My wife drives the same car with only 220 thousand miles zero oil leaks zero oil burns and still runs just like the first day i can’t believe how good these cars were built

That car must have been neglected for a really long time for it to end up limping into your shop like that. All the fixes you outlined there are simple DIY things that any car owner should be checking regularly. Poor little Camry. What a trooper for surviving that long to see you!

I love this gen of Camry’s. Breaks my heart that someone neglects them.

I have a 2005 Camry in Toronto, Canada. Absolutely bulletproof car with 350,000 kms and running like a champ. This was the last great generation of Camry. Solid.

I know people think the 2AZFE is a bad engine because it burns oil, but all you need to do is fill it back up as it burns and your engine will last many more miles. Our 2003 started burning oil at 220k miles, and now at 270k it still runs fine. My own 2003 was bought with 240k and when I bought it, it had no oil in the engine at all. 15k miles later and I’ve had no issues as I top the oil off every once in a while. It runs very nice, and I’d like to keep it for a couple more years.

Just bought a 2003 with 390,000km that was almost as badly maintained as this Changed all the fluids and she runs like a top now. Probably the best powertrain Toyota has ever made

Wow, this car was on the brink of disaster on so many levels. If it had overheated it would have been game over. Thank you for saving this Camry from the junk yard and for teaching this college student a valuable life lesson! An ounce of prevention... you know the thing.

Who else is dumbfounded at the complete lack of BASIC maintenance to this poor car? I mean this is one of the easiest cars to maintain!

Some people just don’t know the basics of car care ,Great video Peter

Good grief, I've never seen so little oil come out of an oil pan. Who says the 2AZ-FE is a weak engine, that one basically survived WW III.

Female college student is all I needed to know about the situation lol 😂.

I'm a super maintenance freak. To see this car with lack of any real maintenance is tough to watch. I just don't understand why people neglect basic maintenance of a vehicle. I guess the younger people have no one to teach them basic maintenance and therefore they never check anything until a "warning light" starts to flash. I've always enjoyed maintaining my vehicle. Not so much now, but I'm getting too old for this now. However, I do have a trustworthy Toyota Dealership, so life is good.

I hope the girl and her mother read the comments in this vlog and realise how bad and negligent they were. If this was a cat or dog and not a Toyota Camry, they would be in court for animal abuse and neglect.

Your commentary on this video is superb , and your skills in the car repair is not in doubt. I love it.

No way we were going to hear the word "creampuff" in this video.

Whenever I hear of an engine with such low oil that it can't be read on the dipstick, I worry about how much damage may have already happened from lack of oil circulation. Especially when, such as this car, you can see the warning on the dash. I'm not saying the engine is going to throw a rod tomorrow, but the whole thing probably has a lot more wear than the mileage would indicate.

One word: Neglect

Wow! She brought that car to you just in the nick of time! It lives only because its a Toyota

The cleanest car garage you'll ever see!

@Toyota Maintenance. Thank you Professor Peter for today's lesson on proper maintenance and diagnosis. I hope there's more to today's lesson on that Camry. Hopefully with your recommendations to your customer about proper maintenance, your customer will have many more driving miles with their Camry. Hope you and your family stay safe and well. Have a safe and pleasant Memorial Day weekend.

Hi Scotty! Sounds like you have a cold, hope you're feeling better by now. Happy New Year! Thanks for the info on the Camry!

Holy shite, that engine was probably within its last week if hadn't been brought to you.

i was the same in high school. abused the hell out of my corolla. broke every part on the car. but it taught me how to not destroy a car when i bought cars later in life

Nice and interesting to look over your shoulder. I appreciate to be able to see this. And well diagnosed and repaired! Amazing how people neglect and abuse their cars. It only just made it into your workshop. But I wonder what this thick burned oil did to the bearings and the piston rings....

There's something hypnotic about oil changes ... nice video! Thanks for sharing!

Peter, I want to assure you, the Society For The Prevention of Cruelty to Camrys (SFTPOCTC) has been alerted. The owner can expect an angry knock on their door from SFTPOCTC inspectors any minute!

I spy a red C-Clamp

What a testament to the quality of Toyota! They can run without oil. Crazy!

Excellent job Peter. Those engines are noted for the piston rings cracking and that causes them to burn oil like crazy.

