A 300,000 Mile Toyota Inspection. What Problems Does it Actually Have?

hello and welcome to the car care enough Channel and welcome to this beautiful 2004 Toyota Camry now this camera when you look at it from the outside looks extremely clean it's really really well kept and preserved looks like a low mile example let's kind of take a quick tour around it and then we'll show you the miles which you might have already been able to tell by the title of this video first let's look at the paint of this car I mean this thing is in really good shape body is straight now it's not very clean right now just came into the shop body straight paint is shiny let's look a little bit on the inside look at this interior seats are preserved well they're clean and this is a very tough color interior to keep clean everything looks well put together nothing is ripped or coming apart let's look at the back seat oh let's unlock the door first [Music] back seat is clean and my absolute favorite look at this how clean this floor mats these are impossible to keep clean with this color but they're so clean this car is very very well preserved got a little bit of sagging uh headliner there but otherwise the headliner is very very clean in this car now let's uh look at the miles of this car foreign this car have 299 122. just shy of 300 000 miles I mean this thing is in such good shape is unbelievable in both inside and out we're gonna take it for a drive because the owner basically wants a 300 000 mile service [Music] let's take a look cloak under the hood before we go drive it because one of the initial concerns is the power steering pump makes a whine when the car is cold goes away when it's hot and that is your number one cue your fluid is low it's not super low but it's low enough where it's low enough where when we're cold the fluid is too low but the pump is is taken in the air but when things warm up the fluid love arises and we're good so let's take a quick look at the fluid level we did top it off a little bit because I was not going to drive it in like you notice it's it's low and immediately right next to it we see why it's low power steering hoses are leaking both of them actually first this is a return line super common on these to leak second the supply line the feed like the main feed one that feeds the oil pump that's also you can see that hose is all wet that's also leaking so we have these two initially that they are leaking the engine relatively clean this is a 2az this is a pre-low tension ring 2az so it doesn't burn oil first things that jump at me AC Delco in a Toyota don't like these hoses but they work and I don't like these clamps but again they work again same thing there you see Delco and you can see all kinds of oil like down here in this area that's where your power steering line and the bottom one as well we'll see that better when we lift the car but the lower part is actually completely corroded and leaking but overall I don't see a lot with this car starter has been been replaced at some point with a Denso unit alternator hard to yeah it is an aftermarket one see that sticker right there that don't belong in the original so not the original alternator and starter but one more thing we have a little oil leak from the valve cover gasket right here not a huge leak but we'll look at it more underneath I don't see anything else everything looking great so here is the plan of action let's take this car for a drive because the owner also have a few concerns over bumps we have some noises we have some issues that he's concerned about and he wants to basically decide are we going to keep going for another 300 000 miles or are we gonna thank this car and call it a day so let's go for a quick test drive we'll come back we'll lift it up check the whole car and see how does 300 000 mile Toyota that has both miles and age really hold up after all these years and Miles let's take this Camry for a quick drive and the shop is extremely dirty today it seems like this is a broken record that I keep saying that but uh we have salt outside and we are starting inside the shop because it is literally zero degrees Fahrenheit today so uh it's extremely cold so we're gonna start on the inside I already hear all kinds of noises from this car but let's take it for a drive and let's hear so the first pump coming up here let's listen to the noise it makes there's all kinds of creaky creaky from the front especially on it felt more on the driver's side but we're going to take a look let's take it for a drive and of course in the typical fashion of our in-shot videos the Tesla graveyard have gotten really large oh look at this thing they are filling up here probably can't get parts for most of these cars and only grows so here's the thing about this car when I first saw it I remember having this conversation with the customer that has 300 000 miles but I never imagined it to be in this shape and to a point I forgot you know he dropped off the car waited for a few days till we got to it and I looked at him like man this is such a nice car I wonder if it even has a hundred thousand miles this has 300 000 miles perfectly quiet other than suspension making some noise it's very comfortable no wind noise these are really quiet cars folks and they're very comfortable actually nice cars and really reliable driving it it does feel like the suspension is a little all over the place and when I hit the brakes I hear a definite clock something is moving in the suspension it's just a feeling so now we got a feel for this car I don't have wheel bearing noises I don't have abnormal noises from the engine transmission shifting okay and this is something where we've already done this inspection off camera because I like to spend my time without distractions something