2003 Toyota Camry: engine overheating

Filed Jun 26, 2022 · Engine, Transmission · FL

Having purchased w 2003 Toyota Camry 2.4l, (with good paint, no rust, great interior, and new clear headlights) 3 days prior, the previous owner reported no current issues. The check engine light come on the 3 rd day as I drove away from the DMV having just titled it. AC was blowing cold, no other dash lights were on and I couldn't feel any apparent issues driving, so I proceed to my place of employment, where a friend whom is an independent mechanic had the machine to read check engine codes. I never made it. Had driven approximately 25 miles and came to a full stop for a red light. Upon turning green and beginning to accelerate, my Camry's engine died and would not start. When the key was turned it made no noise at all. Towed to a mechanic shop, I was asked if it had overheated, it had not. Without investing further and me acquiring a diagnostics charge, he said one apparent issue was the fact that there was absolutely no coolant in the engine. Dumfounded I had ittowed home where another Mechanic friend (licensed) was going to see about reapiring it. One of the code//errors read, was that the was no combustion, the radiator was full, but there was no traces of coolant in the engine, when took of the engine mainfold right away he noticed 3 cool packs that were damaged, as well as what appeared to be a used head gasket poorly installed, and worse if all the timing chain had jumped and made a mad mesh nightmare to the engine...so previous owners obviously sold me their night mare, I now am stuck with either replacing the engine (not) or bring carless once again.✔️✔️ Note: Contacted the acclaimed christian, God fearing sellers, whom I paid $4000 and they kindly refunded me $1000, as they stated it was no fault of theirs ..

Filed Aug 20, 2020 · Engine · 89,000 miles · LA

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota camry. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the engine temperature gauge increased to hot, indicating the engine was overheating. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer ray brandt toyota located at 2460 veterans blvd, kenner, la 70062, who diagnosed that the engine's head gasket had blown, due to the engine bolts failing and coolant was leaking out of the cylinder head. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 89,000.

Filed Dec 27, 2019 · Engine · 212,000 miles · NY

Engine overheated and head gasket blown due to head bolt threads being stripped. This is a safety issue since the vehicle cannot be driven when this happens and there is a good chance of being stuck on a dangerous road or left to walk alone in a dangerous situation. Toyota should repair this.

Filed Oct 29, 2014 · Engine · 145,000 miles · IN

I own a 2003 toyota camry and noticed that it was overheating!!! Went to replace the gasket and the head bolts were stripped and had to have to have a head bolt repair kit put in along with the gasket kit which with labor cost me over 4,000 dollars in repairs! The first problem was the aluminum block that over heated because of the coolant leak which in that overheated the block/bolts and caused them to strip the thread from the block bolt, in that had to get a repair kit drill the hole out insert a steal coil to hold the steal bolt in the aluminum block!!! Point being I had to pay for this factory error of an aluminum head that either should have had steal inserts or a steal block to begin with for about 4,000 which is close to what the car would cost if I bought it at this time with the miles currently on it!!! A waste of my money when this could easily have been prevented from toyota in the first place!!!! I honestly can say that this is my 3rd camry I have owned and I have always swore by the toyota camry but after my research and my money and my headache I am really disappointed in how there not stepping up to the plate on this one and us as toyota owners love and value the toyota name come across this problem and nothing is being done about it its very upsetting I've drove the camry since 2004 and been so proud of the name and passed along the good quality of the camry name on and on then I come across this issue and there are so many people who have the same exact problems and toyota won't step up to the plate on it really tarnishes the name for me!!!!

Filed Aug 26, 2014 · Engine · 146,000 miles · VA

My family and I were out of state on a trip for a funeral in february. It was very cold where we were, so I started our camry to warm up the car. However, instead of warming up, it actually started to overheat due to low coolant. Suspecting a cracked hose or a radiator issue, I searched for the leak, but could not find one. We kept the car filled with fluid, watched the temp gauge like a hawk, and limped the car home to our mechanic. Thankfully, it didn't even come close to overheating again the entire trip home. When I took it into the shop, they said that it was leaking from the head gasket. Upon further inspection, the mechanic found that three bolts near the heat shield were not only loose, but actually stripped. This sounded odd to me. I have an 89 toyota pickup that I bought brand new, and it is still running like a champ 25 years and 250,000+ miles later. I expected the same kind of service life from our well maintained camry with less than 150,000. Stripped head bolts just sounded off to me for a toyota, so I did an online search. Imagine my surprise when I found web page and forum after web page and forum dedicated to this issue alone. One site - carcomplaints.com - has 36 complaints filed already for just the 2002 and 2003 model years, and this problem extend to engines up to the 2007 model year. Another web site - camryforums.com - has 6 pages of forums dedicated to this issue. Six pages. All of them with the same exact issue - coolant leaks from the stripped head bolts next to the insulation. And there are more sites and more forums than just those. Considering that only a small percentage of people are going to file these kinds of complaints or post on an online forum, this is a huge problem with these cars. They should be recalled and repaired.

