New 99 Corolla VE Owner - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

paitocruz · 06-03-2009, 02:59 PM

Hello to all. I've been reading posts for the last 1.5 days and found a lot of helpful info. My brother and I found a 99 VE in need of TLC and engine work. The previous owner was selling the car because of a bad catalytic converter and an engine with extreme vibrations. For the price, we figured the car was well worth the time and effort to get it running right. Plus, my brother was really set on an 8th gen Corolla.

The first steps will focus on basic maintenance and tune-ups. As for the engine vibrations, I was originally thinking motor mounts but maybe off. The engine vibrates when in gear (it is an automatic) and calms down some when in Park or Neutral. Once you start acceleration, the vibration calms down considerably. Tonight, we're going to check the spark plugs to make sure each cylinder is firing. What do you guys think? Any feedback is greatly appreciated and will assist us in troubleshooting.

Take care,
Rafael

Spartus · 06-03-2009, 03:15 PM

Is the CEL on? Pull the codes. The engine may be misfiring due to several factors. A bad fuel injector may be one of them.

paitocruz · 06-05-2009, 09:33 AM

I had the codes pulled on the car. The following were listed:
P0300
P0302
P0303
P0420

The 302 and 303 have to do with cylinders 2 and 3 respectively. I replaced the spark plugs and still have the misfires. Plug #3 was fouled up. My next thought is replacing the spark plug wires. I also am thinking about changing the valve cover gasket to make sure there is no seeping of oil into the spark plug holes.

420 has to do with the catalytic/02 sensors, correct? The previous owner mentioned that the cat might be bad. On acceleration the car seems to have a leak in the exhaust system. I want to get the engine running right before dealing with this code.

Any other thoughts or corrections? Thanks in advance.

paitocruz · 07-08-2009, 08:53 AM

It's been a while since I posted an update. We replaced the wire set and the problems continued. We also checked the coils and they seem to be working. The mechanic of a friend came by and instantly said the engine needed a rebuild. What we have noticed is some ticking coming from under the valve cover. Our next step was to replace the valve cover gasket to see if that eliminates any oil seeping in. I'm pretty positive the gasket is shot.

We replaced the serpentine belt due to some squealing and it seems to have calmed the vibrations down some. It is still misfiring and running pretty crappy.

Any other ideas or thoughts? My brother is convinced that we should let the mechanin rebuild the engine, but I think we should try a couple of other things before dropping $1000.

fishexpo101 · 07-08-2009, 09:42 AM

Before you get too far into it and spend too much time or money - do a compression test on the engine.

Engine compression should be between 145 PSI (min) - 218 PSI (max( for each cylinder, with no more than 15PSI difference between the cylinders. If compression is low - shot a little oil into the cylinders and retest. If compression stays low - you have no choice but to rebuilt of do an engien swap. If compression improves, you need to do some diagnostic work to findout the real problem, most cases - it will eventually go to rebuild or swap.

If compression varies too much - no amount of fiddling with the bolt ons will help. Other things to test are injectors (there was a redesign in the later Corollas to improve durability and spray pattern), make sure there are no vacuum leaks, making sure the engine gets enough fuel. Should check for spark on each plug - possible there is poor chassis grounds or an excessive amount of engine noise that is messing up the ECM or signals running to the igniter/injectors.

All that P0420 tells you is that the downstream O2 sensor is not reading proper catalyst efficiency. This could mean the catalytic converter is bad - but not always. Could be a bad downstream O2 sensor (have to backprobe it while in operation to be sure) or the ECT sensor is faulty.

The 1ZZ-FE engine is pretty noisy - even when running normally. Ticking noises should not be an issue, unless they stay the same or get louder as the engine warms up. Need a bit more info on the car - like mileage, if you notices any oil consumtion, etc. - to get a better idea of what it going on and help point you in the right direction.

paitocruz · 07-08-2009, 09:56 AM

The car has 218,000 miles. The previous owner did a poor job of maintenance. The car still had the original plugs. As for oil consumption, it is hard to tell since we haven't used the car much. The oil level was pretty low when we bought it and it has a small oil leak.

I had given the compression idea some thought. I wasn't too sure on how to go about it, but I'll look it up in the Haynes manual.

Thanks for the info.

JDM_jody · 07-08-2009, 08:29 PM

swap the engine. lol
i have stock 1zz from my 99 VE with 86k. want to buy??

paitocruz · 08-04-2009, 10:29 AM

A lot has happened since my last post.

Checked compression and cylinder #3 had none. So engine rebuild begins....started to take the engine apart and found it had a damaged valve and head in need of repair. The valve has been replaced, the head is currently being worked on. We're going to replace the timing chain and of course a new set of gaskets. Thinking of changing the water pump, and any misc. parts, while the engine is apart.

Hope to have it finished within the 2 weeks.

huangxin · 08-04-2009, 12:56 PM

good luck on the rebuild and WE WANT PICS lol

it would be a good chance to check out the motor mounts while you are at it too.

paitocruz · 08-05-2009, 01:39 PM

I thought about replacing the motor mounts while in here. There's a couple of things that are easier to replace during rebuild, so they'll be replaced as well.

I have to remember to get the camera along the way. Let me check what pictures I have... and hopefully I'll remember on future work...

Bingo · 08-06-2009, 10:32 AM

Hats off to all you shade tree mechanics.

I wish I had the skill.