Our Camry just failed...

T

TRD-22

New member
Guess what? My parent's 10 year old Camry just failed emissions testing for the state of New Jersey. No idea of what the problem is. According to the sheet from the garage, we have until August 31st, 2005 to pass inspection or else something about registration being suspended. We have 45 days from today before we are subject to another full inspection.



The culprit was this:

NOx Normal

1088



Camry NOx Result

1635



Eh.... sounds high. I honestly don't know what that is, though. Perhaps somebody can explain that? I heard my mom say this though :lol



"Why don't we just get rid of the Camry and get that RX400h you've been lusting for since you saw it at the auto show"



Well, I'll let my parents decide. The garage guy said they might have to open the engine to see if there's a problem inside. Oh boy. I thought it was bad idling the Sienna since it was a V6 but I think it's ULEV rated so I can bet the Camry has worse emissions compared to the Sienna.
 
I'm not too sure. It was my dad who went in. And the mechanic was not sure what was wrong and causing the spike in NOx.
 
here's a few quick things I'd check:



air filter - just get a new fram or something

fuel filter - has it been done in the past 12K miles

was the car warmed up before going to the emission testing?

just a can of fuel cleaner to clean the deposits in your engine

last tune up - are the spark plugs okay - if there's a bad gap the gas may not be fully combusting

last oil change
 
It is failing the NOx = nitrogen oxides emissions check. Any Toyota garage with an engine analyzer computer should be able to track down the problem. I doubt the car is too far gone to requiring selling it, it may just be a faulty Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) valve or some other emissions related subsystem.
 
I'm not a mechanic, but I pretend to be one on the internet.



A likely culprit is your EGR valve or related part. Your oxygen sensor is something else to check.
 
You didn't say how many miles, and I'm not familiar with Toyota engines, but usually NOX emissions problems in the absence of other emissions problems are EGR related. NOX is a smog precursor, and it comes from the nitrogen and oxygen in the combustion air combining under high combustion temps (above 2500 degrees F IIRC). EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) basically dilutes the incoming charge to reduce peak temperatures. Depending on a lot of factors, the valves/piping/manifold passages can get clogged up with coked oil, reducing or completely blocking EGR flow. This will usually set a code and turn on the check engine light. I personally have no problem with my GM engines on Mobil 1, they are way low, but I have a friend who is a Ford guy and the V6's in the Taurus/Sable from late 80's/early 90's are really bad for plugging up and failing the NOX test. Also, I have a friend with a '99 Mazda that needs a roto-rooter of the intake manifold EGR passages, and that car has less than 100K miles.
 
About 74,200 miles. Not a lot.



We'll see what the mechanic is going to find.





My dad is one of those people who uses anything 'till it dies. And if that means the Camry fails going down a busy road at 40mph, so be it.



My mom just believe certain things should be replaced with age. Cars are one of them. We've already dumped $4000 in the car within the past 10 months trying to get the car to function properly. Why waste more when the KBB vaule of this car is barely worth $3000?



I want to replace the Camry simply since It's just not safe anymore. No additional airbags, stability control, traction nor ABS.
 
If it makes you feel any better my dad's 89 Toyota Corolla failed inspection a couple weeks back when I took it. Luckily it only failed for tire depth and a cracked side marker, which I hot glued very nicely but as soon as the guy saw it poked his huge finger in it and broke it :angry



I got new tires put on at Costco and redid the hot glue again, plan on bringing it to a different faculity tommorow and i'm hoping it will pass.



I know exactly what you mean about putting money into older cars. My parents are the same exact way; my mom would rather dump the older car, while my father will run it to the ground. Once you reach a certain point in money spent, its foolish to sell the car. Thats what happened to my dad's car when he fried the engine last year. Instead of dumping it all together he decided to put a rebuilt engine in and we've now been having problems with it that we have to continually fix because of the money we already invested in. I know my mom's van has been having problems with the exhaust system so i'm sure next June when it goes to inspection and fails, she won't want to spend a dime on it and just look for a new car.
 
TRD-22 said:
About 74,200 miles. Not a lot.



We'll see what the mechanic is going to find.





My dad is one of those people who uses anything 'till it dies. And if that means the Camry fails going down a busy road at 40mph, so be it.



