general problems of the 2003 Toyota Camry

I was going 45 to 50 mph and my car shut off in middle of highway and we barely got out of highway before getting hit there is recall on same kind of car for throttle body and that's what's wrong with mine so it has too be that they missed my car.

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 . .

I have a 2003 Toyota Camry le (4 cylinder, 2. 4 l) which began leaking engine coolant from around the engine block. My mechanic determined that the root cause of the leak was loose head bolts in the engine block. I was advised to either replace the engine or rebuild it both of which are cost prohibitive given the value of the car at 114,000 miles. I have come to learn that this is a very common problem with 2003 Camrys and Toyota has issued no recall for this issue. This particular car was well maintained by Toyota dealership service.

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that oil was leaking from the vehicle onto her driveway. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the engine bolts had sheared off. The contact stated that the bolts were replaced and torqued to specs however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was contacted and notified of the failure however, no assistance was provided. The approximate failure mileage was 215,000.

After oxygen sensors were changed the vsc and track off lights came on and wouldn't turn off and it's using a lot of fuel consumption and it takes a second for the car to pick up after stepping on the gas pedal.

Head bolts stripped causing antifreeze to leak inside and outside of engine. This is a common and known problem for this engine. A google search turns up hundreds of examples of this exact problem. Example: google "2003 Camry stripped head bolts".

Drivers side power seat is stuck in forward. Emergency brake does not work. Engine requires 1 gallon of oil every 2 thousand miles.

Tl the contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. While the vehicle was stationary, the contact detected liquid leaking under the motor. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the head bolts on the engine were stripped out and loose. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 162,000.

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle the odor of coolant was present and the temperature gauge suddenly increased to high and smoke was present coming from the engine. The vehicle was driven to the dealer who diagnosed that the engine had blown due to failure of the head gasket bolts. The failure was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was 160,000. Jft.

I too have been noticing a surge when I back up and turn the vehicle and step on the gas to drive out. I have avoided crashes with cars near by, I have found that I have to keep the speed on low and out of drive to avoid hitting a car near my parked car. I am not sure of the mileage above as I am just backing out of a parking space and turning my car to drive, I make sure it is on low.

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. While making a left turn at an unknown speed, the engine revved and the vehicle independently lunged forward. The contact depressed the brake pedal to avoid a collision. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 25,000.

Car had been driven to get gas 1/2 mile down road. When returned from gas station we pulled onto property , turned off car and there were flames coming from the hood. Fire dept arrived and put out the fire. Total loss for car.

While driving the car, the engine and electrical components suddenly shut off. The first few times this happened, I was able to simply re-start the car with everything working again. I then brought the car to 3 different mechanics who could not find anything wrong with the battery or alternator (or anything else). The problem was erratic so it never occurred with the mechanics. Now the problem occurs occasionally when I turn the headlights or brights of the car on. The last time it happened (10/11/14) was while I was driving about 60 mph. The engine shut out, the dash lights went off (as well as all the other electrical things: gps, ac, radio, etc). Even the flashers would not turn on. Then, in a matter of moments, everything turned on again. The car's engine did not even need to be restarted. I was able to keep driving without incident for 20+ miles. This incident has happened a total of about 3-4 times in the past, however, it was not triggered in the past by turning the lights on. There was no apparent trigger at all. The problem is erratic and does not happen all the time.

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that the cylinder heads were fractured. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure was confirmed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The failure mileage and VIN were unavailable.

After ten years, my 2003 Camry engine light came on, my husband was on route 20 with the oil shot out, started smoking he had to make an emergency stop, the 511 emergency saw the smoke from far away which made them follow the smoke. My husband could have been killed. All of the oil and antifreeze emptied out in a matter of minuts. Two tows at $189 a piece and a diagnoistic from the auto repair at $112.

2002-2006 Toyota Camry & other models with 4 cylinder engines ( 2az) engines blown head gasket / stripped head bolt problem.

I was slowing down to make a signaled left turn into a paking space at cvs pharmacy. As I braked and turned, the car lurched forward hitting a stacked stone pillar and came to a crashed stop. The air bag did not deploy and I had a scrape on my scalp from the sun visor.

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that the vehicle was leaking fluid from the engine. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the bolts were stripped and as a result, the engine needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 102,000.

Car smokes during start up. Started last winter. Research indicates stripped head bolts. Pull and clean the plugs about once a month due to fouling. Waiting for it to blow. Will not take it out of town or the highway.

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. While driving approximately 40 mph, the contact noticed smoke emitting from the rear of the vehicle. She then applied the brakes but the vehicle did not respond. She was able to drive the vehicle into an open field and within seconds, the front end of the vehicle was also on fire. The fire was extinguished by the local fire department. A fire and police report were filed (fire report: 11-003597 and police report number: 11-004293). The vehicle was towed to a local junkyard. The failure and current mileage was 130,000.

