Me gots a car for free

[deeder7001]

It's a 94 Toyota Corrola DX. It was my sister's car that she got from my grandma. Now I have it. It wasn't bad when my sister got it. It has turned to nearly 20 year old poop on wheels. lol Still it was FREE!! Pics coming later.

[Widdykats]

^ Yaaay!

[rockouthippie]

Those go forever as long as you keep oil in em'. Change all the oils, you can bet your sis dint.

[DrO]

and so the money pit known as a car begins to take it's first bite...

but it is so much nicer to have your own means to get around

-daz

[Psythik]

Stick or automatic?

[rockouthippie]

A Toyota will generally take being treated like poop as long as it still runs. If nothing is wrong now, do your maintenance and drive like Jesus.

And uh... I hate to mention it... but I'll bet you a buck it needs a timing belt.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6854987_repl...a-corolla.html

This is the car I usually buy. Spend $3000. Fix $1000. Drive 50-80,000.

If the thing runs ok now and you get the maintenance up to snuff, it should be cheap wheels. It should go to 140 or 150,000 if it doesn't fail because of bad maintenance.

One of these taken care of is a 200 miler.

[deeder7001]

Originally Posted by Psythik

Stick or automatic?

It's automatic. I can drive stick but I prefer auto. Drivers here are INSANE so auto is better as it's less distracting.

It has 155,000+ miles on it so far. It needs a lot of work. Mostly cosmetic.

It needs:

Interior door handles for rear doors. I replaced the front door handles last night. $20/ea
Fix a window(works but squeaks when closing)
Paint job
Ceiling cloth came off
Needs a new stereo and doors speakers
a GOOD cleaning inside(shampoo seats and floor)
fix fender and hood dents
maybe some minor engine work

There's more that I'll list later on.

I need tags and inspection. Possibly a tune up as well.

[rockouthippie]

Before you go buying $20 door handles, you should see if you can get it to pass inspection.

It's pretty long in the tooth.

[deeder7001]

It'll pass inspection. My sister had it done last year. A lot of the interior cosmetic damage is from her ex boyfriend being a dumbass.

[rockouthippie]

This is the way I buy cars. Usually to get one of these "free" (or $2000) cars going takes several hundred dollars to make it back into a driver.

But you gotta be careful of what candidate you choose to fix up. It's a Toyota. It doesn't get any better than that. It's pretty long in the tooth. 150,000 would make me nervous. I'd like to see 100,000.

Still, if it passes inspection.... and it isn't making any big loud clanging noises.. and the struts aren't bent... if you do the maintenance... you might get a few more years out of her. And if (and they never are) the timing belt wasn't replaced at 120,000, you're driving a bomb. Likely it was replaced once around 80,000 when it broke.

Before you start polishing, you better make sure you aren't shining a turd.

Been there... done that...

It almost certainly needs a coolant and transmission service. Get that tranny oil changed. I've never seen a tranny with new fluid in it fail. When they do fail, it's usually full of 10 year old sludge. At this age... end of tranny... end of car....

I looked. You got a u-pull-it in Austin. That's a good thing.

Pick the right car and you can be bombing down the road happy. Pick the wrong car and you pissed away $40 on door handles.

I get cars for about $4000, put $1000 in them and they look as good and drive as good as anything anyone else is driving. Maybe better.

But ya gotta watch it. If a car is too far south you can get yourself into a money pit in a hurry.

One problem you have with this vintage. Wrecking yards will start just tossing these in the crusher after they are 12 years old. Used parts get harder to come by.

I've actually bought a whole car for the bumper.

I had a 83 Chevy Cavalier that got mangled in a parking lot. It was really clean and nice even though it was old. I couldn't find a bumper, so I bought a piece of shit one with a good bumper for $300, swapped the bumpers and resold the POS for $300.

That car died at 235,000... but I had it from 68,000 on.....

Keep the greasy side down...

[swingdjted]

Congrats on the new wheels. As long as it's safe and reliable, it's a good car. I'm a bit of a Toyota fanboy, so I'm always glad to hear long-life stories coming from them. My brother has my old Camry XLE V6 that is around 150K right now and still performing like new. My parents let go of a Sienna minivan at 240K about 2 months ago, and there wasn't much wrong with it, other than them being worried about the mileage, which wouldn't have mattered earlier in life, but they're senior citizens now (late 70's). Click and Clack from the NPR "Car Talk" show (and from many weekly syndicated newspaper columns) say that the Corolla is the best overall practical compromise car - everything you need, nothing you don't need.

[rockouthippie]

Yeah, but when the head liner is falling out of it, it isn't a good sign.

This is the point where you look at nothing with rose colored glasses.

>My brother has my old Camry XLE V6 that is around 150K right now and still performing like new.

