2002 Toyota Camry: engine failure

Filed Aug 29, 2024 · Engine · OR

Toyota dealer contacted me; said my car will cost $15000 to fix. He said people at Toyota who has my exact car costed $15000 to fix! it’s known in automotive circles this year make model & engine size has this factory defect of the rear head studs stripping out and becoming loose. This causes combustion failure of the head gasket and engine block. The cylinder heads will be warped & cracked. Engine won’t hold coolant! Gauge jumps to H after brief attempt at combustion. Replacing the head g. Cylinder heads or engine block is insufficient due to the factory defect . only a total engine replacement has worked for past owners at $15000 if Toyota dies it. A mechanic said if u can fine like a 2006 lower miles engine & get mechanic to instal maybe $2000, that’s $4000. Bridgetown automotive in my area said at the very minimum in a discounted price it will be $8000. He said only a totally rebuilt engine or a new one put in will work. I’m seeking Toyota to give me a new car that doesn’t have this issue. People posting at blogs said they spent the $2200 to disassemble their engines as the auto places told them it was definitely their head gaskets causing coolant. once opened though, it was found their head gaskets were fine. The issue was , from factory, the head studs had stripped out and were loose. This, according to engine experts is total engine failure. Only replacing everything can fix this.

Filed Sep 27, 2023 · Engine, Steering · 180,000 miles · AZ · fire

The contact owned a 2002 Toyota Camry. The contact stated while driving at approximately 65 MPH the steering wheel had seized up and the vehicle had begun to lose forward momentum. The contact heard an abnormal "popping" sound at the moment the steering had stopped functionality. The contact stated she was not aware of any warning lights. The contact pulled off of the roadway and stopped, as she placed the vehicle in park (P) she noted smoke coming from the front. The contact stated she exited the vehicle and saw that there were flames from under the vehicle. The contact stated that after about 2 to 3 minutes the entire front of the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The fire department arrived on the scene and extinguished the flames using foam and other chemicals. The police were also on scene and filed a report. The vehicle was towed away to an impound lot. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 180,000.

Filed Feb 16, 2020 · Engine · 52,500 miles · CA

Bough the car from a toyota dealer 8/2013 with 36k miles. Yes, very low mileage, 36,000 miles. On 11/2015 on my way to work while I was in the free way, I've noticed my temperature gauge was starting to go up, I was lucky enough to exit out of the freeway and was able to take it to one of the mechanic I usually use after I was able to add water. The mechanic did not even looked at the car after I told him what happen, his response was you need a new engine. The car has 52.5k miles on the original engine. Had a blown head gasket issue from strip head bolts. The problems that could have created an unsafe condition is if I did not noticed my temperature gauge and the car suddenly stall while I was on the freeway, I could have gotten hit by another vehicle. I did a research about the 2.4l 2azfe engines and found out this was a very common problems with this engines. I've called the dealer and even toyota corporate office to see if they could help me out, I am pretty much out of my luck. My mom car was a 06 scion tc with same engine, 136k, 1/18, blown head gasket due to strip head bolts. I ended up buying rebuilt engines for both cars and I did not buy it from the dealer. I had a 92 camry, 2.2l I was able to get the car to almost 300k with original engine.

Filed Apr 18, 2018 · Engine · 107,000 miles · FL

I bought my 2002 camry new. I maintained it properly every step of the way. At 107k miles a gurgling sound began in the engine and rough idling, and the temperature went straight to h, took immediately to my experienced auto mechanic, he put in a new radiator. Within days the gurgling and rough idling began again. Once again I took it to my mechanic. After thoroughly checking the engine (he even called in another top mechanic for a second opinion) and then told me the bad news. 2002-06 toyota camry's have a flaw in the bolt design that causes the cylinder head to separate from the engine block resulting in the coolant leaking to the engine. When I bought the car the salesman said camry's run for 300k miles, well he neglected to tell me that after only 107k miles because of this flaw in the engine you will have a blown head gasket and stripped head bolts so the seal is not tight -- so you need to replace the engine!!!! After looking online, I see this is far from an isolated case!!! Toyota is well aware of this engine flaw. They need to pay for these very expensive engine replacements!!!! My mechanic said toyota used steel head bolts in an aluminum engine. Very bad! Steel and aluminum expand and contract at different rates, which causes the problem!

