Shite Down Under - Elderly Motors For Elderly People - Let There Be Light

[MorrisItalSLX]

I  completely forgot to record the last proper milestone, 190,000Km. That’s 30,000Km since purchase and 10,000Km since the replacement gearbox.

In fact, it’s actually gone a bit further since. This was today’s reading and the reason I realised I’d never posted the previous one.

In other news, there is no other news.

[MorrisItalSLX]

NEWS FLASH: Nothing’s happened.

2000 more kilometres covered, only thing of note was a flat tyre thanks to a rock rolling onto the road as I was going along.

A service will be coming soon, hopefully some further improvement work which has been sorely lacking of late.

33,000 Kilometres in my ownership, and counting.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Houston, we have an FTP.

Car starts, running rough as guts, battery light will not go out.

Roadside assistance on their way.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Some context:

Yesterday it was serviced, involving a new water pump and thermostat (both studs sheared instantly on the housing, joy!).

This morning (6:00am) I was leaving to go to work, start it up and idle was around 500rpm and coughing and spluttering. Gave it a few revs and idle is better at 650rpm and smooth. Then noted that the battery light was still on, went for a very short run up and down the street, battery light still on. Coughing and spluttering recommenced.

[MorrisItalSLX]

All connections to the alternator checked, battery light still on.

I should also note, it’s pissing down with rain.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Resolved!

Well, kind of.

Poor running was solved by reconnecting a vacuum line that had come adrift.

Roadside assistance man found the alternator was no longer alternating, deceased. New (Bosch) one has been procured from local reputable parts supplier to be installed after work.

Definitely not the morning I was planning to have.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Arsebiscuits. New alternator isn’t the same. Electrical connections are the same, but the mounting points are all wrong.

Removing the old alternator did reveal the issue, the connector on the voltage regulator has corroded away and one of the pins has sheared off.

The local (now not so) reputable parts supplier has said voltage regulator on the shelf, so tomorrow will involve swapping the new alternator over for a new voltage regulator and hopefully get the bastard car going again.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Parts acquired.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Now, where was I?

With the new regulator in hand it was clear to see how knackered the old one is.

Yep, that’s toast.

So, in goes the new regulator and in goes the alternator with no fuss and bother. This is where the Vaseline comes in.

The reason the regulator failed was water ingress in the electrical connection that corroded the terminals, so the Vaseline was applied to the plug to help waterproof it (spoiler alert: it didn’t).

The moment of truth was here, did it work?

YES!

Subsequent testing revealed that Vaseline is not quite as heat resistant as I would have liked, but we’ll gloss over that.

[hairnet]

rubber glove ftw not vaseline

 

[MorrisItalSLX]

More ground covered. All is well.

[MorrisItalSLX]

I had a stab at tackling the leaky passenger side tail light between showers today. It was a total bastard to remove as it had been stuck in with a black butyl type sealant that was very stubborn but did give way after being attacked with a paint scraper and box cutter. Once out the remaining sealant came off fairly easily, I also removed the vent that lives behind the tail light as its foam seal was also degraded. Both the vent and the tail light were refitted with new butyl sealant and went back together well, watering can testing yielded positive results with no dampness around the light and no puddles on the floor. I also potentially found the cause of the rattling in the back in the form of two 10 cent coins deep in the rear cavity of the boot.

[mat_the_cat]

On 11/13/2021 at 10:24 AM, hairnet said:

rubber glove ftw not vaseline

 

Depends on the context!

[MorrisItalSLX]

Bulb check!

Room for improvement there.

Much better.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Firstly, a mileage update.

Secondly, the wiper linkage has always been a tad loose and sloppy which is a known weakness of these Corollas. With all the rain we’ve been having on the east coast of Australia the AE92 owners Facebook page has been awash with people with failed wiper linkages. The upside of this is someone has found a solution, replacing the bushings.

So, between showers I cracked on. Everything was surprisingly willing to come off, the wiper arms and scuttle panel were only hampered by the bonnet constantly getting in the way.

I was hoping to get away with replacing the bushings in situ, but there was simply no access so the whole linkage had to come out as well as the wiper motor.

