[Eastman51]

That 3-way junction has no moving parts inside it's only a 1 to 3 fitting. The proportioning valve is center of firewall hard to see or get to. People don't want to hear it but this is partly why I dumped drum brakes long ago they never feel great and are nothing but trouble. I hate them.

I never had good luck with platinum plugs like how it runs with the cheap original copper plugs.

idk, the manual says platinum plugs I believe.

I'm with you on drums being a pain, but the fact is, the car has them. Maybe it's easier to swap on these than my other projects (solid rear axles amirite), but I don't know if I can be bothered.

But I assume I do need this 3-1 fitting, regardless.

 

[71Corolla]

idk, the manual says platinum plugs I believe.

It says Denso Q16R-U11 aka Denso 3006 and whatever the NGK counterpart is. Both are copper plugs. The V6 calls for platinum.

 

[white90dx]

Here's the thing.

That's attached to the bracket that goes up and over, held by the same nuts as the master cylinder. They will separate easily when/if you do the replacement.

Copper plugs are definitely best on the 4-cylinder (NGK V-power is generally what I use). Just replace them for ~$10 every 30k miles. Takes what, 10 minutes? Just do it during an oil change.

-Charlie

 

[Eastman51]

That's attached to the bracket that goes up and over, held by the same nuts as the master cylinder. They will separate easily when/if you do the replacement.

Copper plugs are definitely best on the 4-cylinder (NGK V-power is generally what I use). Just replace them for ~$10 every 30k miles. Takes what, 10 minutes? Just do it during an oil change.

-Charlie

Ok, good to know. Definitely doesn't look that way, but makes me more inclined to jump on replacing it eventually.
I don't think "fixed" is the right word, but adjusting the shoes and double checking the brakes are all bled helped significantly. It's at least a 110% improvement; but it's nowhere near the incredible instant rock-solid feel of the van's brakes (the van's brakes feel better than my 5 month old daily, lol). The wheel cylinders did look new-ish, and I think fully kitting the rear with shoes, hardware, and new drums would help; but it's not necessary.
I can live with it as is for a while longer, but I'll definitely order a master cylinder whenever I order anything else.

Sounds like Copper is definitely the correct choice, but idk the Platinums feel fine. It's not a rowdy car to begin with

Having a tough tough time figuring out how I want to do the interior led upgrades. I want to keep a look similar to the sea green it is now, but obviously much brighter. I was thinking of trying a green bulb condom on a white LED. If that didn't work and/or looks bad, I'd either rock white or orange.

Tomorrow I'm going to tear back into the lower dash to look for the alarm computer again, as well as figure out wtf is up with the crotch cooler.

 

[Eastman51]

While I was under here, I did some testing. These are white LEDs with the green condoms off of halogens. it's not the same, but it's somewhat close.
I might go out and buy up all the 194 LEDs and do my gauge cluster, lol.
I have a spare gear indicator from a junkyard car that I can try bulbs from to restore the missing lights until I find adequate LEDs.

In other news, I finally found the alarm computer. It was underneath the driver's seat the whole time, lol.
So now that it's unplugged, I obviously can't start the car. Next order of business is figuring out where the starter wire is cut.

Edit: I also figured out the mystery of the popcorn seeds in the crotch cooler. I also discovered rat/mice poison in the hose. If there ever were mice in here, they're long gone now. Smells fine.
I have also noticed that the rear part of the headliner is sagging. And unfortunately, a pretty decent bit. I have no idea if it's happened since I purchased the car, or if it happened before due to the whackyness of the sunroof issue.
Edit 2: I should clarify that the cloth is not what's sagging, it's the whole thing. The paper board stuff is sagging.

 

[Eastman51]

I ended up deciding to go with orange for the primary color. I tried the covered white LED, but it didn't do it for me. White on its own looked fine, but seemed to have a lot of oversplash and lighting up the whole thing. The orange leds I ended up with do the same, but the warmer color is much easier on the eyes; as well as that bit dimmer to make a difference.

I also managed to get into the HVAC to replace that bulb; and fixed a rattle in the process. Whoever was in there for the radio put it back together without all the screws...sigh
Somehow lost the ring cover for the ignition switch, no idea how.

My gear indicator uses super tiny bulbs, and the junkyard one has the more standard sized ones. So, I left that alone for now.
I plan to replace the shifter light when I try to figure out the stupid shift lock thing.