Filed Aug 21, 2014 · Acceleration, Engine · 15,200 miles · NJ

As we were driving on the highway the check engine light, lit up and the car started making odd noises when the acceleration pedal was pressed, we quickly pulled over to the shoulder of the highway. When we opened the front the engine and coolant were smoking. There was no indication before this that anything was wrong, apparently the oil had been leaking and the engine had overheated, even though the car gave no indication of this.

Filed Jan 27, 2014 · Engine · FL

2003 toyota camry. Consumer writes in regards to engine problems. *smd the consumer stated the engine seemed hard to start. It felt as though it was misfiring. The air condition stopped working, the vehicle overheated and started smoking profusely. When the consumer arrived home, she discovered there was no coolant in the radiator. She filled the radiator with coolant and managed to get the vehicle to her local mechanic. The mechanic found a bad air condition fan, no freon in the system, and the radiator was leaking. The consumer paid $1200.00 to fix the issues. However, after driving 10 miles, the AC stopped working, the engine overheated and smoke was emitting from the engine, again. Also, the check engine light illuminated two years prior, but despite having 3 different mechanics inspect the vehicle, the computer diagnostic system, indicated no problem. It was re-set 3 times, but eventually came back on every time.

Filed Jan 13, 2014 · Engine · 106,928 miles · WA

This is to report a failure on engine model #2az-fe (effects 2002-2007 camrys, highlanders and rav4) due to stripped cylinder head bolts on the back side of the engine. There is at least one technical service bulletin issued by toyota tsb2740 that relates to this recognized problem of steel cylinder head bolts stripping out of the aluminum engine, especially on the firewall or backside of the engine possibly due to a foam insulation piece to protect a plastic manifold part from heat. It is suggested that the foam piece allows a heat build up on the engine side. The costs to repair this problem was $2,131. And includes machining the warped head, new head gasket and bolts and a long thread insert set. I am very disappointed to learn that toyota knew years ago of this design problem and issued a tsb; but did not recall for a solution before this LED to metal failure and engine overheating. Many of these engines will fail after the warranty period of 60k has expired. If you have any suggestions as to remedies with toyota corp for this failure, I would appreciate knowing about it. I am glad to report this as I see that many, many engine failures have been caused by this basically unaddressed design problem. Thank you.

Filed Sep 5, 2013 · Engine · 65,000 miles · NJ

I am the original owner. At 65,000 miles I noticed white smoke from the exhaust pipe on morning startup. Research LED me to the engine head not being secured because of the stripped bolt problem. I started using a dip stick to measure the amount of coolant in my overflow bottle before morning startup. I physically mark the dip stick. The coolant loss is minimal so far. I now have 85,000 miles on the car. The question is: do I dare take the car on the highway? Apparently there is not enough money to be made for a law office to start a class action suit.

Filed May 31, 2012 · Engine · FL

I have a 2003 toyota camry 4cyl car with 150,000 miles, that has a coolant leak from the back of the engine next to the intake manifold after replace most of the cooling system such as fan, thermostat trying to correct the problem on further inspection and research, it was revealed that the leak is coming from the head gasket area, due to stripped out block/headbolt, as a clear sign of manufacturer defect indicated and substantiated by the amount of similar cases found on internet forums such as: http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/camry/148454-camry-with-stripped-head-bolts-2/. It seems car makers will not do the right thing unless they are forced to and this is why I am trying to do my part to invoke a vehicle recall for this design failure, by a company claiming to put costumers first, but instead ignores so many of us the first chance they get. Consumers need help with this issue with toyota; please help us. The best fix so far reported is purchasing another toyota 4cyl motor with the same flawed engineering and toyota wants no part of being responsible for their short coming. , this is absolutely the most disappointing experience with them and to know there are so many instances of the same problem and yet this company refuses to do the right and responsible action and issue a recall to fix their failure. Any and all the assistance in this matter is needed.

Filed Feb 8, 2012 · Engine · 150,000 miles · WA

The engine head bolts are stripped out in the block causing the head gasket to blow and causing a coolant leak. In talking with my repair person and searching the internet this is a common problem for the 4 cyl 2.4 l engine. Toyota issued a new part number for the block (tsb ref #eg015-07) so they know there is a problem but will not do a recall. The only fix is a new engine which is about $8000.00.

Filed Nov 9, 2011 · Engine · 134,000 miles · NV

Engine emits white smoke during cold start up. Was told the engine head bolts are stripped due to manufacturing design which may lead to engine overheating and failure. Engine will need to be replaced.