Filed Nov 2, 2015 · Engine · CA

2002 toyota camry. Consumer writes in regards to engine and valve head gasket failure due to poor design in the head bolt attachment. *smd the consumer requested toyota replace the engine before a failure occurred. Toyota declined to assist the consumer.

Filed Jun 11, 2015 · Engine · 93,000 miles · WA

Cylinder head bolts pulled out of the block causing catastrophic engine failure

Filed Aug 14, 2014 · Engine · TN

2002 toyota camry. Attorney representing consumer writes in regards to vehicle engine cylinder head bolts service bulletin. *smd the engine failed while driving in heavy traffic, less than six months after the vehicle was purchased. The mechanic informed the consumer, after the damage and the extensive re-build of the engine, other parts would began to fail.

Filed Aug 8, 2014 · Engine · 114,000 miles · WA

Engine head bolts stripped causing antifreeze loss, head had to be resurfaced, new head gasket, and a special kit was need to re-thread the loose bolts repairs cost over $3000 . Which is better than a new engine but repairs aren't guaranteed because this is a factory defect with this particular engine. Had I known this I wouldn't have purchased this particular make of car.

Filed Mar 18, 2014 · Engine · 100,000 miles · CA

Began noticing gurgling/water sloshing noises at approximately 100k miles. Approximately one month later, car overheated. Noticed coolant was low, so had coolant refilled. Checked out by mechanic next day and was told that a stop-leak would fix problem. Completed this procedure at personal cost. Three days later, car overheated again. Took to different mechanic, and was advised to replace radiator. Replaced radiator at personal cost. Few days later, car overheated again. Took to four different mechanics and noticed coolant leaks. Was advised by all four mechanics that it was blown head gasket, that this was a common problem with this make/model, that replacing the engine would be safest solution. One mechanic also said that simply replacing head gasket might not work because the bolt threading in this particular model was known to be defective. Cannot afford $4000 to replace engine, especially if this same problem can possibly recur. Currently refilling coolant every other day.

Filed Jan 16, 2014 · Engine · IN

The coolant started leaking from behind the motor. My mechanic looked at it and said that the foam insulation was saturated with coolant and it was leaking from there, between the head and the cylinder. When I researched about it online in many toyota forums, the common thing that I have come across is that there is a problem with the head bolts stripping and the coolant leaking from that area. My mechanic said that I either need a new engine or do a fix the stripped head bolts with a heli-coil or a time-sert. This is very disappointing with toyota, that they are not acknowledging the defect with there 5th gen 4 cyl 2az-fe engines and are refusing to do anything about. The solution that they are giving is a very expensive one of getting a new engine for $5000. This needs to be addressed by toyota or someone needs to make them take notice of this issue.

Filed Oct 17, 2013 · Engine · 143,000 miles · IL

After taking my car to a local mechanic because of overheating, a coolant leak, and misfiring, I brought my camry to a certified toyota dealership. I explained to the toyota representative of the fore mentioned issues. After conducting an inspection, the toyota rep. Told me I had a bad coil in cylinder #2, and found pressure leaking into #2 and #3 cylinders. After a further tear down of the engine, it was discovered that the engine had loose head bolts in these cylinders, and that the threads on the engine for these bolts was stripped. They told me that there is no fix to this problem and quoted me a new engine with 90,000 miles with an estimate cost between $5000-$6000. Furthermore, I was told replacing the coil at $227, would fix the misfiring. However this did not fix the misfiring problem, as the misfire was due because of the loose head bolts which was explained to me by the dealership as well. This conflicting information LED me to believe it was safe to drive the vehicle as long as coolant was plentiful in the radiator and over flow reservoir. However, the overheating, leaking of coolant and misfiring continues. The misfiring creates dangerous random stalls.

Filed Jul 2, 2012 · Engine · 211,387 miles · CA

My 2002 camry had no issues until at about 211,000 miles when antifreeze started to leak from back of engine. After mechanic inspected, he said water had gotten into head gasket. When he tried to remove bolts we noticed three back bolts were loose already and thread was stripped. After having head gasket cleaned and "repaired" this repair guy said there wasn't anything wrong with head itself. All he did was inspect, clean, and sand it. He did say it is a common problem he encounters with toyota's. The only repair he says will work is to have engine block removed and he will rethread all the holes with different material to make sure it doesn't happen again. None of this is a sure fix because it could still fail, the only sure way is to buy a new engine, but if toyota makes defective head gaskets, this will happen again. I have always swore by toyota cars, that is all I have ever owned but I will never buy a vehicle from them again.