Assistance Please!?

[mrdennmann]

The quest for the "Free Car" had finally paid off.

I found a 1988 Toyota Corolla GTS-16 sitting in the blackberry bushes about 30 miles from the nearest town. I'd seen it a couple of times when I was out exploring in my 1985 SR5 4x4 truck. I knocked on the door of the house, and the owner told me that he was going to have it "hauled away" and it was "Dead beyond repair". I asked him if I could take it off his hands. He agreed to it.

Myself and a friend went out there with some spare parts, gasoline, a battery and some cleaning supplies. After two hours, it was running stable, and two weeks later, I had in through emmissions, licensed and insured. What a fun car, this thing screams, and handles excellent. I have however uncovered a few problems.

the speedometer reads 4x the actual speed. It's intermittent, and seems to go away when it's hot.

this evening, when I was coming home from work, the car's wipers started slowing down, the charging gauge started falling and eventually, the car just plain stopped. The battery is only a month old, so I figured it must be the alternator. The alternator is way in the back of the engine compartment, is there a photo-tutorial showing how this is replaced?

I'll post before and after photos when I find a reliable image hosting service.

thanks.

[morris]

There are some good (and FREE) repair instructions for your Corolla at Autozone.com.
Here's the link for '88 Corolla Alternator removal. Your model may vary.http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...3d80169b3e.jsp

[mrdennmann]

It seems that I've got the 4A-GE model. I'll have this on the road in no time. Anyone know a good imagehosting company? I want to post the pictures of the Corolla in the bushes.

[Raddman]

Originally Posted by mrdennmann

It seems that I've got the 4A-GE model. I'll have this on the road in no time. Anyone know a good imagehosting company? I want to post the pictures of the Corolla in the bushes.

www.photobucket.com

[89yotarollagts]

http://www.imageshack.us/index.php sounds like an alternator prob to me ive replaced 2 in mine... its really not that hard... just gotta get under their and wiesel it out... make sure you dissconnect the battery too !!! Cant wait to see the pics !! how many miles does she have on her ?

[toyotaspeed90]

disconnect the battery, disconnect the power wire on the alt, pull out the round plug..... unbolt the top bolt, slide it forward, take the belt off, then unbolt the lower bolt..... getting the alternator out of the lower bracket can sometimes be a pain in the ass.... it's been known to be tight enough where people have gone without it and not know..... in any case, invest in some PB blaster.... it works wonders..... the alt should drop from the bottom no problem (don't actually drop it so you can get your core charge back and install the new one in the opposite manner

[toyotaspeed90]

oh, also..... the speedometer to me sounds like you have a set of gauges going out..... the gauge set is fairly inexpensive if you find the right person/junkyard (under $50).... the speedometer is mechanically driven by a cable that runs from the tranny directly to the back of the gauges..... if it's multiplying (which i highly doubt your cable is spinning 4 times as fast) the gauges themselves are going out

[TBayToyotaBoy]

I'm jealous...! I thought I got a good deal on my '89 GTS for $300, but now you've got me thinking I should be cruising the country roads around town more often!

If you can't find a guage cluster in your town, send me a PM and I can probably get one from my scrap yard buddies for about $10 CAD (about $9 USD) and then shipping is your only concern...

[bob022004]

I just unbolt the coil and go out the top with my alternator when i rebuilt it. but then mine came factory with no power steering or a/c so i don't have those two items in the way.