My mom just believe certain things should be replaced with age. Cars are one of them. We've already dumped $4000 in the car within the past 10 months trying to get the car to function properly. Why waste more when the KBB vaule of this car is barely worth $3000?



I want to replace the Camry simply since It's just not safe anymore. No additional airbags, stability control, traction nor ABS.
Click to expand...



I agree that 4k is a lot of money to dump into a car worth only 3k. Convince the parents that it really is time to buy a new car. You've just sold me on it. Good luck.
 
Well, unfortunately, we're not in the best financial situation. We need to get a new house within about a year and that lingers up their in your mind about spending money wisely and conserving it when you don't need it.



See, the Camry use to be our everyday car but since we also have the Sienna, it's becoming our beater. So a side of me wants to get rid of it since it's old, dying, and unsafe in today's standards. But if we get another car, I certainly don't want to use the new one as a beater. Plus, I'm starting to drive next year and I don't want to beat up the car with my mad driving skills.



Another problem is I know my parents would rather kill themselves than get another Camry/Accord. They don't like Nissan too much and not a fan of domestics. They can't really get a car both they and I want before going past $30K. My dad in particular likes to buy everything in cash if it's possible. The downside is, well, a giant hole in your wallet for a while. I've been trying to convince them to perhaps lease a car and buy it down the road.

I'm well aware of the mileage restrictions a car has when it's on a lease but that won't be a problem. We have another car and the Sienna is used for road trips and such so no need to worry about exceeding mileage





And like I said, we are no longer willing to fix the car up. My dad argues that perhaps it's going to be around $1000 rather than say $28K for a new car. My mom counters by saying this will not be the last problem to occur with the car. Sooner or later, the bills are going to stack up and it's just not worth it.



Such a dilemma.
 
TRD-22-- Unless you can write it off as a business expense, a lease is not a good financial move at all in the long run even if money is tight right now. IMO, you would be better off taking a look at used cars coming off leases or from rental agencys . Lease = :sign



I know you stated a preference for foreign over domestics, but w/ GM, Ford, and Chrysler battling for your business with employee discounts + rebates now may be a very good time to actually consider one.
 
Domestics don't appeal to my parents. I mean, it be cool rolling down the street in a 300C but I don't think I'll ever see the day my parents will get a domestic. Actually, back in '95 we went into a Dodge dealer but they pissed my mom off so no Intrepid for us.



It eventually leads to financing but my dad in particular hates interests involved in financing a car.





It could be but I forgot to mention, our A/C has been making these weird noises when operating and they said they found what appears to be coolant around the radiator seciton... so it might not be worth fixing.
 
Hmm - how about an Acura? I worked on a CL Type S recently, and it was fast, comfortable, and a real driver's car. You could probably get an off-lease CL or TL Type S for 24-25K.



I wouldn't spend the money on the Camry, my family has been there and done that and we regret it. Your only good bet is if you have a friend in a non-inspection state (Florida, among others) or a non-emissions state (a lot of them) who can register it for you. The whole emissions testing thing is a bunch of tree-huggin-hippie bullcrap :angry, but thats a topic for another thread. Needless to say, I'm glad I live in two states where none of that applies.
 
If your really strapped finacially, which I can understand if you plan on buying a house in Jersey, I would just take it a private faculity (gas station) and pay the $75 fee.



If you really need a new car, I would look into buying a certifed pre-owned car. I just got my RSX which is certifed pre-owned, came off a lease and has a banging warranty. Besides with all the info from here you can get it looking brand new in no time. :2thumbs:



I think thats a better move than leasing or financing a brand new car, especially if your parents aren't to fond of domestics your going to be spending a pretty penny on imports.
 
We've been always Toyota people and I've always tried to get my parents to atleast try Honda. One of things we're afraid are the infamous Honda automatics. Some friends own earlier 2nd Gen. Odysseys and you can guess what happened to their transmissions. In fact, one of them is on their 3rd tranny already.



We still don't know if it's as simple as the EGR valve or something major inside. And we won't know until next week since my dad is going on business to the Windy City until Sunday evening so we'll have to wait.



I've personally been interested in the Acura TL
 
I think the opposite...the cars I have seen with clogged EGR systems both were sporting a check engine light and a trouble code. If you don't have that, then the car hasn't sensed anything wrong with the emissions controls systems, although, perhaps as an OBD I it might not, although plenty of OBD I GM's would detect an EGR problem. <shrug>
 
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