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that there was a smell of fuel when the contact checked the oil. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated that there was fuel mixed in with the oil but could not figure out where it was coming from. The contact stated that the smell moved through the vents and burned her eyes. A mechanic replaced the valve gaskets. The current and failure mileages were 114,000.

Engine oil light came on with no warning. Went to Toyota dealer immediately and said I had sludge build up and needed a new engine block - quote $6200. This happened 2 days before xmas. I was stunned and asked to speak to management. Toyota denied any sludge problems and failed to mention that a class action settlement was made for models up to 2002 for this problem. I have a 2003 with the same engine specs.

I had to do a head gasket repair and replace the thermostat on my 2003 Toyota Camry due to malfunctioning threads for the bolts on the head gasket. When the mechanic took the head off he realized the 3 back bolts were loose. When he tried to replace the head, the 3 back bolts would not torque to proper pressure. Realizing that the threads were stripped it was discussed about replacing the engine or having the holes drilled out and fixed with timeserts. I went with the timeserts realizing that if I replaced the engine with the same type I'd be facing this problem again. I believe that the engine would not have overheated in the first place if the 3 back bolts were not already loose. The machine shop operator stated this was his 59th Toyota this year he had to do the time-serts on the engine. I had all 10 of the holes re done at a costly price to make sure this would not happen to the other bolts.

Vehicle engine oil sludge and associated problems caused vehicle to stop coming off bridge overpass on busy street. Though the engine is covered under extended warranty, claim was denied.

I was not getting heat if my car was stopped at a light. Upon examination by my mechanic he found there was a gap between the head and the engine block. It became apparent that the screws that hold the head to the aluminum engine block had stripped and the head was separating from the block. . First the mechanic tried to drill new holes with new bolts. He didn't feel that it would hold in the obviously defective block so I had to get another engine which costs me $3215. 78. I had no car for over a month. I am very upset with this issue. If the head detached, the car would have lost power. What if I was traveling at high speed and got hit from behind. Also with the head separated there is the possibility that the fuel could have exploded or started a fire while driving. Please let me know if there are others with this problem. There are a lot of 2003 Toyota Camrys on the road today.

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. Every time the contact drove the vehicle at various speeds, he noticed a noise coming from the engine, which he believed to be the valve. He took the vehicle to the dealer and a technician stated that there was excessive sludge damage in the engine. He further stated that the engine needed to be rebuilt at the contact's expense because the warranty expired. He has had the oil changed routinely at 5,000 miles; therefore, the sludge build-up was abnormal. The contact has a copy of each time the vehicle was personally serviced. He also has a sample of the sludge taken from the vehicle. The failure mileage was 36,949. Update 05/13/08 after a breakdown of the engine, huge amounts of gel oil sludge was visible in the engine cylinder head. Updated 05/13/08.

2003 Camry le, 39,000 miles. The car completely shuts itself down while driving. Luckily, this happened in a parking lot of a dealership when we brought the car in for a seemly unrelated issue. Should this happen outside, it could be deadly. This should be a recall item given its dangerous failure mode. The car initially had start issue a day earlier. It only started after the hood has been opened for a few minutes. Brought the car to the dealership next day. The start issue happened a few more times in the dealers lot. After it finally started, it had a power window failure, followed by the shutting down of the car by itself while the car was physically moving. The dealer could not pin point the problem but suspected the body ecu (engine control unit) because of the power window failure. They replaced an ecu and that solved the problem.

Takata inflators: every time I fix my vehicle individuals cause hate crimes damaging my vehicle as I go to sleep or when I am not viewing my vehicle they must know exactly when I go to sleep because I cant catch them even though I think I know who it is I can not prove it so this is why I am complaining I remember checking my tires in the night noticing nothing wrong with them then checked in the mourning and noticed nails nailed in the tires then I noticed dried turtle wax all over the body of the car messing up the paint wheel alignment out of line right door power window malfunction trunk open power switch broken power sun roof sliding window broken vehicle was stationary this happened on different date in combination to the damage between 06/16/06 to 04/21/17.

When driving 30 mph rpms accelerated to 80 mph. This caused the consumer to go off the side of the road, causing damage to the vehicle. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.

The vehicle accelarated on its own and surged forward 6 or 7 times. Contacted Toyota and dealt with the liability department. And they didn't see anything wrong with it. This started happening on November 12, 2003. See also 10055728.

While driving, steering became difficult so consumer pulled into a parking lot. Vehicle was very hard to turn. Consumer inspected under hood and noticed a small fire in the engine compartment. Ts.