2005 Camry Issues

An older couple I know are considering purchasing a 2005 Camry with supposedly 45k miles.

Any issues or things to look for with that vehicle?

With that mileage, I would assume just regular issues to be concerned with regarding a car that has likely sat a long time (varmint damage, corrosion in weird places).

Didn't some of the Toyota 4 cyls from that era have problems with head bolts pulling out of the block? The first indication of trouble is a big oil leak down the back side of the engine.

This happened to a friend of the family's camry a few years ago, it is a known problem that effects a few different Toyota models that use whatever engine it was that has the problem, can effect low mileage cars , and is difficult to repair. Dealer always recommends a new engine, because sometimes when you pull the head you find the block is cracked where the bolt came loose.

Not sure if 05 was one of the effected years, but its not hard to find information on this problem.

They have that early electronic throttle in them. While it's unlikely it will try to kill you as was hyped up a few years ago, I remember the throttle response being annoyingly slow on the one I drove a few times.

Ours was a regularly driven 2003, but most of the rubber and gaskets were pretty well cooked. Valve seals tend to harden and go with age...look for any signs of smoke on startup out of the tailpipe. Generally they are pretty reliable, but as with any car they don't like to sit for long periods of time.

Mustang50 wrote: An older couple I know are considering purchasing a 2005 Camry with supposedly 45k miles. Any issues or things to look for with that vehicle?

The Soul-crushing boredom that comes from driving a Camry?

Throttle response is annoyingly laggy on the V6s and horribly laggy on the 4 cyl ones. They chew up front lower control arm bushings pretty easily and the upper motor mount (the dog-bone one) wears as well. And eventually the steering shaft will develop a clunk (but shouldn't be an issue fora while at that mileage).

If boring-ness is a concern, throw a set of the TRD springs and decent struts on one and the stock mushiness and understeer goes away. They actually handle surprisingly decently with the stiffer / lower springs.

In reply to rslifkin:

Ok, my memory is correct, like if you made a scale from 1 to 10 of throttle response starting at "Finely tuned Weber(s)" and ranging up to "Old malaise era car with a broken accelerator pump" the 4 cylinder DBW Camry would be at 8 or 9.

BrokenYugo wrote: In reply to rslifkin: Ok, my memory is correct, like if you made a scale from 1 to 10 of throttle response starting at "Finely tuned Weber(s)" and ranging up to "Old malaise era car with a broken accelerator pump" the 4 cylinder DBW Camry would be at 8 or 9.

Yup. The 4cyl throttle lag is so bad I found it basically un-driveable. The V6 has noticeable lag, but it's half of what the 4cyl has, so not a big deal once you're used to it. Just have to pay attention to the lag when starting from a stop so you don't get too much pedal applied before the car starts to respond, otherwise you'll get a big jump.

My daughter had one with the 4cylinder. I rather liked it, but it was bought to be an appliance.

I'm having a problem where my 2005 Camry makes a high pitch sound when I rev the engine but I can't figure out exactly what's wrong and I'd like to know if anybody could maybe give some suggestions of what would be causing that 

Our son has an '07 with the 4cyl, it goes through some oil.  Apparently the rings were an issue on those.  He just adds oil in between changes and rolls with it.  He's 17 so between the food wrappers and the oil quart on the rear floor board it looks right at home.

Sky_Render said:

Mustang50 wrote: An older couple I know are considering purchasing a 2005 Camry with supposedly 45k miles. Any issues or things to look for with that vehicle?

The Soul-crushing boredom that comes from driving a Camry?

"Older couples" don't have souls, do they?

mr2s2000elise said:

Sky_Render said:

Mustang50 wrote: An older couple I know are considering purchasing a 2005 Camry with supposedly 45k miles. Any issues or things to look for with that vehicle?

The Soul-crushing boredom that comes from driving a Camry?

"Older couples" don't have souls, do they?

Every year I get older I hold back on the old jokes

I have one, same year with the I4. It’s exactly what I thought it would be, pretty boring, comfortable, and hasn’t given me any problems in the 1.5 years and 15k I’ve owned it. Just done oil changes and tires. Set of plugs and air filter. I have no problem with the throttle. The brakes are more noticeably mushy in my opinion. I’ve read that’s normal. There are known oil consumption issues with the motor. Mine smokes a bit for a second on start up. Could be valve seals, as mentioned above. I don’t really care. It’s an appliance. I change the oil every 3k and don’t see any dip in oil level. Mine goes through some coolant, not sure where, don’t really care. The previous owner did replace the steering shaft or whatever was mentioned above.  The handling isn’t as hateful as I expected. MPGs are decent at 32 for mostly highway driving.

I recommend it as a solid appliance. The V6 might have less issues. As someone coming from more “interesting” cars, I find there’s a lot I appreciate about a car that does car things and doesn’t require me to think about it at all.