My First Toyota!

[corrolanewb]

Hi,
I just purchased my first Toyota on Monday. In fact I'm so new to Toyotas that I misspelled Corolla in my username.

I had been sharing a 2009 Honda Fit with my wife for almost three years now. I was over it. Completely. Definitely putting strain on my young marriage.

So I needed something with four wheels and could go. I figured this would likely to be Honda or a Toyota. I prowled craigslist for a couple of weeks and came across a blue 1996 Corolla with only 95k miles on it. Luckily I was the first to contact the seller. Took it for a test ride, did the Autocheck, decided to buy it.

I picked it up on Monday and I really do love it so far, although my experience is limited.

The interior is as good as can be expected, but she's definitely not going to win any beauty contests.

There are a few dents here and there. The right hand passenger door, the trunk, the fading clearcoat on the roof, and the taped up / dented headlight. The headlight bothers me the most, there's a certain indignity to it. I'm not sure of the extent of it, since it was there when the previous owner bought it in 2008 (he now has a new Subaru). I'm not sure it's worth the cost to make it look brand new, but can any of you recommend any easy things I can do to polish her up a little bit?


But, the important thing is that I like driving it. I grew up driving in my mom's 1989 Honda Prelude, and it drives more like that than the little Honda Fit.

[Zembonez]

It's still a 15 year old (plus) car, but they were pretty darn well screwed together and folks here are getting a ton of miles out of them. 95K sure isn't bad for that year. She should have a lot of life left in her.

[PhatRoyale]

Welcome to TN!

I'm a big fan of the Honda Fit as well. I am strongly considering one as a replacement for when my Corolla wears out.

As for polishing, the paint looks pretty oxidized from that California sun. You can try using a heavy cut polish like Poorboys World SSR2.5 or SSR3 and apply it with a random orbital buffer machine and see if that helps.

In terms of the taped up parking lamp, if the housing is not cracked on the outside, you can probably salvage it and fabricate a bracket using metal and epoxy that to the housing and then screw it down in place.

The dent in the trunk can probably be hammered back out once are able to access the dent from the inside.

Hope this helps and that you enjoy your stay here.

[corrolanewb]

Thanks.
Polishing with a buffer sounds straightforward, but make shifting a bracket with metal and epoxy might be a little over my head based on my current auto mechanical experience... which is close to nil. I do want to take a look at what the problem is, however. The problem is removing that tape. It's been there for years, and the adhesive is very hard in some places. Any tips on how to remove it? I've heard cotton balls and nailpolish remover.

It seems simple enough to take the light off based on this video:

You Tube

You Tube

[PhatRoyale]

Looks like its clear duct tape from the photos. I would try soaking a rag with goo gone and leaving it on the areas for a few hours or overnight before trying to take it off. Nail polish remover might damage the paint finish so avoid that if possible.

If the tapes been on for a few years then damage might be unavoidable. You'll have to hit the spots with a bit of polish afterwards.

[corrolanewb]

Thanks.

I can feel the light giggle a bit when I shake it. I found a replacement light on ebay for $11.99.

[PhatRoyale]

No need to thank me, just hit the blue thanks button at the bottom right corner of my posts.

If you need anything just ask.

[cipher93]

That light should go in easily since the bumper is hanging low. If it doesn't I find it best to put just a little pressure on the bumper to ease it down slightly which should help get the light out. You may want to consider making sure all the bolts that hold that bumper on are still there. You want to look at the top edge of the bumper, where it ends at the wheel well. There should be a little cut out there in the apron to see where the bolt mounts up.

I had a similar issue on mine and was able to fit a generic bolt (want to say it was a 6mm) up in the whole, using a large washer followed by a smaller 6mm washer where the head of the bolt goes into the bumper to pull up the bumper, and then using some needle nose to hold the nut in place. I'd suggest having an assistant push the bumper up and in on that side while you tighten up the bolt.