about this that is potentially an issue in the future the transmission so the transmission it doesn't have the smoothest shifts in the world but it's working and this is something I kind of advise the customer about this and we'll we'll talk to you about the rest of the stuff with this car but for 300 000 mile car folks this is extremely impressive engine doesn't burn oil car runs perfectly fine it's perfectly it's relatively smooth now the one thing we have with this car there's also a concern customer thought we have an exhaust leak because when the car is cold and the RPMs are high it's like a vibration or a buzz almost from the engine and that is something we're going to investigate as soon as we pull in the shop because I don't think we have an exhaust leak like when you're stopping gear like you can feel roughness in the body and like it shakes it almost makes like a buzz and uh that could be motor mounts but we're gonna check them but the main thing is the suspension there's a lot of suspension noise and movement in the front and that's where we want to address this this is we want to look into it and see hello dead Teslas wonder when these cars sit so long are we eventually going to have like a dead big battery and now they're sitting bricks I wonder there's actually some more backup Tesla graveyard right there you see it they're all covered in snow I told you it's super cold today so let's pull in the shop and let's let's see what we see with this car okay I even hear noises when I turn the wheel this is the other thing all right let's go put this thing up in the air and we'll see what we see okay let's take a look at one thing before and I feel like this is bent okay I keep having a hard time opening yeah this is bent like you see this right here it is bent backwards this should be a little bit more forward because now you have to really get your hand in there and open it I was wondering I'm like am I forgetting how to open a hood in a Camry the first thing I want to look at here is before we lift it up we already know we got the power steering leaks that we already know but the first thing I want to look at is that Rumble and something super common is this the dog bone mount so let's inspect it if we look right here would you look at that we have a it's basically tore completely up you see it right there completely torn so that's that's no go so that's the first thing we're going to recommend is this Mount we're going to take a look at the other Mouse make sure they're not collapsed or anything but knowing these cars mounts are not common but this is super common this all this does and we call it dog bone Mount it's actually a torque Rod every time the engine wants to move back or for or forward this holds it that's all this does it just stabilizes the vibration and this is exactly what we have having said that let's go lift this car up and see what we see underneath it foreign car here earlier that's ct200 we looked at it a while back foreign [Music] let's start our mid-rise inspection is what I call it because this is their perfect opportunity to look at the struts so right off I see that this strut is actually an aftermarket one just by the look of the top mount here this is different it's not leaking very slight leakage this insulator is torn so that's that's not good then we look at our control arm and I already see a problem folks that control arm is it has a giant tear on the side that goes all the way across you see it right here that's the tear that is not no good if you cracks like the ones on this side these are not an issue but this is a tear and that is not good the other thing is this is a good opportunity to look at your brakes which this side breaks I really hope you can see it it's like it's almost worn down to nothing we might need pads here now let's continue our inspection on the suspension this is also an aftermarket strut you can see it clear here this top is different than what an original one this insulator is completely gone but it's not leaking we don't have noises in the back the rear brakes are drum brakes which just from the brake pedal feel which felt off we might have a problem here because we might need to adjust the cleaning and adjust these rare drums let's continue our inspection this side no leaks on the struts so that's good also the insulator is gone but it doesn't warrant us tearing this strut down just for the insulator is not worth it same thing with the drum brakes here they're relatively loose these tires are actually very new and we can still see the markings on them these are almost brand new then we move to oh we have problems my brothers and sisters this is a blown strut you can see oil all over the place here there's all oil all over here this is a blown strut so that's the first source of our noise let's look at the control arm over here in this side we got serious problems here folks this control arm completely separated you see how this bushing is completely separated and the control arm is dropped this car is going to need control arms lower control arms and now with this strut leaking we do need struts as well of course we always replace struts and pairs let's look at the brakes over here and uh oh we have some serious problems here because these brakes are really hard to show you really try to show you this is going to be difficult but these brakes are nowhere near close to getting needing replacement so we have something going on with the other side wheel let's raise this car up back up all the way and look underneath it some more see what else we find [Music] okay let's take a look underneath this car first thing is rust levels this is nothing remember this is a 2004 model year first thing is we have oil here and this I already know what it is we looked at it this