1999 Camry blinking check engine

[wary lintel]

If it’s blinking every few minutes, is it safe to drive to the gas station ?

[granite shadow]

no. that’s generally suggest it’s misfiring and you shouldn’t be driving it

now if you’re stranded then sure drive it there so you don’t block/get into an accident, but with it flashing you should have it checked pretty immediately

[wary lintel]

I’m 30 mins from home there’s a few auto places on the way home

I’m going to try to find a scanner before I leave

[granite shadow]

if you can, i’d find either a shop or an autozone and have them scan it

yeah

[wary lintel]

It’s 1999 camry idk if its worth putting new plugs in

[granite shadow]

I mean I would, assuming you drive it or wish to sell in the future lol

[wary lintel]

Yeah I wanna drive it to work everyday, should I just drive with hazards on

[granite shadow]

absolutely not. thats a danger to everyone. all you need to do is get it scanned and if its just that, replace plugs

[slow pawn]

go to your nearest dealer

[granite shadow]

do not go to a dealer for a 1999...

[proper snow]

Usually I would say the same Living, but I agree with Mini on this one

Far too old to go to a dealer unless you have one of those lifetime oil change things that they offered (which is oil changes only)

[spiral ember]

Spark plugs are like 3 dollars a pop you fucking gremlin

[slow pawn]

why

[granite shadow]

its a 99? dealers charge out the ass? esp on something old??

why would you take an old car to a dealer for a misfire....

[slow pawn]

Then take it to jiffy lube lmao

Where else are you gonna take your car to

[granite shadow]

jiffy lube is oil change

you literally take it to autozone to be scanned

and buy the plugs to do it yourself

or take it to an independent shop

as i stated above

[wary lintel]

Shell

I can’t do spark plugs in my own

I’d be to worried

[wary lintel]

Oh yeah I’m getting it fixed today through Saturday.

I can work from home tmrw so as long as it gets home

If you cross thread or torque them the wrong ammount arnt you fucked

[rancid haven]

GG @wary lintel, you just advanced to level 4! Chat more to level up and earn top roles!

[spiral ember]

Just pay attention to it?

[wary lintel]

What do you need material and tool wise

[spiral ember]

A socket wrench with a socket properly sized for spark plugs

This is one of those things that's real easy to look up on the googles

[prime jungle]

and deep enough

[prime jungle]

car must only be worth 12 dollars, time to take it lemon racing!

[wary lintel]

This cars worth a lot of money >:c

Lmaoo jk

This things rough

[jagged spear]

I mean when my car had a blinking engine light it was shaking and about to stall on the road ,so its probably best to not to risk it
Just buy some plugs and coils off amazon, they aren't that pricey
🥴

[wary lintel]

Yeah it felt like that

If I drove it longer it began to noticeably shake more when accelerating

[wary lintel]

It’s either fix it or new civic

[prime jungle]

it will bug you if dont at least find out what it is

[wary lintel]

Cracked piston

They just called

[prime jungle]

idk if you have to replace all of them but you can do it yourself, would be cheaper and not terribly hard i believe, remember to do an oil change as that could've added metal bits

[wary lintel]

Ehhh

Im sure there’s more than that too

Im going to talk to him today to get more info

[prime jungle]

if you dont i dont blame you but i believe its a slightly better option then them doing it or new car

good luck

wait is there white smoke coming out the tail pipe?

[wary lintel]

No idea the gas station looked at it

I’ll go pick it up and drive it home

Later today

They shoved a camera up there

[prime jungle]

let me know if out the back theres a lot of white smoke when you do

[wary lintel]

What would that mean

[prime jungle]

it's burning a lot of oil and the crack is super bad, thats usually with head gaskets tho i believe, but i dont see why a cracked piston wouldnt cause it

[wary lintel]

Yeah I’ll take a look , when the CE blinks and when getting gas the smell is noticeable

[prime jungle]

there will probably be a bit, but a lot is bad

[wary lintel]

Yeah they said around 2.5k for a motor apparently

But like I work now so I need a car that’s reliable

That was a shit college car basically

Paid 1600 for it

Probs total 4k with repairs over the past years

[prime jungle]

then i would just get an old used luxury car, cheap compared to new and a lot of same features

the important ones at least

[wary lintel]

Hmm any suggestions ?

[prime jungle]

i dont look at that side much but i can take a look around and give you a few suggestions tonight

7am where i am lmao

[wary lintel]

Sure , I’m open to suggestions

[odd crystal]

New motor

Rip

Sorry bro

[proper snow]

Well if you want sedan, get an LS400 from the 90s, if you're fine with a crossover, go for the RX line
Keep in mind (at least where I am) the RX will be a lot easier to get for cheap

Both from Lexus ^

Most of your German luxury ones are going to be 50/50 on reliability and even if they are reliable, they still are picky on anything you do to them

American luxury is a meh, you could get a cadillac but they aren't the best

So Japanese luxury (Lexus, Acura, maybe Infitity)

Is better

[wary lintel]

Yeah thsts that’s the gas station said

That’s gonna be like ~6k into the car

So not worth

Things rusted af

I live in Massachusetts

Car died young rip 115k

[prime jungle]

sell it to a pick and pull

[granite shadow]

so you're basing this whole thing off of what a not real mechanic said?

and you will throw it away bc a guy at a gas station said so?

[odd crystal]

Wait lmao is that what he did

[wary lintel]

The mechanic at the gas station

[granite shadow]

take it to a real mechanic, at a shop

[wary lintel]

I mean it checks out , blinking check engine on camry is a misfire. Isn’t it ?

And the smell

[granite shadow]

misfire does not mean the motor is bad

[wary lintel]

You think he lied about using a camera to see a cracked piston ?

[rancid haven]

GG @wary lintel, you just advanced to level 5! Chat more to level up and earn top roles!

[weak chasm]

did they do an compression test on all cylinders?

[wary lintel]

They told me that cyclinder 4 has compression issues

[weak chasm]

but didn't give any numbers? sounds like a guess, an educated guess maybe. but still a guess. I would book a other mechanic to do only a compression test and ask for the numbers before crushing it. I'm a mechanic and recently had a customer coming to me for a second opinion on a compression test. Unlike the other mechanic i gave the exact numbers and they were happy

[wary lintel]

I’m going to talk to them more today

[wary lintel]

@granite shadow he show me a picture and tested the pressure

And told me the pressure values

All 140 and then there was one at 20-30

He shown me the crack

[slow pawn]

Rip

Sell the car

[wary lintel]

Too who 🤣

The engines pretty much toast

[prime jungle]

someone would take it

[wary lintel]

How much you think

1999 camry 115k miles with a cracked cylinder

[prime jungle]

what state you in?

[rancid haven]

GG @prime jungle, you just advanced to level 6! Chat more to level up and earn top roles!

[prime jungle]

nvm

just try 1000 and take it down 100 a week

well

every 3 days

thats what i would do

[wary lintel]

Sorry mass