1 Quart of oil? WOW that is amazing! I bought a 2004 Collision titled Camry with 112k miles on it. We kept it for five years of low milage driving at 138k miles, and my wife one day went out and bought a new RAV4 as she didn't enjoy the gray color and though it beyond useful life in 2016. Camry 2004 served me well as upon entering the airport tollway a "bang/clunk" sounded along with "check engine" or 'battery' indicator lite up. The steering became really heavy, especially turning into airport parking. I noticed "steam" coming up from under the hood. Not wanting to delay picking up my mother in law after an international flight, i took the toddler out of that back seat and proceeded to the terminal. On the way back to the car, i opened the hood to notice that i was losing/lost coolant and wondered whether I had enough coolant to drive the 25 miles back home. I sort of shrugged and didn't think twice with calling triple A. Well it was a rainy day, and with the battery light on and some issue with coolant, and a very stiff power steering...i instinctively kept at 55mph, turned off lights, and even turned off wipers until absolutely necessary. I felt something was "wrong" but didn't want to stop by the roadside. We made it back into the home garage and stopped the engine. Being curious, i tried to start the car, but it wouldn't start up. That was when i realized it was time to use my TripleA to call the tow to local mechanic/garage. My car wouldn't start, can you fix it? Root cause? something about a water pump seizing up, pully head broken off, and accessory belt completely off track. Engine was fine, and my wife used the car for the next two years. I sold the collision titled camry for $2500-3000, and the buyer test drove it on the highways just to their expectations. Fast forward to 2023, i'm evaluating EV cars, second hand late model years of Sonatas, Camrys, etc, as a spare car to "back up" my Sienna. Well guess what, I found what appears to be a well kept low milage (132k miles, if its true) Camry 2004 in luxurious white. Going next weekend to see if it checks out, unless it gets sold during the week! My wife's first comment? You already have an old car, don't waste money...what if they don't make parts for it any more? LOL. I'm wondering whether my kids will want to drive it in 5 years...electric car fad is having trouble getting off the ground to mass adoption. Too many risks to the consumer. PRICE of "disposable cars". Also,Think battery charging risks,,,otherwise think of Turboinjection engines, CVT transmissions, dying engines due to extra sensitivity to oil conditions (toyotas, hyundais, kias, etc). Maybe i'll keep these early model Toyotas going until we get mass produced solid state batteries in PHEV mode before trading up.

My brother owns his own shop 1-problem no oil or past oil change time!! Good job Peter your the Sherlock Holmes of Toyotas

Love the longer vid. Keep it up, especially with the trucks.

Good job Peter. Be careful putting your ratchet/metal tools near the + battery terminal.

Awesome job! I enjoyed every minute watching this video.

just purchased a 2005 camry. heaps of room and quite good all round. going to the gas station i didn't know what side the lid was but, as my sister pointed out and not a lot of people know, if you look at the fuel gauge it has an arrow pointing to it.

My wife’s 2010 Highlander kept burning out headlights, and phone chargers?! The battery is in good health and fairly new, the charging system checked out ok as well. So I just went with LED bulbs and so far so good. Thanks Peter for everything!

Great video! I always learn so much.

From a friend who stopped to help the young (male) owner of a Honda Civic that was running poorly: the owner didn’t know how to open the hood. He had owned the car several years.

I have exactly the same car 2004 Camry LE [Maroon], 275,000 miles still running, will run it atleast 300,000 , one car mechanic a friend of mine said he has seen this car with 500,000 miles on it in good running condition.

Excellent video, thank you so much.

9:24 the coil plug clips break on like every one of those Camry coil packs. It's rare to find them intact and lots of repair kits available for them.

I couldn't be a mechanic. I would be scolding my customers for neglecting their card's maint.

Ah good on you Petare you learned when I said to put your hand behind to help focus, well done man! Now you are no longer frustrated with the camera finding the focus. I learn from you, you learn from me. Now, these workhorses. I am cheap to buy a new car, and I have almost always had the bad luck to need another and almost every time every camry has been okay to run but always some little problems like this. This one may be neglected too much. What is that SST Toyota air housing attachment fitting. I have never seen before. Maybe it is the new 90009C-CLAMP they came out for this year. Bad design. Good thing they changed it middle of the refresh for this body. Toyota Red! I see you wiped the top of the valve cover. Fresh dry wipe cleaning marks. Beautiful! Such a shame she does not respect the hard working Camry. The synthetic will help clean out all the sludge that must be inside. Sometimes the quick lube places say a short interval as they won't change the oil. So maybe she was only 2000 over the recommended 5000, however, if they did not change it and it's not that the washer was stuck on the pan, wow. Must be a long time. This is why you get out of the waiting room and watch them do the work. Wish you would do the plugs 3&4 like you did and then coil swap differently like 3&2 to know exactly! Hopefully her mother is paying for it. Then you deserve to fix it more just in case.

Not maintaining a Camry, it’s like a crime against humanity. Looks like someone replaced the high beam bulb and touched the glass surface of the bulb with the oil on their fingers caused the bulb to fail.

Thanks for sharing this video, interesting observations.

Thank you Peter. Saw you posted video srayed up past my usual bed time to watch and learn. Goodnight to "The Prophet on the burning shore" I borrowed that line from a Grateful Dead Song.

i'm getting ready to buy one of these. thanks so much for the lessons!

That's a great mechanic!

Very simple but satisfying fixes but at the end of the day most people just don't keep up with their cars maintenance.

Thanks for saving the engine on this fine car!

I own the same color and exact model. I never let my fluids get low and I always change my oil regularly. I bought this little diagnostic tool. I got email or text something was wrong. So I rescan later the next day. Not only did I get the text I also got a link to a KZfaq video on how to fix the problem. I currently have 145000 miles on the camry. I love it. The peppiest little 4 cylinder that I've ever driven. I gunned the gas one day. I will just say this you never want a car to fishtail with the Frontend.

She sounds just like my camry nice .great work

Great video and very educational

I have a 2004 Toyota Camry XLE. Check engine light means it needs oil change. Change your head lights. Oil light, make sure you have enough oil. My car has 128,000 miles and runs fine.

Less than 1 quart--unbelieveable!

Good Start. The spark plug's lateral electrode did have the protrusion/bump where the spark hits from the central electrode. Most fake Iridium plugs don't. What ever happened to the coolant? Was there a leak in the reservoir? I suggest replacing the radiator cap just to know the cooling system pressure is correct so the customer doesn't blow the radiator tank seals. There was a bendable bundle tie above the dog bone just bent out doing nothing. That car needed so much. I could keep going, but I won't. One other thing, worm clamps distort plastic nipples. I saw them used on the power steering reservoir which is soft plastic.

Outstanding!

That shows you how good Toyota’s are.

During the oil drain sequence, I liked the white zip-tie holding one of the under body panels on. Possible a "shade tree" mechanic worked on this vehicle? To be honest, I would have used a zip-tie in that situation.

Mine has 209k miles now and it doesn't burn any oil. The seat belts were pretty gross when I got it at 203k miles, though. I suppose the struts have seen better days, but I replaced the spark plugs, oil, filters, and brakes myself. Even started painting it and added a spoiler. I recorded the spoiler and painting stuff... might upload them sometime soon.

I love these cars. Also Accord of this vintage.

@Toyota Maintenance Did you add coolant to the reservoir? Did the car need any?

Petr, did you miss something? 02:41 The oil sticker in the window says 03/17/20 Is that when the last oil change was done? Or is that the date the next oil change is due by? Mileage 224805 My guess is that car was due for an oil change by March 2020 I think the oil was last changed long before 03/20, probably in mid-2019. My guess is the oil hasn't been changed or checked since 2019.

Great video..... Where were those oil leaks coming from?

You saved it in the nick of time!

What an amazing vehicle .

As Scotty says, he should have rinse the old oil with a cleaner oil at 1-.K2K RPM for 15-20 mins, the drain it and put new recommended oil. Was the coolant filled up?

