Question to all you proud corolla owners

[boroEF]

For all you old school rolla owners out there, i'd like to hear about the mechanical problems you have with the cars...
I am considering getting an AE86 if i can find one, and if not, AE92. So i'd like to hear about the bad side about them before i decide. The good is often discussed, but the bad? :grin:

[project trueno]

rust!! :grin:

[bondobondo]

thats a damn good question.. unfortunately
it is true that these are all around nice cars to drive, but some have alot of problems...not chronic ones, but stil some have really stubborn ones..
i don';t have the time to talk about it now.. but remember, these cars have high milage.. well into the 100,000kms-250,000kms mark.. so think of everything that needs or should be serviced by this point, and after some have suffered as many as 15 canadian winters....

i don't know any chronic problems but things to look out for are

brakes, conditioning/service, seizing..
cv shafts,
alternator,
shocks and suspension, bushings, etc..
parking brake,
wheel bearings (big $$ here)
steering racks sometimes,
ac doesn't work anymore almost garunteed, so just remove the entire thing..

and rust..

i am sure there is more.. but i will get into that later...

ok now it is KEVIN's TURN :smile:
don't write too many pages ok kevin? haha

lates
andrew

[varietta]

ok now it is KEVIN's TURN :smile:
don't write too many pages ok kevin? haha

You read my mind. Okay, I'll keep it short. Let me take a look at my repair list. I'll let you know what I've done on my car so far, in terms of maintanence (about 220,000kms):

brake caliper, shocks, clutch master/slave cylinder, timing/alternator/steering belt, brake rotors, radiator, and worst of all, a cracked cylinder head!!

Oh ya, I've owned the car for less than half a year.. :wink:

Kevin

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: varietta on 2001-10-27 17:24 ]</font>

[boroEF]

On 2001-10-27 17:21, varietta wrote:

You read my mind. Okay, I'll keep it short. Let me take a look at my repair list. I'll let you know what I've done on my car so far, in terms of maintanence (about 220,000kms):

brake caliper, shocks, clutch master/slave cylinder, timing/alternator/steering belt, brake rotors, radiator, and worst of all, a cracked cylinder head!!

Oh ya, I've owned the car for less than half a year.. :wink:

Kevin

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: varietta on 2001-10-27 17:24 ]</font>

ohhhhkay thats kind of expensive for owning a car for half a year! what year is your car?

[varietta]

Shaun, honestly, if you think about it why would someone sell a car? I'd say it's because there has to be some maintenance done to the car, and he/she doesn't think it's worth spending on.. so they go on and sell the car to someone else who is willing to do so.

That's it with my case, and with alot of the cases I'm hearing. If you buy an AE86, expect to spend another $1000-$2000 on maintenance.

I've spent a little over $2000 since I bought the car in mid-July and I need another $1000 to replace the cracked head.

The car is old, and you have to have ALOT of patience!

You may be better of with a AE92, but like I said, everyone sell their car for a reason. I probably had the worst of the reasons with my AE86 (a cracked cylinder head).

Oh well, I love it anyhow. It's beautiful, no matter running or not.

Good luck,
Kevin

[goodcookiedrift]

shaun, buy a car because you like it. research it to find out what problems are associated with it. Buying an 86 is not like buying a Honda where you can simply BUY your way out of a problem. It takes alot of time, patience and research in order to fix the ails on the car.

it will not be simple, it will cost alot and it will take years....but if its something you like doing, it won't be a burden.

there are really no chronic flaw..although leaky heads are starting to be common amongst 4ags :wink:. but remember, if you get an 86, its 15yrs old....things will have to be replaced.

Nick

[martiniracing]

be ready to dish out money... like me, the parts and labour could very well go beyond the price of the actual car... that goes for two of the four 86's i've owned... i'm stupid, so i can't fix them myself :sad:

[neil85AE86]

Hmm.. I must be lucky or something.