Again, nothing put up a fight and the bonnet was still in the way. The original bushings were indeed as shagged as I had thought, date stamped 1990 and made by Trico as it happens. The new bushings are shared with other 80s & 90s Australian built Toyotas, Nissans and Holdens.

The old bushes were cut away and the new ones pressed into place, the ball joints greased and the whole lot put back into place. The refreshed linkage was certainly stiffer than before, making it quite tricky to feed back into the plenum.

With everything back together and the wiper arms adjusted so they no longer hit the A post or the scuttle the difference was night and day. Before the wipers would flop about and the linkage would clunk and rattle, now it’s all as tight as a drum ready for the deluge coming next week.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Nearly there…

[MorrisItalSLX]

…And we’re here!

I think it’s officially run in.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Minor update, Corolla passed its Rego inspection for another year with no bother. Now 32 years and counting.

Also, it’s value has nearly doubled with the addition of stainless steel screws holding on the threshold covers to replace the rusty originals.

It’s practically a Rolls Royce now.

[mat_the_cat]

Call that rust?! Come to the UK and see what 30 years of road salt does!

[MorrisItalSLX]

That’s a hard pass from me, thanks!

Not a sprinkle of road salt to be seen here,  so my underside is pristine. Instead we get the blazing sun which chews through your paint and causes rust on the roof and bonnet (too a much lesser degree in fairness).

[MorrisItalSLX]

By the way, this thing still exists.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Not much to report here. The Jaguar is still in the shed and the Hyundai is still in the way. But the Corolla has reached 210,000 Kilometres on the clock, which is 50,000 Kilometres since I bought it.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I'm guessing you guys don't have rust problems on cars as we do. So an old Corolla should probably last forever there.

I envy that.

[MorrisItalSLX]

38 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I'm guessing you guys don't have rust problems on cars as we do. So an old Corolla should probably last forever there.

I envy that.

The only rust concerns I have are where the paint has been baked by the sun to such a degree that surface rust is coming through.

No road salt and minimal lingering dampness is a major plus point for the connoisseur of the crap motor car.

[mat_the_cat]

I'm so jealous. For three months of the year nothing dries out around here - almost constant rain, near 100% humidity and next to no sun. Even stuff inside gets covered in condensation. Roll on spring!

[MorrisItalSLX]

Time for an overdue update:

The Corolla has started to develop a random miss fire that would come and go, eventually it died completely on the way home from work. Handily it managed to FTP near a friends house who came to my rescue and we determined that there was no spark. A new coil was purchased and fitted (old one appeared to be the original) which got it going again, but the spark was still poor. Further research found that the ignition control module in the distributor was the likely cause of the problem, so that was replaced and all was well again.

All the vacuum lines have been replaced as one had fallen off due to the hose perishing, so the whole lot got done. All seven million of them.

A filing cabinet was stuck in the boot for about a week, not recommended as it rattled like a bastard but it did look like I was running a budget hearse service.

And plenty of more kilometres have been covered, now 60,000km since purchase.

[DSdriver]

I always enjoy reading this thread, may your problems continue to be minor ones*, have you actually done anything to the other cars?

*Hope I haven't jinxed it.

[MorrisItalSLX]

16 minutes ago, DSdriver said:

I always enjoy reading this thread, may your problems continue to be minor ones*, have you actually done anything to the other cars?

*Hope I haven't jinxed it.

I did fix a small issue I was having with the Jag prior to parking it up. The air conditioning compressor electric clutch used to cut out occasionally due to some questionable wiring. I had bought a new connector for it but promptly put it in a very safe place which I finally found again, so it was finally fitted, removing the dodgy connector and some non standard spade connectors in the process.

In terms of actually getting it back on the road, I was just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

[hairnet]

was gonna dis about the rugby but the green were pushed aside by another antipodean nation so cant

corollas are ace (even the new ones)

[mark165]

I always enjoy reading this thread, may your problems continue to be minor ones*, have you actually done anything to the other cars?
*Hope I haven't jinxed it.

I haven't seen this thread before and I've just lost a load of time reading it. Very enjoyable!

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