Two problems related to vehicle overheat have been reported for the 2002 Toyota Camry. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2002 Toyota Camry based on all problems reported for the 2002 Camry.
Car was overheating and we didn't know why. The reservoir was full of coolant so we took it into a mechanic to see what the problem was with the cooling system. We were told we needed a new head gasket. We left the car with the mechanic and he found that 3 bolts for the engine block were loose (he could easily pull them out with his hands and the threading came with them). He had never seen this before so he looked online and found this was a common problem. The car had about 109k miles on it. Looking on this site shows that Toyota has a service bulletin on it.
I bought this car new in 2002 and have maintained it meticulously. The car overheated for the first time since I bought it on 7/9/12. When I took it to the shop on 7/11/12 for evaluation of the problem, I was told that the cylinder head bolts were defective, causing the car to lose coolant resulting in the overheating incident. The auto shop also told me that this is a design or manufacturing defect that is well known, but Toyota refuses to recall these vehicles for repair. The cost of repair is approximately $2200. 00 to $2400. 00, if it can be repaired. If it cannot be repaired, the engine will have to be replaced at a much higher cost. I went on line to carcomplaints. Com and found many other complaints of this same exact problem from other 2002 Camry owners around the USA.