REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

BaoTurbo · 06-13-2011, 12:51 AM

So I have a 93' V6 Camry and it's running into a problem in the past years. So the car was originally my grandpa's and he babied it when he was alive. Regular maintenance, oil changes, perfect condition, ran on Supreme Plus gasoline as well.

However, after he died, it was passed onto my dad. Now the problem is that my dad thinks that he drives a manual trasmission car, and changes the gear to D2 whenever he feels a surge of testoterone while in gear 3 or 4. I know what this does, but yet I don't know the skematics of what he can do to the car. I have been in the car a couple of times and even though I have seen him do this on somewhat a regular basis, I don't bother to stop him because I swear its already dying before I can even realize what he doing.

As of now, the car shifts into 3rd gear at 3500rpm, and the rpm's go higher by 1000 if I floor it. In addition, when the car shifts, you feel a sudden shudder as the gear goes into place, the feeling is like someone slightly bumping into the back of your car. When I release the gas pedal at 2500rpm, the meter quickly drops to 1500rpm like something is dragging the engine and not allowing power to smoothly run or something. Right now its just running on Regular gasoline because it costs too much to run it on Supreme plus after my grandfather died about 5 years ago. So this has been going on for about 5 years. Engine dragging, cold starts, abuse, and cosmetic damage which I contributed to back when I was an L driver. I also figured out the car is using a lot more gas than before which was pretty mysterious.

I was wondering if anybody can point out what my dad is doing to the car and the gears specifically. Also how much longer can the car last at the state that its it.

TOS'd · 06-13-2011, 01:24 AM

It will survive, its a tank!

Lamboda · 06-13-2011, 02:49 AM

Your transmission is gone due to the downshift from 3rd and 4th gears. (someone correct me if I'm wrong) but I THINK that while in a manual you still get that jolt you can rev-match it but in an automatic it's hard for the transmission to take the downshift (unless you have like an automatic double clutch transmission).

When he does the downshift, it makes the revs go really high and wears out your D2 gear. According to what you said, it requires higher rpms to shift into 3rd now, and it's probably due to the wearing out of the gear because your dad has been abusing it.

The gas sort of plays a role in the system too. Since your car has been using premium gas for its entire life when your grandpa was here it is not used to the regular gas and that change probably affected its performance in a negative way. (Think about if you were eating healthy and then switch to McDonald's).

I'm not going to tell you when your car is going to die, but merely make it last longer. Try to get some oil change, transmission fluid change, timing belts changed and etc. maybe it will help. As well, try to drive less aggressive it will help for your car, and leave it in automatic -- it's what it's built for. I know this may sound pricey but that's what I would do.

If you treat your car nice, it will treat you nice too

crazyazn · 06-13-2011, 03:01 AM

I would change the oil and do a tranny flush first, and see how things are after.

IIRC the V6 'recommends' premium fuel for better performance, but regular is fine. I think the decrease in mileage is more due to the ethanol in regular gas than the decrease in octane, since Chev 94/Shell 91 don't have ethanol in them.

These things are built to last man, build in the era of classic top-notch Japanese build quality.

BaoTurbo · 06-13-2011, 11:52 AM

The engine will last and I'm not worried about it....it's the transmission and gears thats the problem or will be. Its a tank and we all know it but I hate it and a side of me wants it to die so I can really pick a car that's worth my time and my dad's time to baby it once again. He used to have an 91'/92' integra RS and he fucked that car up so bad the exhaust sound is like having an aftermarket exhaust.

Now that I'm older, I want it to die so we can get a new one that I can use, work on, and baby it. Now, even when I hit curbs or get chips I don't care cuz he doesn't and it's not even worth my effort.

Oil is done quite recently but I'll ask him about the tranny flush and probably have that done. Also personally go to the mechanic and tell him whats going on and see how he thinks about this.

narfy · 06-27-2011, 12:15 PM

try unplugging the negative terminal and resetting the computer first... then see if it still does this...

also, often times, shifting issues are caused by the condition of the trans fluid... pull teh dipstick and drop some of teh fluid onto a clean sheet of white paper or paper towel... the fluid should be very clean red... if it's dark, or smells burnt in any way, do a proper FLUSH on it... not just a drain and fill... a proper FLUSH...