I paid $1300 for my AE86, have driven it really hard for 14 months, including autorcrossing, lapping, cross canada trip, and I've had nothing fail... until the hairpin at the driver development track at mosport a couple weeks back, I lost my clutch, but that's fine, it got me home, the car is doing awesome, same with my previous old toyotas. I drive this car hard, I'm not afraid to bounce the rev limiter continuously. The guy who onwned it before me raced it too.

My car has almost 190k, and doesn't use a drop of oil, runs very strong.

Good precautionary maintnenance and I think they are well above average. Change ALL your fluids regularly with nothing but the best and keep it oiled! Oh yeah, don't drive anything pre 1990 Toyota in the winter if you can help it, even with oiling they still seem to rust.

Try and stick to the recommended Toyota maintenance schedule, when in doubt replace it, timing belt for example, if your not sure of the mileage since it was last replaced, just do it. This type of maintenance will be no different no matter what you buy, wether it's one year old or 20 years old. Per/km I bet you it will be a cheap car to maintain.

Neil

[bondobondo]

neil you are just damn lucky..

look at your ae86

nothing short of MINT.

:wink:
lates
andrew

[boroEF]

On 2001-11-05 01:41, trueno92 wrote:
neil you are just damn lucky..

look at your ae86

nothing short of MINT.

:wink:
lates
andrew

lol thats awesome! i wish i could find one in good condition...i found an '85 ae86 in autotrader selling for something like 5gs. i think it had about 220k on it. wonder who's it is

[varietta]

lol thats awesome! i wish i could find one in good condition...i found an '85 ae86 in autotrader selling for something like 5gs. i think it had about 220k on it. wonder who's it is

canae86's corolla. He posted on tt-cc... it should still be in the classified area. I think he sold it.. hmm maybe. but it's a good buy. :smile:

kevin

[driiift_hachiroku]

Yeah, Jason's car for sale is the best example I have ever seen. It's totally MINT and the asking cost is offset by the piece of mind that you can have because this car is totally immaculate...most critical parts have been replaced. The brakes are the strongest feeling brakes I have ever felt on a CAR! And that's saying a lot since I have driven a lot of cars. The motor pulls well also...definitely worth the steep entry price.

[neil85AE86]

Hmmm... mint, it wasn't always tho.

This car was actually bought by the previous owner for $150, with a blown engine, missing a bunch of parts, sitting rusting away in a driveway somewhere. The previous owner got it functioning well enough for street and autocross, he didn't do anything cosmetically. It had mis-matched spray can painted sections, mis-aligned body panels and almost all the paint stripped off the front bumper it looked really rough.

It had the usual quarter panel rust, sunroof rusted out, lot's of little things didn't work. I took care of getting all the little things working, found a rustfree sunroof, removed the complete interior and scrubbed and shampooed it, cleaned up the underflooring, and remainging interior while the seats and carpet was out, got a cheap paint job, and a nice set of drift wheels, that's it, I swear. It always did have a solid rust-free chassis/engine compartment tho.

I plan to post before pics, just as soon as I unpack my computer in a week or two. You shall see. Mechanically I haven't done anything to this car since I bought it.

When I started looking, I was planning on spending upto $5000 for a car like Jason's. I couldn't find one. If I didn't have this car I would have bought his in a second. A good foundation is compulsary to any project. With old cars, the time and effort required to piece together a beater will cost way more than the price of a car like Jason's in the end. A good foundation will save you lot's in the long run. Preferably original paint, complete car, that hasn't been modded. None of which will be cheap.
Eveyday another hachi gets crushed, and everyday the price of the remaining ones goes up, the price of the remaining parts go up, $5000 is a good deal.

Notice how they are popping up? Hachi featured in SCC this month, big picture of clean hachi in Import Racer, you watch, $5k will seem like a steal in a couple of years.

Neil

[bondobondo]

neil,.

lower your car!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks
andrew