So, this weekend I am looking after two children while their parents are away on a vacation to celebrate their anniversary. Since I was staying for the weekend I made the choice of pulling into their driveway. When I pulled in, I noticed that the bottom of my car scrapped the cement, I thought everything would be okay because the camry being so low this happens pretty often. Today, when I left with the kids to go get some ice cream I noticed that when I accelerated my car was making an oddly loud noise, kind of like an older manual makes when it is time to shift gear. I called my mom and she claims it is my transmission, but the owner of the ice cream shop came out, looked at it, and drove it around- but in the end determined all was well. Got back in the car, headed back to the house, but the noise was still loud, and still there. Am I in danger driving around with this new acceleration noise?
You might be. The only way to know is to get this to your shop and up on a lift.
Even in you;re not in “danger”, damage may have been done that can affect the long term health of your powertrain. A crunched exhaust, a dented cat converter, who knows. Cat converters are filled with a ceramic honeycomb, and of the houseing were damaged it could crush the ceramic. That could cause a restricted exhaust.
I’d get it in ASAP.
Before you drive it again, you, or someone else, needs to check the fluids to make sure everything is as it should be. If you don’t know how to check your fluids, have a friend come over to check them before you drive the car again.