No it isn't like new, but if he's really good, he might get 200,000 out of one.

But this isn't your sisters thrasher.

Yep. This sounds like a gift horse you should really look in the mouth.

[deeder7001]

My main concern is the transmission. I don't know what kind of condition it's in. Everything else is secondary. Going to see if I can get it looked at today.

[Widdykats]

That's really nice that you don't have to tow it in to be looked at.

[deeder7001]

True. It seems to be skipping second gear now unless it's in 2. Also seems to be stuck with overdrive off. Maybe I need to lose some weight in my foot.

[mike-db]

Sometimes simply flushing the tranny and replacing the fluid can fix those problems... Except for over drive, because of the year it could also be your brain box screwing up a bit.

[deeder7001]

It happens when it gets hot I think. Stop/go traffic mostly. I added some fluid "fixer" stuff and it seems somewhat better. We'll see what happens I guess. I want to change the spark plugs and air filter and possibly get some better mpg out of the thing without putting $150 into the engine.

[rockouthippie]

> I want to change the spark plugs and air filter and possibly get some better mpg out of the thing without putting $150 into the engine.

Not until you address that transmission issue. Changing the spark plugs is a good idea. But before you start, you better look at that tranny. This is unforgiving. A transmission that isn't working right is not long for the world. You'll probably self destruct in a thousand miles or less. I am assuming this engine more or less runs and just gets bad mileage. You should ignore that for now.

Either a transmission flush and new filters will take care of it or it won't. I have a feeling it won't. Usually when they shift bad, they are leaking. The leaking causes the shift bad. Look at the bell housing. Is it wet? If so the torque converter is leaking probably around the tranny seal because the torque converter is cracked.

For a DYI job, a new torque converter isn't that big of a deal, but it's not something you would want to pay shop rates to do. Easy to do. Takes a lot of time and a tranny jack. About $75-100 from the wrecking yard for a good TC. Put in a new seal... $20 or so..

There is an inspection cover on most bell housings. On some cars, it seals well enough that you won't see an obvious leak, but look in there. It's not supposed to be wet.

Transmission failures are almost always the torque converter and almost never the transmission itself. Unless it's both because some yahoo was running a tranny with no oil in it because it had a bad torque converter...and the torque converter burned out because nobody every changed the tranny fluid..... On Fords, some of them have trouble with the vacuum modulator. This is a Yo. It uses selenoids and unlike Fords, I haven't heard any gossip about an issue there.

Also. It's never the computer if the computer is working at all. The computer usually works or it doesn't. Sensors can be a problem, but I doubt it explains the bad shift.

It looks like there are two hall effect sensors on that transaxle and an oil sensor which you should be pulling a dipstick once in a while instead of counting on. They'res a couple selenoids, neither of which I would suspect either. It's the 90's. The "computer" is some 40 series CMOS on a board and not much of that.

If you do take it apart, you might want to rebuild the CV joint on that side... just so you make sure you never have to take that part of the car apart again.

If you come out ok on all this, you probably got a car with a tranny you can count on for 50,000. Next issue.....

If the engine doesn't clang, bang or leak, it's probably good for 50,000 baby it along miles too. Brakes. Look at the rotors... if any of them are cracked or so fucked up that you think they will crack, replace them with unturned salvage ones. Yeah.. so it vibrates a little...

Put a new PCV valve in it. Change the spark plugs. Take all the bulbs out of the car and vaseline them. Vaseline the sockets where they go into the lamp housings. Make sure you don't have any leaking lamp housings. If you short, you can *hope* the fuse will go before the wires, but on rice cars it usually doesn't work that way. You hear people bitch about the "damned Jap electrical systems" but you always find wet headlamps to explain it. If it's missing any of it's undercarriage spray shields... u-pull-it. Do not drive a ricer in a rainstorm without all the plastic in place.

If I get this far, I usually buy a really good set of plug wires. It matters on performance and cold starts more than anything but clean oil.

If you got this far you should be bombing around for a couple years.

As far as the cosmetic stuff. I gave the guy at the U-pull-it my number and I got a whole new beautiful leather interior for a BMW 320i for $150. Seats, carpets.... the whole thing... I was high on glue by the time I got done, but it looked like a million bucks.

Here's my ghetto used car salesman trick of the day.

So the carpet looks shitty even after you cleaned it... Get a can of cheapo spray paint one shade lighter than the carpet and a hair brush... Just shoot it and brush it in.

[Too-DAMN-Much]

inb4 spending thousands to make a "free" junker drivable.

[rockouthippie]

Last time I spent $3500 + $1000 fix. That was 4 years ago. I'm good for another 50,000 easy. It's clean. It's even nice to look at.

