Corolla servicing advice wanted

[dieselnutjob]

I need to service a friends Corolla. Normally I don't service friends cars but with this particular one I am in favour deficit etc.

 

I haven't seen the car but it is a 1998 Corolla 1.3 (1332cc to be precise) with 111,000 on the clock.

 

It had an oil, filter, air filter, antifreeze, plug n leads only six months ago so I will probably just change the oil n filter and check tyres, brake pads, lights and things. I might change the brake fluid unless I can find evidence of it being new (not sure how you tell). it hasn't been out of central London for four months so an Italian tune up up the A40M would probably be a good idea.

 

Do these things have a timing belt? Anything different or weird about these?

[r.welfare]

There's only two weird things about these - the engine has 12 valves (so one of the last of the Japanese-fad three valves per cylinder jobs) and a 1998 will have those godawful bugeye headlamps. Otherwise it's all straightforward boring reliable Toyota - it's an FE engine so should be bulletproof. Italian tune-up is a good call.

 

1.3 has a timing belt, according to Autodata it's a 63k/5 year change interval but can't be too hard as the book time is 1.8 hours. You can get hydrometers to measure the water content of brake fluid, but a cheap rule of thumb is whipping off the lid to the master cylinder reservoir and seeing if it looks dirty and dark.

[dieselnutjob]

just drove it back to my place and for an S reg car with 118000 miles it's pretty mint and drives well

I jetwashed several kg of mud out of each rear arch but they aren't rusty

The thermostat is stuck open because it only heats up properly when stationary, but doesn't over heat; difficult to change?

The tracking is out

It has a scrape on one arch down to the metal (but not dented) with surface rust so I'll at least kurust and zinc primer it for him

I have to see if my normal garage can test the moisture levels of the brake fluid

pics tomorrow. It's a bug eyed Corolla if you know what I mean.

[Morgan84]

The Corolla is a pretty bombproof car,and from memory a 4E-FE or similar engine.It will be happy on 10W40 oil ( unless the handbook states otherwise - i know later Toyota models took 5w30 )

 

I have a old saying - Typical bloody Toyota - nothing wrong with it !

[Ian Nexus]

Even when something is wrong with a Toyota it still seems to keep going.....