Awesome! Maybe will see a video of him working on your car

 

A good DIY for testing for head gasket leaks. That would be cool and maybe analysis if it fails.

 

oh cool. I would love to know what codes the car is throwing

 

Could most likely be end of the road depending on what you need at that shop done

 

From a financial standpoint, it's simply not feasible to undertake that journey and incur whatever expenses it may entail. This car has faithfully served for 14 years, covering 212,000 miles and counting, more than justifying its initial cost and then some. However, for me, this transcends mere practicality; it's a matter of sentiment. Thankfully, my financial stability shields me from any significant impact on my day-to-day expenses, allowing me to indulge in this seemingly irrational idea without repercussions.

Might want to consider routing through Deal's Gap.

Absolutely, "Tail of the dragon" it's part of the first leg of my trip staying in Knoxville and second leg to Chicago.

Op takes good care of his car. Very proactive minded when it came to maintenance. Did some upgrades along the way. Car care nut won’t steer people wrong. He’s pretty honest in his videos and will educate.

Your leak is the timing cover seal. But won’t know until you get to the car care nut.

Thank you sincerely for your kind words. I'm dedicated to maintaining this vehicle at its best, adhering closely to the manual and even going beyond to ensure its longevity.

You're absolutely correct regarding the cover seal issue, and I appreciate your insight. Alongside that, there are some other maintenance tasks that I haven't tackled yet, as per his instructional video.

Having already replaced the alternator, starter, and undergone a transmission rebuild at 190,000 miles, I'm now keen to address any other components that may be nearing failure or require preventive maintenance. It would be incredibly beneficial if he could comprehensively document all the necessary tasks in one of his videos. Not only would this aid me personally, but it would also serve as a valuable resource for the community, offering insights into common failure points beyond the 200,000-mile mark for this 10th generation vehicle, especially considering its history of meticulous maintenance since purchase. I believe that generating more views and comments on this post will greatly contribute to the visibility of my repair journey and potentially facilitate the inclusion of my repairs in future videos.

 

Op takes good care of his car. Very proactive minded when it came to maintenance. Did some upgrades along the way. Car care nut won’t steer people wrong. He’s pretty honest in his videos and will educate.

Your leak is the timing cover seal. But won’t know until you get to the car care nut.

 

I understand and therefore lies concern for OP
Be very mindful that the car nut does have associates i.e., technicians, under his employ that may or may not be as fastidious as he presents himself.

 

Might want to consider routing through Deal's Gap.

 

Oil leak is most likely just a valve cover gasket, normal for them to harden/crack/shrink up over the years, pretty easy to replace. Not a big deal. The issue with the airbag light, I assume is probably an issue with the sensor under the seat, it detects if someone large enough is sitting in the passenger seat to turn the airbag on/active. If there is an issue with the sensor or its wiring the airbag will remain OFF, When you put in the new seats, did you keep the sensor and place it on the new seats, did you plug it back in? did the seats come with a sensor? Are they even equipped to accommodate the sensor? Could be the sensor is just not plugged in, same with the seat belt electrical cable. Did you put in the seats or did you have a shop do it? The DSC light could also be as simple as a cable not being plugged back in or not plugged in all the way, or damaged, possibly during the motor mount install, or the pump on the ABS unit went out. Look forward to hearing how it goes, Let him know you are on this forum and we are hoping to see your car on one of his videos.
Oh and since you have a fresh transmission in there, remember to do regular drain and fills of the transmission fluid, keep it fresh so that trans never needs to be worked on again. I usually do a simple drain and fill about every 20K or even sooner, I usually do it during one of my oil changes, while I am down there I go ahead and drain the trans too. This kind of goes for all the fluids, keep an eye on them and keep them clean and fresh, Oil, Trans, Power steering, Brake, Coolant. I use test strips for my coolant and brake fluid, I just dip it in and it tells me the health and acidity of my coolant and measures moisture and copper content in the brake fluid to let me know if it needs to be flushed out or is still healthy. Then check you air filter once in a while make sure it is clean, clean your Mass Airflow Sensor once in a while, Change out your cabin air filter once a year or so. Pretty basic stuff, keeps the car happy and running smooth. Not sure what engine your car has but if it has a timing belt, make sure that gets changed out on schedule. Last suggestion, Do not use cheap chinese/mexican parts, Stick to OEM.

 

Thank you sincerely for your valuable advice. The seats I acquired did not include a sensor, so I had to remove the OEM sensor and cables in order to install them onto my aftermarket Sparco seats. Upon replacing the seats, I successfully positioned the sensor and weight pad for the passenger seat without encountering any issues related to airbags, seat belts, or other components. However, the problem arose with the driver's seat. The airbag light and seat belt indicator began blinking intermittently and sometimes remained solid, occasionally disappearing briefly. This led me to suspect a potential connection issue on my part.