[corrolanewb]

I took a closer look and lifted up the hood and the tape today. The screw-in part holding the light in place is broken. Hence the need for the tape I guess.

Secondly there's a bit of a dent that pushes inward where the bumper, the orange light and the panel meet. You can sort of see it in the photo. I did see a bit of a tab on the end of the current light which can't be pushed in where it belongs because of the dent. Does that make sense?

Having said that, I don't think putting in the new light will be much of a problem. I just need some Goo Gone.

As for the sun damage, well, I don't have an orbital buffer, plus I want to save money at the moment since I'm in the process of buying a home. I do have plenty of elbow grease and a free weekend, though.

[corrolanewb]

OK I've spent the better part of the day sprucing up this car a bit. The light was the main thing. It took a while to get rid of the tape residue, not only that but I decided to get rid of the melted rubber guards that were on the driver and passenger doors. I also discovered tar on the under side of the passenger door, which also needed to be Goo Gone'd.

The new light fit in quite well in spite of the dent.

I decided to polish by hand. Yeah, I know it's not the best way, but I don't want to spend money on a buffer at this time. Plus I'm not trying to make this car look like new, just a bit more well maintained.

I used a compound (Meguires Ultimate Compound... I just picked it up at Target) for the roof. It looks better now, but definitely not perfect.

Next was a wax.

Since I did this by hand so it looks a wee bit uneven, but that's fine. It needed the protection, especially going into the rainy season.

I also got rid of the fraternity plate frame, and a football sticker.

I couldn't do much about the dent in the back, but I did manage to stick a hammer in back and pop it out a little bit, making the insignia more flush against the car than it was.

And, of course, wheel covers. The easiest part of all this.

At the end of it all I had used up a lot of sweat and elbow grease, so I went to In-N-Out to reward myself for a job well done.

[Piloter]

Very nice, you've got at least another 150K you can squeeze out of her. Next step is probably tune-up items...the obvious ones (filter, transmission / differential fluid change, cap, rotor, wires, plugs), check your shocks and springs and belts. Based on age alone about 100K seems to be when the motor mounts could use checking/replacing, likewise upper strut mounts. Check your wheel bearings, check for noise turning left or right but not going straight (CV joints going bad), until you know whether you've got an oil-burning motor, check your oil level at every fillup. I THINK around 90/100K is also the water pump replacement interval.

[cipher93]

Originally Posted by Piloter

Very nice, you've got at least another 150K you can squeeze out of her. Next step is probably tune-up items...the obvious ones (filter, transmission / differential fluid change, cap, rotor, wires, plugs), check your shocks and springs and belts. Based on age alone about 100K seems to be when the motor mounts could use checking/replacing, likewise upper strut mounts. Check your wheel bearings, check for noise turning left or right but not going straight (CV joints going bad), until you know whether you've got an oil-burning motor, check your oil level at every fillup. I THINK around 90/100K is also the water pump replacement interval.

I would also suggest checking your motor mounts by giving the engine a few revs in park while having an assistant look at it. It will seem to move forward as you accelerate, back as you let off the gas with vibrations in the dash. Wheel bearings will make noise before they start to get physically loose. Also to add to this, if you have a 3 speed make sure they change the differential fluid too, which is separate from the transmission

[corrolanewb]

Things seem to be fine mechanically. The previous owner changed the oil religiously and only used the high quality stuff. The tires and battery were replaced last year, and he informed me of some past maintenance.

Looking at the Autocheck, I'm assuming that this was simply an outdoor car. First owner was in Newport Beach, which usually means cramped outdoor parking and sea air, next owner was a UCI student and there are typically no garages and a lot of terrible drivers there, and the third lived in Costa Mesa and he parked outside his house by the curb.

I'll be giving her a roof over her head now, and she looks a few years younger now.

[heartdisease]

Bravo, looks loads better. It is amazing how much shine a little wax can add. Wheel covers look well matched to the car. I hope you get another 10 years out of it