Engine Clicking And Tapping Noises problems of the 2001 Toyota Camry

My car (a 2001, 4-cylinder, Toyota Camry le; VIN #: 4t1bg28k41u830198) has been at the service department for 26 days. I had the car towed to that dealership when it suddenly broke down on a major interstate without warning. The car started to jerk sporadically and hesitate when I depressed the gas pedal. The car got worse it started to make a clicking-and-clacking noise and seemed that it would die at anytime. As I approached the service station, I heard a loud popping sound and the front of the car started to smoke. I asked the mechanics at the station to check under the hood. After looking at the car, one of the mechanics asked how long have you had this car?? when I told him that it was a 2001, he said that he?d never seen this type of damage in a 2-year old car. He recommended that I take it to the dealer because it should be a repair that would be covered under warranty. Two letters and several calls later and my car still sits at the dealership. I received a call from percy chan of Toyota's national customer relations center (310-468-2846) on October 17, 2003. Mr. Chan called to find out what happened with my 2001 Toyota Camry (approx 66,060 miles). He then said that he'd gotten an email from the dealership that said that the dealership offered to make the repairs for $500 (this is down from $5,500; the original estimate for the repair. I received a second call from mr. Chan on October 20, 2003. He called to tell me that he'd reviewed the letter and couldn't understand why the dealership would let my car sit on the lot taking up space. He said that they had gotten money from Toyota to make repairs under the customer support program. I received a third call from mr. Chan on October 21, 2003. He called to tell me that the mr. Boots was no longer the service manager and the new manager was lisa. He said that lisa checked with the mechanic and said that the damage was caused by valvoline who had done my last oil change.

The car suddenly broke down on a major interstate out of washington, DC, on my way home from work. Without warning (e. G. , no warning lights or previous problems), it started to jerk sporadically and hesitated when I depressed the gas pedal. As I approached my exit to I-495 north, the car got worse it started to make a clicking-and-clacking noise and seemed that it would die at anytime. I took the first exit off of I-495 (210: indian head highway, south) because I knew that there was a shell gas station with a garage. As I approached the station, I heard a loud popping sound and the front of the car started to smoke. I was terrified that the car would catch on fire.