In an effort to resolve the problem, I reached out to Mr. Ling, as referenced in the YouTube video below. We conducted a two-hour FaceTime session, during which we replaced resistors and meticulously inspected all connections beneath the seat to identify any installation errors or electrical short circuits. Unfortunately, our efforts did not yield a solution.

Approximately two years ago, I replaced the MAF sensor, performed throttle body and cold air intake cleanings, and replaced some hoses while installing an oil catcher. I wholeheartedly agree with your suggestion regarding fluid checks and replacements. Admittedly, I only addressed the transmission fluid once prior to its failure. Thank you once again for your input.

Additionally, I was considering reaching out to you and the other moderators to explore the possibility of sharing this thread in other Corolla generation forums. This could potentially provide greater exposure and inform more people about this issue. I believe it wouldn't be limited to assisting owners of the 10th generation Corolla alone. If you deem this feasible, I would greatly appreciate your assistance. Thanks once more for your support.

 

There should be a shop down in your area familiar with installing and tuning the supercharger. Are you thinking katana?

 

Trust in the shop. Teacher and student become 1. The vehicles featured in videos are done by Amd.

 

that was the purest of intentions I had when I took the old Toyota to the car nut shop to get a plethora of new parts put on to replace the aged and worn-out parts. To give it a new life as it were
Upon personal inspection, after I got the vehicle back, I found so many things not right and proper (about a dozen things but I honestly lost count after awhile of spot checking)
For the total amount this all cost, it was definitely Not a high professionally done, with great attention to detail, as I thought the car nut shop was all about.
I honestly do not know who was wrenching on the vehicle!

 

There should be a shop down in your area familiar with installing and tuning the supercharger. Are you thinking katana?

When did you hear about this Katana 3? I've been asking, in several places and the only one who will shipped was in the UK, Lotus dealer don't sell it unless if you are a Lotus owner, thanks for the tip 👍🏾

I understand and therefore lies concern for OP
Be very mindful that the car nut does have associates i.e., technicians, under his employ that may or may not be as fastidious as he presents himself.

As far as I’ve been told they are 3 technicians, all work
before deliver has to be supervised by him but if
That was your experience with his shop? Can you illustrate
a little more for us? Please and Thanks

 

When did you hear about this Katana 3? I've been asking, in several places and the only one who will shipped was in the UK, Lotus dealer don't sell it unless if you are a Lotus owner, thanks for the tip 👍🏾

As far as I’ve been told they are 3 technicians, all work
before deliver has to be supervised by him but if
That was your experience with his shop? Can you illustrate
a little more for us? Please and Thanks

I looked into the katana when I had my corolla xrs. The one I saw was manufactured in Australia. Theres 2 kits out. I forgot the other one. But I stopped when I heard monkey wrench racing was going to offer the Greddy based supercharger for the 2zz.

Come to think of it, I’d email monkey wrench racing to find out if it’s able to be work with the 2zr.

 

Why not use a good code scanner and see what is going on first? If you changed seats its probably something you did causing the airbag light to come on.
The fuel cap doesn't have anything to do with stability control. It could be a speed sensor.
The oil leak could be anything, valve cover, power steering, steering rack etc.

These are very minor issues, no need to jump to conclusions. If you can change seats, and a motor mount, I'm sure you can diagnose an oil leak and stability problem. Spend the money on a good code scanner rather than driving a bunch of miles to spend more money having it "fixed".
In my opinion, for whatever that is worth.

 

Well definitely the airbag and the seat belt lights are from me replacing the seats, if you see my previous post regarding the seat I tried everything including help with an engineer who has a Youtube channel to track any mistakes from my part, I did not changed the engine mount that was my mechanic who saw and scan the computer and I had different codes which I don’t remember one of the suggestions was to start simple and see if replacing the gas cap will take care of the check engine light.

Oil leaks as you mentioned will be something relatively simple but if my car it’s on half of his life and there’s maintenance and other things that can be done.
Taking my car to TCCN doesn’t affect my finances and I can bring knowledge to the community, why not?

 

^ It's not a power steering leak.

 

Best of luck on your Journey. These cars do evoke strong emotions. I lost my 2003 a couple of years ago to rust. Very sad to see it go. Keep us posted!

 

Just out of curiosity, has your Corolla had the cold start rattle? Mine is a '10 LE with 126k that has the issue on only cold starts. I asked my mechanic in Palm Beach who fixes Acura's and other foreign cars, and he told me it's very expensive to fix and probably not worth it and just live with it. He had suggested that he could add the Lucas oil additive on my next oil change, but I don't really like those oil additives.

He just replaced my starter which had died. Good luck on your journey. I really like AMD and follow his channel. Wish he was in south Florida.