As for the alarm computer, I figured that out remarkably easily. I checked the wiring diagrams and discovered that the starter wire out of the ignition switch is black/white. So while tracing the anti-theft harness I found an odd little pigtail connector that had a black/white wire jumping two pins. 🤔
So I traced back farther and found the anti-theft harness plugged into a connector that had black/white wires going to it. Got it all unplugged, and found the little loop pigtail was the same female connector as what I unplugged from the car's wiring. Chucked it where the anti-theft harness went and the car started. I made a way bigger deal of it than it ended up being, lol. idk if this is factory, or something that was modified as part of the security system install, but it made things easy.

I did note when glancing at the wiring diagrams that there is a headlights auto-shutoff feature, which my car does not seem to do. Something to investigate later. I quite like the auto-shutoff, as my other two Toyotas have that. To be honest, I think modern cars take "auto" headlights too far. They don't automatically shut off unless the switch is set to "auto." Cars did this better in the 80s and 90s lmao

 

[71Corolla]

Auto lights are controlled by the integration relay and.....not sure what else might be different could be an entire wiring harness, fuse box etc. or nothing else. The orange looks good, white doesn't work because the cluster housing is green-ish blue which tints the white and it looks wrong. The PRND2L is a bit tricky to custom light the socket and bulbs are tiny I used a 3mm LED and resistor.

 

[white90dx]

I did note when glancing at the wiring diagrams that there is a headlights auto-shutoff feature, which my car does not seem to do. Something to investigate later. I quite like the auto-shutoff, as my other two Toyotas have that. To be honest, I think modern cars take "auto" headlights too far. They don't automatically shut off unless the switch is set to "auto." Cars did this better in the 80s and 90s lmao

Auto Lights are LE only. You MAY be able to swap in an LE integration relay to get the feature, but probably not (the dash harness is different between base/DX and LE due to the climate control differences, etc.).

-Charlie

 

[white90dx]

While you are at it, find a cluster with tach (make sure it matches your engine). Plug-n-play swap. You can even move your speedo section over to keep your odometer correct.

-Charlie

 

[babyuncle]

Auto Lights are LE only. You MAY be able to swap in an LE integration relay to get the feature, but probably not (the dash harness is different between base/DX and LE due to the climate control differences, etc.).

Some Dlx also has this feature. It came standard on my 89 Dlx; saved me many times when I had to drive through some tunnels and then forgot to turn the headlights off.

 

[Eastman51]

Well. I'm slightly confused.

I decided to drive the Camry to work today, and it did great except for one issue.
First half of the drive went perfect. But on the second half, after getting off the highway to take back roads, the cruise control didn't turn on. Press the switch multiple times, nothing.
A few minutes later, when driving through a small town, the light in the switch came on again. When I pressed the switch, light went off as expected but didn't come back on when pressed a second time. Again, a few minutes later the green indicator lit up.
Cruise then set and held speed as expected the last leg of the trip. When I no longer needed cruise, I tried turning it off and on again; but this time I didn't see the indicator come on even after a few minutes. When I got to work and parked, I tried cycling the key to see if the cruise would turn on (although I did not restart the engine) but I still did not see the indicator light up.
I did try to set cruise thinking maybe the indicator bulb went out since it's been really dim, but nothing. Only when I saw the indicator come back on did setting cruise do anything. I've tried searching the forums here, but I don't see too much of use thus far. Brake lights have continued to work as normal the entire time.
Maybe this cruise issue is related to the shift lock not working? At least that's what I am gathering by both systems running off the 'stop' fuse.
After work I can do some quick poking before I leave, but I don't have any tools with me. All I can do is check fuses and visual inspections.
Perhaps it will decide to work on the way home, or not. My other thought is it's related to the alternator; if my theory that the alt is dying, perhaps it's not receiving enough power. Not that I can even check that until I get home though.
Edit: no flashing or anything. Press switch and either nothing happens or it turns on after a few minutes of waiting. I remember seeing mention of the o/d light blinking, but ofc my o/d light is busted.

 

[71Corolla]

Maybe the switch itself is flaky it can be opened and cleaned specifically the copper "fingers".

 

[Eastman51]

Maybe the switch itself is flaky it can be opened and cleaned specifically the copper "fingers".

Perhaps. I did have it unplugged not long ago.
I can't remember if I put it away, but might have a screwdriver I could use to get the switch out.