is the power steering lines that are leaking and here's that other line super Rusty you can see it right there where it's completely corroded and leaking right here so that's going to need to be addressed this is not good zip ties holding covers we can do better than that let's look at the radiator radiator looks like it's been replaced this is not original radiator I don't see any leaks here so that looks good do see those clamps that I dislike but they're working for now then I see aftermarket Axel that's uh interesting but I I'm feeling vibration so this must be the good aftermarket quality and I already see the old you see the old grease oh this wheel is really hard to turn we might have a locked up caliper here folks these inner pads really worn down and these pads are nowhere near worn down so this is this is a problem we're going to investigate it a little bit well let's continue I have a small seepage from the transmission case this is not something that really warrants to repair I wouldn't worry about it other leaks this is power steering leak a very small rack and pinion leak I wouldn't address this at this point we don't have really this size not leaking Center had a very small leak I'm not worried about it this exhaust has been repaired and it's aftermarket that's why the O2 sensor wire is just sitting there oh I'm sorry it has a zip tie so that was done well not an issue ball joints have a little bit of Grease but they're not an issue this ball joint looks decent strut however is leaking all over the place you see it compare it to this one this one is dry you see the difference let's continue on to the rest of the car but before we do I want to look at the sway bar links memory sway bar links you just grab them from here move them up and down this one is good it's actually original this one is also good and original now oil leaks on the engine this is not an oil leak I see so many technicians oh let's do an oil pan gasket or a sealer or whatever this is actually not an oil leak because if you follow it it goes all the way from the filter so this is basically a sloppy oil change is what this is it just oil travels on these but if you look up we have it's really hard to show you and try to get to a good angle there I hope you can see it we have some oil leaks coming from the top that big but that's the valve cover gasket could be a front cover but I think in this case more valve cover gasket now let's move the rest of the car body is nice and clean no real big rust body plug is here this body plug is missing see if you can find it inside oh it's right there well get it out and reinstall it I see it's right there you see yep there we go fell down to the ground and I want to show you the ground because the shop is dirty yeah so sold to my friends salt makes a mess so install this body plug there we go I sleep much better at night now brake lines on these are coated so we're not worried body plug here also missing this one oh it's right there as well cool I think I'll have spent some time and get this one out this side this side is also good we have it rust levels are very low on this car you do have some Rust of course here this is an older car but this is not compromising rust yet rear suspension majority of the things look original except these struts you could tell the color difference between everything sway bar link is good sway bar bushing it's very common is good looks like they've been replaced at some point same thing here this is good I have two concerns here but they are not really we don't have any play you see this bushing has a small crack in it there's zero play and zero noise from the back so we're not going to worry about this but this is something that might come up in the future same thing here see that split in the bushing they're really not common on these but with age things are going to happen here's that other strut which for some reason is a lot more Rusty than the other side I wonder if they replaced one than the other exhaust of course this is Rusty land this is not original but I was very impressed how quiet it is actually so this whoever did this exhaust did a good job and used decent aftermarket quality stuff this car overall for his age I mean it's definitely a keeper because the rust levels are not over the top yeah we have rust from the straps and whatnot but it's not 3D I've seen a lot worse in this where we have a safety safely lifted here I don't see any concerns folks we have some issues with this car we have some issues with the suspension but they're not really over the top I mean we need strut swinging control arms some of these cars have gotten these done long time ago and then we have some some leaks mainly from the power steering system maybe valve cover gasket we can clean and adjust the rear brakes not a lot but I want to do one thing we're going to remove this wheel investigate this brake situation because when you have severe abnormal wear like that like you have one side almost worn down to nothing one side is fine and the wheel is really hard to turn we might have a locked up caliper or something else so let's go lower this car pull the wheel off let's take a quick look before we wrap up this video thank you all right this is not pretty look at these pads these are almost done for inner pads almost done for as well something's going on here we're gonna investigate it let's take our caliper off see somebody's been here obviously 300 000 miles multiple brake shops but this is this was a little too tight well the first thing is our pins are moving like you see these pins right here they're moving they're free this one is moving this one is moving so that's the first indication we don't have a locked up pin [Music] we more than likely have a locked up caliper I mean this