Toyota drive shafts

In the last few days my wife's Camry station wagon has been making terrible noises and the steering began to wobble. I decided the drive shafts had finally gone, after 125,000 miles. It got bad so suddenly that I decided it was not safe to drive. Naturally my son was due in from California last night, so a reliable car was essential. I rented us a car from Enterprise and bought new drive shafts from NAPA. Today was fix the Toyota day.

For several months I have wanted to get my wife another car and junk the Camry. Since getting it I have replaced

• Alternator
• Battery
• Water pump
• Brakes
• Exhaust system
• Seat belt retracter computer
• Brake light switch
• RH tail light assy.
• Reverse lock-out switch

The good news is that all these things are available, and the car is easy to work on. Toyota has received a lot of praise for this car's design, and it is deserved. The bad news is that each item took one or more days of my time, and I have other things to do. What we need is a reliable car. One solid, dependable car. My Lotus and the E9 are more than I need.


Just as this crisis was unfolding a prospect appeared. A 1994 BMW 530i Touring (which means station wagon in German). The price was in the ball park. I went to look at it yesterday, all set to buy it thinking it would turn lemons into lemonade, but it turned out to be a bit of a lemon itself. It took all of my will to turn it down. The problem was the paint. It had been painted, a cheap, used car lot kind of a job, and already there was rust breaking through the bottom of the RH back door. I do not need another rusty BMW; one is enough.







The drive shaft replacement was easy. The book made it sound a lot harder -- must have been an older model. It still took me several hours, but I was afraid it would run over into Saturday, the next time the shop is open.

When I drove the car it seemed much improved, but not cured. There is still some noise and some wobble. I guess there were multiple things wrong.

Based on the noise as it sounds now I think the next thing to replace are the front wheel bearings. After doing the drive shafts today I regret to say that the first part, removing the hub from the drive shaft, will have to be done again. At least the procedure is fresh in my mind. If that does not cure it the only thing left is the transmission, and that would bring us to the end of this car's story.