 

I do have the rattle but I never paid attention till now, I do the additives once in a while, I’m also in South Florida, I do basic maintenance with Delray Toyota but I have an independent mechanic in Royal Palm he is a good guy and I was tempted to fix the P0441 code that I have with him, but if I’m taking the trip and my car will handle till the end of May I rather AMD to do everything.

 

The rattle still there I have Rob Amatto in Edmorse Delray pretty honest and he used to race ha has been my service advisor for 8 years, I have Peter in Royal Palm Euro experts for mayor stuff he replaced the engine bracket and diagnosed my actual problem.

 

Will be looking forward to your experience with AMD at CCN Auto. I have been following him since the pandemic and wish he was in south Florida.

 

common oil leaks on my 2005 corolla and vibe. I had 4 of this generation= valve cover gasket. timing chain tensioner "o-ring". some owners report the timing chain cover occasionally. also down below the pulleys where you see a little electric part plugged in there,s a gasket involved . But my 05 vibe was leaking around the lowest pulley that,s toward the front of the vehicle. The leak throws the oil and it,s difficult to figure. But after many trials and errors we got it. I got help from all the good guys on this toyotanation forum and also genvibe forum for vibe owners.

 

I am truly sorry to hear of your disappointment. As we know, monkey see monkey do does not always transfer well.

This is how I test a new shop. I give the shop small tasks. Oil change mostly, just to see if they truly are in it for the money. Upsell tactics don’t work on me.

Many years ago, I had my clutch go out on me. Towed it to a shop close to my home the next day. Mechanic calls me to say, the driver side axle broke. I’m thinking that it broke the clutch and the joint snapped. I say this, because I couldn’t grab a gear. But in reality, they broke it as they were removing it. Honest mistake, never owned up to it. Never went back after that.

Now, I try to wrench on my own. Just in the last 3 years, I’ve pulled axles for replacement, did a clutch job, disassembled an engine with the guidance of a friend, and other odds and ends. It’s a big task, but after this, I will leave it to the pros. Just so as long as I’m not being taken advantage of.

 

Well, next week I will start my Journey from Florida to Chicago, stopping at Tennessee and driving some twisted roads around the tail of the dragon area, I will open a new thread with pics on my journey and I will upload videos on my Youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEFyYU96VYgBBDRTwrzMZZw. I still have the same code and lights on the dashboard they just come on and off but the driving is the same no issues, I'm at 214K miles close to get my oil change but I will let TCCN to do it and get a sample to send it to blackstone, transmission fluid will be replaced as well.

 

Will be following you on your youtube channel.

Are you still using the Euro Experts shop in Royal Palm? My 2010 Corolla LE with 126k has an AC issue where it just blows warm air for the first five minutes and then it starts blowing cold air. These days in South Florida it's very hot. So was wondering if this shop has experience with Toyota AC systems. From the stuff I have found on Youtube, a lot of folks resolved the issue by changing the AC control valve located on the compressor. Even the car care nut thought it might be a sticky flow valve in my situation, and advised to wait till the AC stops working and then replace it. But it's so hot down here these days.

 

Never meet your heros lol. I know enough and I see enough that I'm skeptical of social media mechanics, it's easy to cherry pick the best to highlight. I'm sure they can and do good work but sometimes expectations are set too high.

 

How is your Corolla running after giving it to TCCN? Was he able to finish up all the repairs?

 

Still there, I reassured him to take his time as I'm not in a hurry. It would be great if he could showcase the repairs in one of his videos, turning it into a learning experience for all of us. It would offer valuable insights into the maintenance of a well-kept car at 216,000 miles.

 

I've been a fan of TCCN channel on YouTube since he started it a few years ago.....I really miss the Saturdays when Ahmed would live-stream and answer questions from DIYers like myself! Our 2008 Corolla is now driven by my son-in-law and is going on 200,000 miles....not a single big issue and, man, changing out that transmission fluid is SUPER easy with that dipstick.....they should've never gotten rid of the transmission dipstick.

 

Updates!!!!
Well my car it’s on transit to Florida, repairs were completed about a week ago but I was trying to coordinate transportation, I heard some horror stories and I asked in a couple of forums which company they will recommend. I will tell my experience when my car arrives.

 

Customer service has been good. Although it took me almost a week to arrange transport after my car was ready, the team was very patient, and I didn't have to pay any storage fees. I spoke with Ahmed today to review the work that was done. They assured me that I shouldn't hesitate to contact them if any issues arise once I receive my car. Looking forward to squeeze another 200k. Hopefully, I'll get my "beast" back by this Saturday! 😂😂😂

Here is the final list of repairs that were completed:

 

My baby it’s back home 🤩 2 days earlier than schedule!!!

 

How's the car driving? I like your blue color on the Corolla. Is that your original paint?