/Replace Crank Seal/Replace Valve Cover Gasket and Spark plug tube seals/ Replace PCV Valve and Grommet/Replace Spark plug wires: Parts/Labor $1,683.67
Replace rear main seal: Parts/Labor $1,651.67 Total: $3,992.99
That's probably more than the car is worth. Additionally, I asked the mechanic if he has a detailing company that he would recommend he said the smell is normal in older Toyotas that when they get old they just develop this smell and no amount of cleaning will get rid of it. Is that true or is he shining me on? Is it worth it to invest this kind of money in the car? Thoughts??
Every toyota I have owned are "wet" underneath. They still go for hundreds of thousands of miles. I will occasionally clean them up with paper towels but that is about it. The rear main seal is for sure one that I will never do, just not worth it.
The price on the timing belt is quite high, and most of the stuff on that list are cheap and easy parts to replace yourself. For instance the EGR valve only cost about $50 on rockauto and doesn't take long to do. PCV valve is even easier and probably cost $10.
The engine is also non interference afaik, so no worries about that breaking.
My suggestion, do the egr valve, pcv, vsv, change the plugs and wires, change the valve cover gasket, clean the throttle body and maf, change the engine air filter, coolant, and wipe down the wet spots that you can see. After that see how it runs and see what you actually need to do next. I know that may sound like a big list, but none of them is very hard to do, some like the pcv valve just take a few minutes.Youtube really comes in handy with these things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRmTrlfI8js
That's probably more than the car is worth.
In good condition, it's only worth about $2500. Sinking $4k into a 24 year old car makes no sense at all.
