NHTSA Complaint #10047046 — 1997 TOYOTA CAMRY

I BOUGHT A 97 TOYOTA CERTIFIED USED CAR WITH A 100,000 MILE WARRANTY ON 10-17-01, WITH 36,847 EXISTING MILES. I TOOK THIS CAR TO MY TOYOTA DEALER 02/07/03:92588 MLS. FOR ENGINE KNOCK NOISE AND SMOKING ON COLD STARTS,ALSO TO CHECK TRANSMISSION VIBRATION/CHATTER. THEY REPLACED THE TRANS, REPLACED LEAKING GASKETS AND REPLACED WORN VALVE GUIDE SEALS. AT THIS SAME TIME THEY WERE ASKED TO CHECK FOR ANYTHING RELATED TO THE LETTER TOYOTA SENT ME IN REGARD TO POSSIBLE ENGINE DAMAGE FROM OIL GELLING OR SLUDGE... ON 05/16/03 WITH 98910 MILES I RETURNED TO THE SAME DEALER WITH ENGINE STILL KNOCKING ON COLD STARTS. THEY FOUND THE OIL PUMP SHAFT BINDING , CRANKSHAFT, ROD AND MAIN BEARINGS DAMAGED. WHEN I WAS INFORMED OF THEIR INTENT TO REPLACE THESE PARTS I QUESTIONED THE POSSIBLE REPAIR OF RINGS AND OTHER UPPER ENGINE COMPONENTS, KNOWING THAT METAL PARTICLES COULD POSSIBLY AFFECT AND DAMAGE THESE. THEY ADVISED ME THAT NO SUCH WORK WAS INTENDED OR NEEDED. THEY DID PROCEED WITH REPLACEMENT OF THE OIL PUMP, CRANKSHAFT, ROD BEARINGS AND MAIN BEARINGS... ON 11/03/03 WITH APPROXIMATELY 110,000 MILES I TOOK MY CAR TO A LOCAL REPAIR FACILITY TO CHECK OUT WHIRRING TYPE NOISE FROM ENGINE AND OIL LIGHT FLICKER AT IDLE WITH ENGINE WARMED. THEY FOUND BOTH PROBLEMS RELATED TO CAMSHAFT AND CAM BEARING WEAR... I FIRST SOUGHT ASSISTANCE FROM THE ORIGINAL TOYOTA REPAIR DEALER, THEY REFUSED ANY HELP. I NEXT WAS REFUSED ANY HELP BY TOYOTA MOTOR SALES CORP CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE DEPT IN CALF (REF # 200311140813). PLEASE HELP ME IF YOU CAN,I BOUGHT THIS CAR KNOWING IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE VERY RELIABLE BECAUSE OF THE APPROXIMATELY 35 MILES EACH WAY GETTING TO AND FROM WORK. *LA