"Steve B." > wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 04:12:28 GMT, Ajanta > wrote:
>
>>
>>How should I approach the maintenance of this car? What should be
>>done and when?
>
> Look in your owners manual and follow the severe service maintenance
> schedule. If there are things you are behind on or don't know to have
> been completed then go ahead and catch them up.

Great advice!

>>
>>Secondly, where should such work be done? I am so happy to be able tp
>>plan that, instead of being limited by who is near and who is open
>>during a holiday weekend!
>>
>>Are big national chains like Sears, Pep Boys, WalMart etc any good?
>>CarX, Midas, Firestone? (Recommendations for places local to Chicago
>>are also welcome.)
>
> I avoid the above mentioned places at all costs. Some of them can be
> good but most are not and you never know which kind you are getting.
> Ask friends and co-workers for reccomendations on an independant shop
> that is reliable and in your area.
>>

Also great advice!

>>I stopped at a local garage in an area where I had to kill time today.
>>He suggested (1) changing belts (incl timing) and (2) getting a
>>tune-up, even if nothing seems wrong. Is that good advice?
>>
>>He was unsure about water pump: it would be $80 if done with timing
>>belt but a lot more if it had to be done on its own, but nothing is
>>wrong and it could possibly last.
>
> The fact that he was unsure about the water pump is a little troubling
> to me. Replacing the water pump with the timing belt on these cars is
> a very good idea as you have to remove it to get to the belt anyway
> and when it fails in the future (not if) it can take out the brand new
> belt. Gates web site shows your belt needing to be changed at 90k
> miles.
>
> When a timing belt breaks on your engine the valves can hit the
> pistons. When this happens either the valves or the piston breaks....
> either way it will cost you a small fortune so don't mess around with
> it. Check out
> http://www.gates.com/brochure.cfm?br...cation_id=3487
> for a pretty good explanation and a couple of illustrations that show
> what happens.
>

On a Camry, the valves will not hit the pistons if the timing belt breaks
but the car will leave you stranded.

I recommend changing the timing belt at 90,000 miles and if you can afford a
little extra to change thw wter pump as a prevantative measure, then I'd do
it when the timing belt is changed because much of the work to change a
water pump is removing the timing belt.

Although changing a timing belt is not that difficult, Toyota dealers have
it down to a science and often have sales on timing belt replacements. I
recommend that you have the timing belt changed by a dealer.


--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply