There were 17 on the Georgetown factory tour but we mostly had Prius, not Camry owners. I'm thinking about organizing it again next year, same time, but was wondering what you' all might find interesting?
A big draw for the Prius owners was installation of block heaters. I don't know if this is an option with the Camry hybrid. Certainly, we had some pretty technical folks at this gathering and some of us might enjoy 'looking under the hood' of the Camry hybrid.
A block heater was not easy for me to find in this warm state of New Mexico. A North Dakota toyota dealer gave me the name of a toyota parts distributor in California that did carry the block heaters. I gave this information to my local toyota parts dealer and they ordered one. The price was low at about $35. The installed quote was about $150 to $175 at the dealer. I thought I would give it a try. If I goofed I could put it together and then let them do it.
Someone in these forms supplied step by step installation instructions complete with pictures. It took two weeks due to the toyota parts in California being out. They searched around and found one to send to my dealer.
You do have to remove the air cleaner cover and then the housing and thats the time consumer. The Camry's block heater cavity is on the back of the block a inch or two above the cvt housing. It's on the right rear edge of the block nearest the firewall. I could see it using a drop light at night leaning over the drives side fender. I remember it was between a small radiator hose and one of he larger battery leads in the bright orange insulator.
The fellow in the forms says not use all the heat sink grease. I used it all and coated the rod well, that goes into the engine block socket. I found it was easier for me to plug the cord in first before inserting the heater. The block heater has a clip that snaps onto the block when it's fully seated.
Test so far it heats the engine to 149 degrees in a hour but thats on a 90 degree day in the shade. During the winter those plug in times will have to increase to 2 to 3 hours. It helps big time on warming the cold engine when the car sits overnight.
I hope to learn more this January and February if we have a cold winter here in the desert. It even snowed once after we moved out here.
I bought a early 2003 Corolla when they first came out. The dealer had to order it. It was to be assembled in the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California. The sales manager called and gave me the build date.
I got excited and decided to search around on the internet and found a few numbers for the plant. Somehow I ended up with the paint department manager. I had some questions to ask why toyota seemed to build better quality vehicles than the other brands. He told me on the assembly line they call up all the parts at once for a vehicle, then its assembled. He even looked up my build number and said there was a pickup built before my car and a Pontiac Vibe after. This keeps the employees alert. They also rotate jobs often to keep boredom from setting in. He said most of the plant was not air conditioned but was comfortable. Something like the size of 5 football fields.
I also ask if they used many Japanese workers. He laughed and said no, they are all local everyday people. He said that they get a few Japanese workers coming here for training then they go back to Japan to assemble there. I'm not sure what the difference would be. There was other things he told me but I forgot over the years.
I'm would think the Georgetown Plant would operate similar other then only building Camry's.
Georgetown College is my alma mater, so I've got two reasons to love Georgetown! I'll have to put the plant tour on my to-do list next time I'm in the area!
Incidentally, I currently live in Metro Detroit, but drive to Kentucky fairly often to see my family. I can't tell you how excited I get seeing the car carriers loaded with TCHs headed up 75...I don't see them very often around here, so seeing so many at once is almost overwhelming!
Georgetown Factory Tour
I'll have to put the plant tour on my to-do list next time I'm in the area!
