Getting a 2001 Solara convertible SLE

[PXLpainter]

Rag Tops RULE!!

[jzwu]

:) Welcome!

I recently bought a 2002 SLE V6 convertible, diamond white pearl. Love it! It has sludge though, but Toyota is taking care of it. The car drives like a dream.

How many miles on your car? My car drives very smoothly too and it's got 96k miles. How do you know if you have sludge problem? The dealer wants $275 for sludge diagnosis.

I am having the timing belt/water pump/drive belts done today.

[Gangis]

$275?! WHAT? I paid $80. Something seems fishy, since the only thing that's involved with diagnosing sludge is opening up the camshaft case and looking at the camshafts. Half an hour's work for an experienced mechanic.

73k miles on the car, I had bought it at 70k. It was diagnosed two weeks ago. I'm getting a brand new engine hopefully next week, soon as the parts come in. I have to pay $788 for a new water pump, timing belt, drive belt and set of spark plugs, but I'm fighting the labor cost because they would have to install them even if the parts I had were new. Oh well... no stealership's perfect.

[jzwu]

Oh well, stealership it is!

I am doing the timing belt/water pump/drive belts today and the dealer just called me saying additional parts need to be replaced (timing belt tensioner/idler).

So their original quote of $500 becomes $760 just like that. I suspect they knew this and it is just a bait and switch trick. Hopefully, I don't need to do this for another 90k miles.

Independent garages are not good for timing belt work. I have heard too many bad stories.

Good luck and enjoy! You paid for it.

[Chinky420]

96k for 8000...nice, esp considering that i picked my 99sle up @ 11000 w/ 91k mi.

as said before,
timing belt
brakes
tires
struts (including strut bearings....gen 1's are notorious for having the strut bearings go out, indicated by excess noise when going over a bump/pothole at moderate speeds)


"it's a pretty big expense after the car purchase"

....bite the bullet and do the preventative maintainance...you got a pretty good deal, considering its a ragtop w/ 96k on it. all together, the total of these above should be around $1000-1500 or less, which still comes out less than i am paying for my 99.


also, check the filters (oil and air), and i dont know about the toyota convertables, but on my pop's bmw z3, the ragtop is starting to space out from the top of the window (indicated by lots of road/wind noise, and a leaky top in the rain).

welcome to sg, i'm sure you're going to be happy with your purchase. lexus luxury with toyota price and reliability. use this board for all your questions about the ride (but use the search function before asking, as people are not afraid to flame).

~kwan

[jzwu]

Where are you located? I am in So. CA. There are too many convertibles here.

I checked everything as you said. Only the oil filter is not OEM. Previous owner was cheap on that.

All in all, I need to spend close to $2,000 to replace all the stuff that needs to be changed, so the deal is getting to average. That's also the reason the previous owner let it go at $8,000 when I pointed out the timing belt service, tires, struts/shocks, brakes, etc.

[jzwu]

$275?! WHAT? I paid $80. Something seems fishy, since the only thing that's involved with diagnosing sludge is opening up the camshaft case and looking at the camshafts. Half an hour's work for an experienced mechanic.

73k miles on the car, I had bought it at 70k. It was diagnosed two weeks ago. I'm getting a brand new engine hopefully next week, soon as the parts come in. I have to pay $788 for a new water pump, timing belt, drive belt and set of spark plugs, but I'm fighting the labor cost because they would have to install them even if the parts I had were new. Oh well... no stealership's perfect.

I just got my car back from the dealer, replaced water pump, timing belt, tensioner, idler pulley, and drive belts. The mechanice says my car engine is in good shape.

Just wondering since he did the timing belt and water pump, would he see the sludge problem if it exists? During timing belt service, doesn't the engine have to be opened up?

Being curious....

[DoctorMark]

just wondering since he did the timing belt and water pump, would he see the sludge problem if it exists? During timing belt service, doesn't the engine have to be opened up?

Being curious....

your right. the valve cover needs to be pulled off to see if you have sludge or not. id see if you can talk to the tech you dealt with and ask him if he pulled the valve cover off.

[jzwu]

I didn't ask directly about it but I assume the mechanic did pull the valve cover off while doing the timing belt and water pump. He didn't mention anything about sludge so I guess it is good.

They even told me my brakes only got 5mm left. A pretty detailed check up, I would say.

BTW, what is the % of the potentially affected cars that do develop the sludge problem? 10%, 50%, 80%?