[Too-DAMN-Much]

yeah you can get lucky with cheap cars, especially if you know how to work on them properly, i'll definitely give you that, but cheap cars..... god those warning klaxons just won't stop, only car i ever bought for less than $1,000 would have needed an entirely new engine and enough electrical work the mechanic said he didn't even want to give it a shot to be drivable.

[deeder7001]

Seems to get that skipped gear thing when it gets hot out. It happened the other day when I was stuck in stop/go traffic on the freeway for about 15-20 minutes(15-25mph). It "fixed itself" after I got off and to more stable speeds. For the most part it shifts just fine. Other than a needed oil change the plugs and stuff can wait.

[rockouthippie]

> For the most part it shifts just fine.

Transmissions either work right or they don't. If they don't work exactly right, they'll self destruct in pretty short order. Flush and filters might cure it. But you gotta fix it and you shouldn't be driving it until you do.

It can also be that the transmission is already junk. In that case, you put zero in the car and drive it until it finally quits. I wouldn't count on that being very long.

[deeder7001]

Is there a way to hammer out a dent on the hood? It prevents the hood from closing all the way. It's not going to fly open while on the freeway but I'd feel better if it was latched all the way.

[Too-DAMN-Much]

you really should post a picture of what you've got to work with, found this for you though:

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/repaircardent

in all honesty, if you're committed to DIY fixes on this, whether you realize it or not, you're also committed to possibly making it look worse than you started, a close buddy of mine rented professional tools and with a lot of watching and some assistance from me went from a street legal monster truck with a totally ruined cab to something that looks almost passable as meant to be that way, it did take on a.... custom styling though if you catch my drift, but be patient with it, be careful not to pull too far and warp the metal and take it slow and steady.

[deeder7001]

I just need to pull the hood dent so I can close it all the way. It latches now but it isn't closed all the way.

[rockouthippie]

U-Pull-it would likely have a new hood <$50. You can bondo baby some fenders, but the hood moves, so it'll just turn into a crack the first time somebody slams the hood.

[mike-db]

I think you should say fuck it, trim the fenders lift it with hockey pucks get some nice Kneedy tires and go crazy up a mountain or down some backroads.

[rockouthippie]

Be really careful with the hood. If you take a dent puller to it, you should probably also install hood pins. It's sort of important that the hood stay closed. Don't trust damaged hood latches. I speak from experience.

[deeder7001]

Here's a pic with both dents shown. I'm not worried about the fender as it's a funny ass story. My sister backed into a tree... seriously. That's why it has the dent. lol The hood is more obvious than the fender.


Yes... that is my finger in the picture. That is why I'm not a photographer. Lol

[swingdjted]

When it comes to the hood, I get nervous about doing things on my own. I usually refer to a professional body man when it comes to that.

[mike-db]

This might not apply to you, but I was able to find a replacement hood for $25 in my area.

[rockouthippie]

When it comes to the hood, I get nervous about doing things on my own. I usually refer to a professional body man when it comes to that.

Ditto, but like Mike said, you should be able to get a hood for a 94 car for just about the scrap steel price. Not worth messing with. Shopping, you can sometimes even get one the same color. You got about 1:6 odds on these production Yo's. They didn't come in a lot of colors. More than that, people probably only bought them in 3 or 4 colors.

[Too-DAMN-Much]

honestly, i can't believe i didn't think of it before now, but yeah just u-pull it, you obviously don't care how it looks so it's not like a mismatched paintjob is gonna be a downside and not only that it's funny when the bondo all falls off in a single sheet cause the owner is driving his car to death.

[mike-db]

Originally Posted by Too-DAMN-Much

it's funny when the bondo all falls off in a single sheet cause the owner is driving his car to death.

Yes, yes it is.

[Too-DAMN-Much]

Originally Posted by mike-db

Yes, yes it is.

best practical joke you'll ever play on your own car without knowing it, LOVE that stuff and the dumbshits who use it!

of course i feel i should add most people use it properly like RoH described instead of just sheeting it all over the entire body or going too wild, a dab here or there is fine but the more you add up the more you run the gamble of looking like a fool.

[mike-db]

Honestly for shit beaters I never use bondo. Fiberglass, chicken mesh, tin, and self tapping screws fix everything when it comes to vehicles.

[Too-DAMN-Much]

honestly for shit beaters, let it look like a shit beater.
it's been proven you apparently can polish turds with a little bit of water, but who'd want to bother?

[mike-db]

Well when it comes to body work with shit beaters, I'm thinking... No floor, half a door missing, areas that would cause police to slap an inspection on it...

[Too-DAMN-Much]

well sure you have to have everything there, but it doesn't have to look nice, hell it doesn't even have to function properly, it just has to look like it possibly could.