is an aftermarket pads there's just a crusty this one moves this one moves there's only one thing for it the calipers let's try to compress it and see we have a victim viewed that's the word I'm going to use here look at my brake compressor like brake caliper compressor tool we gave it a redecoration this actually happened on the Supra that is in the back video coming up on that hopefully soon basically I had a press and we pressed the brake and it Bend this this was uh I've had this tool for over 10 years and I've never seen look how thick this metal this is a high qual high quality tools guys look how much brake force does when you when you push the brakes and this is holding the caliper look how it bends it that's how much break from Force you actually have in cars still works but it's not it's not ideal so we have one in order to replace it this is lifetime warranty so yeah yeah his caliber is not having it I mean I can force it in but this is not gonna work I mean when you release the hydraulic pressure you want this caliper to naturally come retract that's not going to happen this calipers locked up relatively common on these to do that I've seen a lot of Camrys and Highlanders actually of this similar generation to that cut and dry we need breaks because we have severe uneven wear and these these pads right here I mean look at them they're worn down to nothing and we're going to need one caliper some folks will say we have to replace both calipers and in a perfect world yes but you can get away with replacing one caliper as long as your other caliper is healthy and when you go test drive it you hit the brakes hard you don't have a swerve to one side or another and here's that hey there's another shot with the wheel off of that control arm you can see it better it has like a complete tear all the way across and that's how you know we have a problem there's all that oil from the power steering line you see it all over the place here these are the lines at the top and the engine mount over here while we have it this one is actually collapsed and you see it like you see how the metal part is in this is a collapsed engine mount so this is something we're going to need to address but let's go look at the other mount on the other side this mount is not collapsed and you can see it's standing straight at the top the transmission is not touching the top of it and then this Mount really hard to tell but we could see it from the top this Mount is actually good as well so I think all we need here is the top mount and the side mount right here the cool thing is when we do control arms we actually replace this Mount this Mount gets taken out so we're going to swap it out real quick there's no labor and add it so there goes that so folks this is how a 300 000 mile Camry looks like it's actually not in bad shape like I told you I mean most of this stuff it's just regular wear and tear engine runs fine transmission does have a interesting shifting pattern but it's working and that's that's the conversation with this customer so we're kind of filming this at the end before we actually start a job they're working on the car I've talked to the customer I gave him a bit basically an estimate for all original parts and then he was like we are on a budget and this is a lot I mean everything together it's a lot so we're actually going with some aftermarket parts here they are in the understanding I explained to them some of these parts especially the suspension stuff they're not going to last as much as The Originals they might be noisy here and there but they're going to work and safety wise I'm not worried same thing with the brakes my aftermarket brakes they work but they're no easy either they don't fit right they're not perfect that's a compromise because for them the meeting the budget that they have in mind to keep this car going is more important than keeping this car 10 15 years I mean obviously there's going to be a Breaking Point with this car where it's like it's done but they want to keep it for a few more years so they want to go with aftermarket stuff and it's their car their money they're well informed and they made the decision that is right for them folks what I want you to take from this video is when your car is new all the maintenance and the care and the dedication that you put into it will pay up like this one is right now I mean this car you would not believe that it has 300 000 miles it's very clean obviously the owner of this car did all the maintenance took care of everything kept the inside clean kept the outside clean really loved this car and that's why at 300 000 miles you wouldn't believe this thing has 300 000 Miles because it's in pristine condition I will dare say that it is in pristine condition even with the issues that it have I mean we're not tearing into a transmission or an engine here I mean this is just suspension and brakes and a few leaks not really big stuff folks I hope this video is helpful informative I hope you learned something new if you like it consider giving it a thumbs up if you're not a subscriber consider subscribing to the channel check out some of my other videos and until the next video folks may the Lord bless you and keep you and you have yourself a wonderful day

Channel: The Car Care Nut

Views: 297,285

Keywords: toyota, 300k toyota, 300k mile engine, toyota engine, toyota high mileage, toyota reliability, are toyotas reliable, toyota camry, 2az-fe, car care, how to take care of your car, high mileage car, the car care nut, car care nut, taking care of your car, used car inspection, oil leak, suspension, 300k mile car, tccn automotive, car wizard, south main auto, rainman ray

Id: POEq1a2-aBc

Length: 28min 59sec (1739 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 08 2023