 

[white90dx]

I had some flakiness in my original '90 Camry years ago (whoa, almost 20 years now!) that I never really got to the bottom of. Every few thousand miles it would stop working and flash the light until I reset the system. Never got worse from there.

I'd definitely start with checking the switch. If there was a problem with the rest of the system, it is more likely the light would flash, indicating a problem instead of staying off completely.

-Charlie

 

[Eastman51]

I'd definitely start with checking the switch. If there was a problem with the rest of the system, it is more likely the light would flash, indicating a problem instead of staying off completely.

-Charlie

Yes. That's the logical place to start. When the light came on, it's worked flawlessly every time; and never had an issue before I took the dash apart for the LEDs. Granted the cruise acts a little goofy by my standards, but always been consistent.
Edit: Just got off work a little early and turned the key on, engine off. Switch seems to be responding like normal. I do have a screwdriver on me, but I think I'll see how it behaves as is before I mess with it.

 

[71Corolla]

If you can find a late 80's Celica at your local salvage yard the cruise switch is a nice silver instead of black and plugs right in.

 

[Eastman51]

I don't think many of those celicas are left around here, even in scrapyards.

I found a Camry combo cc and hazard switch on eBay for $12 and ordered that.
Cruise decided to not work when firing up the car tonight.

However I do know that the alternator is dead. Or at least extremely close to death.

This was measured at the battery with the engine running.
I had measured it same way before leaving, and it was at 12.5v. Trip distance was maybe 1 mile from my.house to the gas station.

I think it's time to go ahead and make a Rockauto order. Perhaps the new alt will make cruise work again like someone had said in a thread I skimmed the other day.
My switch is pretty cosmetically worn, so the new switch will be a welcome change regardless.

 

[white90dx]

This was measured at the battery with the engine running.

Did you try rev'ing the engine a bit to see if it came up when above idle? Even my 3s-gte isn't great at charging the battery at idle. (I often have lights, engine fans, brake lights, etc. on at idle and voltage can drop into the 11's at those times). 13.4-14.4V, depending on temperature whenever it is above 1k RPM though.

-Charlie

 

[Eastman51]

Did you try rev'ing the engine a bit to see if it came up when above idle? Even my 3s-gte isn't great at charging the battery at idle. (I often have lights, engine fans, brake lights, etc. on at idle and voltage can drop into the 11's at those times). 13.4-14.4V, depending on temperature whenever it is above 1k RPM though.

-Charlie

I didn't try revving it, though I suppose I could.
Never seen a vehicle have issues holding minimum 13v at idle, especially with all the lights and things turned off; as I had it for that photo.
Even my RX-7 with it's wimpy 50amp stock alternator held 12.8v with the headlights on, though it would bounce down to 12.1v with the turn signals. An upgrade to a 70amp unit and LED light conversion (minus headlights and fog lights still being halogen), and now it holds 14v dead, even with the headlights and hazards on.

 

[babyuncle]

If you don't want to pay that much these are decent maybe 75% of the above

AUXBEAM 70W 9004 LED Headlight Bulbs Kit Super White 6000K High-Low Beam F16Plus | eBay

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Well, you sold me. Last month, I almost struck a lady who was pushing a shopping cart on the road. She was on the unlit side of a 4-lane road and was between the street lights. By the time I saw her I had 1-2 seconds to do something. I didn't even hit the brake. I swerved a little and missed the cart by a foot or less. That was the last straw for me with these bad 9004 halogen bulbs.

The reasons I've been hesitating to switch to LEDs are bad beam patterns and glare from LEDs. I was surprised to find those problems were not an issue here and the Auxbeam LED bulbs mimic the halogen 9004s very well.

These are my 9004 bulbs, the left side is Sylvania, the right is Philips with a weird pattern. After replacing the Philips bulb with Auxbeam F16+ LED, it looks like this.

And both Auxbeam LEDs at about 4 feet away look like these

This is a bit closer at 2-3 ft

And farther at around 10 feet

I've sat in front of the car at hood level and there was no glare unless high beam is on. So in a sense these new aftermarket LED bulbs are actually better than OEM LEDs on some cars designed for LEDs. I've been driving around with these for a week and I love them. High beam indicator is not working but I can live without it.
Thanks @71Corolla for doing the legwork in finding these gems.