The car turns over but will not start after minor front end accident.

Asked by Donna Aug 12, 2021 at 12:34 AM about the 1999 Toyota Camry CE

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I had a fender bender that appeared to be cosmetic with a
slightly damaged hood and busted headlight.  Then after
the accident it ran 30 minutes while I was waiting on the
paperwork drove 5 miles, then it puttered I noticed the
temperature was hot and then it cut off. Since then, it turns
over but it won't start.  

This is what I was told about the damage.

The right Airbag sensor broke off. The Radiator is
punctured and needs to be replaced, one of the fans broke
and the other fan couldn't keep up so it overheated. He said
when it over heats, sometimes it can mess up the timing
belt or chain and the rods can bend. If the rods are bent,
have to open up the block and replace all the rods. He said
if anything other than the radiator & fan is messed up it
would be cheaper to get another motor than to repair it if
any of that happened?

how hard is it to know if any of those things have happened
prior to me spending money to replace sensor, radiator &
fan then end up having to replace the motor or car itself?

4 Answers

39,935

I think the first thing that should be done is a compression test , then figure if a 20 year old car is worth fixing

1 people found this helpful.

Thanks for the responses, I think I'll take Bob's advice or if and when I The reason I have to fix a 22 year old car is because my daughter had an accident May 2020 and is recovering from a severe traumatic brain injury so in addition to caring for her 5:00am-6:30pm, I'm home schooling my two grandchildren which left me with no income as I took an unpaid leave of absence to care for everyone. So I've managed to survive on $600.00 a month, Until an hour before the accidentbenone dt Unexpectedly we were notified her Work Disability was exhausted along with my income. on the way to pick up my HIGH BP medicine from Long Covid If that wasn't enough 2 days after the accident, my son in law car didn't have full coverage which was a factored into my weekly

But we're all alive and sooo grateful no matter what happens, this time last year Drs didn't think my daughter would ever live at home or remember her kids again, but she proved us wrong. Getting better every day! ALSO I LOVE THAT CAR!!!! THANKS EVERYONE

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