Glad you were able to save this poor Camry

About Missing Water. A blown head gasket would cause the car to run like crap. Good chance of seeing water coming out of the exhaust pipe too. Radiator coolant could smell of exhaust. Water could be in the oil. Could the car's water pump had sized and then freed up without leaking out the weep hole? That will explain the slickness and gouges in the v-belt and maybe the missing coolant. Peter started the car and didn't mention a coolant leak. A radiator cap maintains pressure to a specific pressure (typically 15psi) to lower the boiling point of water. (1psi = 3degF). If you did the math and got 257degF you did well. Once this pressure is achieved the cap will relieve excessive pressure to the coolant recover bottle. When the engine cools it creates a vacuum which sucks back the coolant from the coolant recovery bottle. The upper seal allows this transfer to happen gets cracks in it allowing air to seep in instead of the coolant. So basically the engine pumps out coolant and sucks back air. The recovery bottle will completely fill and allow coolant to flow out the over flow tube. Water and antifreeze are both coolants. One works better than the other in many ways. One evaporates quicker. The remaining coolant in the reservoir evaporates. There was a time where cars didn't have recovery bottles. They would have to have their water checked almost every time they filled up with gas. The gas station attendant knew how to open a hot radiator. The attendant would have the driver run the engine while water was added. This would give the gas pump attendant the opportunity to inspect under the hood, for fluid levels, belt wear, and air filter. Wipers were checked when the attendant washed the windshield. Tire pressure checked and corrected on demand. Over pressurizing the coolant system causes excessive wear on seals. The radiator seal can blow out or the water pump seal. Some water pumps are inside the timing cover and will blow water into the oil pan. Caps are cheap, replace them before stuff happens.

What was the result of the water pump pulley with the scratches Did you get to look at that Cheers Joe from Australia

WOW 1st class very kool great info. AAAAAAAAAAA++++++++++++ again great video I liked it a lot keep up the great work

Love the c-clamp holding the air filter box closed. 😂

I have the same an 2004 and love my vehicle. This owner needs to give tlc to this car they last if u maintained it

this has the same engine as my car… Good to know that it can run with hardly any oil and keep running hahah

What about the serpentine belt issue? What ended up scratching it from the outside?

Was the air box held together with a small C clamp or was I seeing things?

Is it too early to say you saved the engine? I hope you did - but seems like damage could have already been done. Sure, it's not seized, however I wonder if it could have early failure if it's been neglected that long (low oil level)

Did you save this car or has the damage been done and potential problems? Especially driving around with practically no oil for a long period.

I have a 03 and didn't realize it was burning oil until I did a hard stop and the oil light briefly came on. Now I used to take it to my mechanic of 20 years and he never said that not enough oil was coming out during the change. Now I understand that it's my responsibility to check these things and I did fail in that area. The Camry has 260K now and is using about a quart every 4K of synthetic. Oh this same mechanic told me I needed new heads on my 4runner and it turns out it was a bad spark plug, but that's a whole different story.

Toyota's Notorious 2AZ-FE engine. Are we losing coolant? Is the coolant bubbling out coolant? Symptoms of stripped head gasket bolts. Peace.

The vent hose can blow out a lot of oil but the engine does not look dirty enough to have been covered with oil like that very strange. But that car was not maintained at all, the low coolant everything is just low, its important for parents to tech their kids how to check and maintain their cars.

Always entertaining and educational!

I know you know to check that intake diaper for coolant. You can catch the stripped head bolt issue if you know to look.

Maintenance is the key. This is disappointing

Hello Toyota Maintenance 👋 My 2004 3.3 V6 Camry is running lean. I already changed the O2 sensors, Fuel pump & strainer. I put a bottle of fuel injection cleaner. I don't see any vacuum leaks. The car is running very good. The engine light goes away on the highway. It turns on when I drive in the city. Do you have any recommendations on what I should change next?

That owner was very lucky!

Good luck 👍

My sister has a 2004 toyota camry xle v6 similar miles. Has a po442. Hoping not as many problems as this one

What was the issue with the serpentine belt?

What was the final damage? Coolant, oil, what about the brake and power steering (that looked dark), transmission fluid, etc.

The 2AZFE is one of the best engines but good golly they burn oil, my friend ran his with little to no oil till I checked it for him , it ran for 2 more years till he sold it

Looks to me like it's well maintained. low oil pressure light comes on bring it to Toyota Maintenance! Young person I hope.

The fact that this totally abused camry came to the shop without being towed is a solid testimony of Toyota reliability.

We call this brand of toyota Camry big daddy in my nation. What a terrible way to treat an old man

This unbelievable. I have a question. I have a 2003 Camry when I put the ac on the car beginning to shake. Can you suggest something or what is going on. Thanks.

Peter, did you fill it with the Kirkland synthetic 5W30?

My ‘05 burnt up in ‘12 because the mechanic did not completely attach the radiator hose after an AC service. Low mileage < 60k miles.

Talk about "TLC" needs!

Its satisfying to see that it got in the right hands btw the engine is having engine bearing sounds which means its on its way out🙂

My parents love Camrys. Always owned the four cylinder models dating back to 1986.