Toyota Camry 08 V6 Problems?
In a nutshell:
During cold weather - say around 30-60 F - I hear noticeable and annoying electric buzzing noise around dashboard. When cold starting the car, I get this noise a lot, and emits less frequently after a while.
Also during cold weather, A/C fans makes this loud "whurring" sound during cold start, and dies down after you let it run for a while. During non-cold weather, I can hear the A/C fans, but not as noticeable.
In any weather, I hear a metal clicking or thumping from the engine compartment when I drive off (after starting the car and drive forward). I don't get this noise when reversing. It is most noticeable during cold start, or if I don't drive it for a couple hours.
Already took to dealer, and is frustrating sometimes since it is hard to get the technician to hear anything in a very noisy environment. I can take them to a quieter environment, but by then problems may not be evident anymore after cold start(and this is after I left the car at the car dealer for a day and coming in the next day to show them the issues). Any ideas?
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Regarding the metal clicking, it only emits the sound once, and no more after that. It does make this sound on a consistent basis every time I start the car. Previous suggestions to the cause of this noise has been the ABS self-check mechanism
My family has always bought Toyotas since the 80s, and we have put our full trust in this brand, but this Camry and even the one before from '01 has really been a let-down in our trust in their quality and reputation.
2001 Camry:
Salesman gave us a great deal, and we the price low enough to where he wasn't too happy with it but still let us by with the price. What did he do? So our car was supposed to come with leather, but the one we drove out doesn't come with one. Leather will be installed afterwards--installer will take the seats and get leather installed. In the end we got leather that was thin and plastic-like. Yes, it's our fault for not doing anything about it. Within 2 years the leather was chaffing like no other, and the leather just looks butt-ugly. I guess the salesman had our leather installed at some el-cheapo after-market place.
53 minutes ago
2009 Camry(everything installed and shipped form factory):
Came with poor-quality leather--badly wrinkled and hard. Maybe from a bad cow? And no, I'm not expecting Lexus-quality leather. The leather the car came with was unpleasing to the eye especially brand new car fresh out the assembly line.
Noisy ride---Buzzing and squeaking hear and there. The dashboard occasionally makes an annoying buzzing sound, and the centerpiece where the A/C and stereo controls are squeaks here and there.
Engine clunking at cold start(normal)--After hearing from many Toyota technicians, the V6 engine was designed in a way where it makes noisy tapping sounds at cold startup due to the mechanics of it. Knowing the details of it puts me at peace, but having to hear the tapping sounds every time I cold start the car always always reminds me of a cheap clunker.
Toyota Service--A technician accidentally dinged the clear-coating of the car with his camera while taking pictures of the leather(the bad-cow leather). Car was taken into body shop for weeks due to a poor job of repainting that particular side of the car with the damage. Car came back fine, but coins were missing, magnetic travel-size checkerboard was missing, Bath and Body works anti-bacteria sanitizer gone, a red smudge on the interior of the sunroof window, and a few things missing here and there. Might as well have left the ding there and do nothing about it.
My Biggest Frustration--
I mentioned earlier that it is almost impossible for the technicians to hear the issues I addressed.
In that case what can I do? Yes, take it to them and tell them to do something about it, but what's the use of that if they keep telling me they can't hear anything wrong with it? I'm in a position where I know there is something wrong, but I just can't prove the problem to the technicians.
In a nutshell:
During cold weather - say around 30-60 F - I hear noticeable and annoying electric buzzing noise around dashboard. When cold starting the car, I get this noise a lot, and emits less frequently after a while.
Also during cold weather, A/C fans makes this loud "whurring" sound during cold start, and dies down after you let it run for a while. During non-cold weather, I can hear the A/C fans, but not as noticeable.
In any weather, I hear a metal clicking or thumping from the engine compartment when I drive off (after starting the car and drive forward). I don't get this noise when reversing. It is most noticeable during cold start, or if I don't drive it for a couple hours.
Already took to dealer, and is frustrating sometimes since it is hard to get the technician to hear anything in a very noisy environment. I can take them to a quieter environment, but by then problems may not be evident anymore after cold start(and this is after I left the car at the car dealer for a day and coming in the next day to show them the issues). Any ideas?
----------------
Regarding the metal clicking, it only emits the sound once, and no more after that. It does make this sound on a consistent basis every time I start the car. Previous suggestions to the cause of this noise has been the ABS self-check mechanism
My family has always bought Toyotas since the 80s, and we have put our full trust in this brand, but this Camry and even the one before from '01 has really been a let-down in our trust in their quality and reputation.
2001 Camry:
Salesman gave us a great deal, and we the price low enough to where he wasn't too happy with it but still let us by with the price. What did he do? So our car was supposed to come with leather, but the one we drove out doesn't come with one. Leather will be installed afterwards--installer will take the seats and get leather installed. In the end we got leather that was thin and plastic-like. Yes, it's our fault for not doing anything about it. Within 2 years the leather was chaffing like no other, and the leather just looks butt-ugly. I guess the salesman had our leather installed at some el-cheapo after-market place.
53 minutes ago
2009 Camry(everything installed and shipped form factory):
Came with poor-quality leather--badly wrinkled and hard. Maybe from a bad cow? And no, I'm not expecting Lexus-quality leather. The leather the car came with was unpleasing to the eye especially brand new car fresh out the assembly line.
Noisy ride---Buzzing and squeaking hear and there. The dashboard occasionally makes an annoying buzzing sound, and the centerpiece where the A/C and stereo controls are squeaks here and there.
Engine clunking at cold start(normal)--After hearing from many Toyota technicians, the V6 engine was designed in a way where it makes noisy tapping sounds at cold startup due to the mechanics of it. Knowing the details of it puts me at peace, but having to hear the tapping sounds every time I cold start the car always always reminds me of a cheap clunker.
Toyota Service--A technician accidentally dinged the clear-coating of the car with his camera while taking pictures of the leather(the bad-cow leather). Car was taken into body shop for weeks due to a poor job of repainting that particular side of the car with the damage. Car came back fine, but coins were missing, magnetic travel-size checkerboard was missing, Bath and Body works anti-bacteria sanitizer gone, a red smudge on the interior of the sunroof window, and a few things missing here and there. Might as well have left the ding there and do nothing about it.
My Biggest Frustration--
I mentioned earlier that it is almost impossible for the technicians to hear the issues I addressed.
In that case what can I do? Yes, take it to them and tell them to do something about it, but what's the use of that if they keep telling me they can't hear anything wrong with it? I'm in a position where I know there is something wrong, but I just can't prove the problem to the technicians.