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-   -   Why did I buy a 12 Year old Toyota Corolla - My experience (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/167791-why-did-i-buy-12-year-old-toyota-corolla-my-experience-14.html)

Folks, planning to get my Corolla car serviced have not driven much , but the yearly service is due for some time now. The left side OVRM is damaged and needs to be replaced. The break pads also need to be replaced apart from this the regular yearly service needs to be done. Which is the best service center in Bangalore to get this job done. I have a Nandi Toyota near my place in Bommanhalli and what would be the approximate cost i am looking at. Few folks suggested to get it done outside from Bosch or any other good place. But i am not sure. Looking for advice from local folks how to go about the same.

@swami69 and other corrolla fans, im thinking of buying one for occasional use as a second car.
What are the things i need to look for in a good used corrolla?
What are the known issues?
Any trouble spots that i need to check?
How do i know its been abused or not?
I have an extremely limited budget of 1.5lakhs. What vintage cortolla can i hopr to get at this price? I liked the h2

Looking forward to your tips.

Joe

Check the service history of the car at the ASC.
Look for Tyre condition, number of owners, km's done on the car.
Its always best to get the car checked by a local mechanic if you have one.
With your budget you should be able to get hold of a 2005- 2006 Model easily. Look for a car which is single owner and taken care off. Model of the year may vary slightly depending upon the city, prevailing prices and the seller of the car.

================================================== ===============================
My Corolla 2006 is still going strong, been with me for over 2 years now have done 42000 on the odo. Just got the vehicle serviced again last month in Pune at Shaw Toyota, they did a fine job. I have relocated to Pune in March, drove down in my car and the drive was excellent for 850km. It is the longest one i have had so far in my car took 13 hours to reach. Not using the car much these days as its a KA number, also the Pune traffic is such where an automatic would be better.
I am planning to go for another car preferably an automatic corolla or any other good brand and looking out for the same now.

Hi Guys,

After I expressed a thought that I would like to do a "restoration" on a car, a friend recently "gave" me (Yes! You read that right.) his 2003 Corolla 1.8J model which was lying almost unused for the last 4 years. The car was in a very, very sad state and I was beginning to wish I had not opened my mouth about the "restoration" thing. Watching too much "Discovery Turbo" I guess - Wheeler Dealers et al! This is a First Owner car. Run 78000 Kms but badly, nay, criminally neglected. Toyota A.S.S. have no records whatsoever of this car which just goes to show.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I took him up on his offer stupid: and after a month of regular visits to the local FNG, the car is finally back on the road.
So far I have changed :
1. Complete Front suspension overhaul including steering overhaul :Frustrati
2. Clutch plates and bearings.
3. Clutch Cylinder.
4. All fluids changed.
5. New air and oil filters.
6. Complete A.C. service with removal of dashboard (for condensor cleaning)
and gas charging.
7. Complete brake overhaul.
8. All power windows overhauled.
9. Both power mirrors overhauled.
10. New tappet head cover gasket.
11. New A.C. Resistor switch.
12. New Horn.
13. New spark plugs.
14. New Pioneer stereo system with USB, Bluetooth and Aux In.
15. Overhauled all meters when dashboard was removed. (Petrol gauge still
not accurate)
16. New Central locking system installed.
17. New reverse sensors installed.
18. Tyres removed and dumped as they were old (11 years old), some with
tubes, various sizes and cracked.
19. Alloy wheels scraped and painted.
20. Fitted new "Bridgestone" Tyres with Alignment and balancing.
21. Thorough cleaning of interior and engine bay.
22. Polishing of headlights.
23. Anti rust coating in the boot.
24. Made a new stepney cover in the boot from plywood.
25. New gear lever cover from leather.
26. New arm rest cover from leather.
27. New steering wheel cover from leather.
28. New floor mats.
29. New clip on rear view mirror. (Not really what I wanted)

The car is looking pretty good now and drives well.

Still a few jobs to be done though.

1. On the front bumper, the fog light space has a black plastic insert. (This model did not have fog lamps). I am unable to find it anywhere. Can anyone help?

2. I would like to fit a felt insulation inside the bonnet. Again, cannot find this anywhere.

3. I hate the rear convex mirror but can't source the original.

4. RPM gauge does not settle at Zero.

5. Speedometer does not settle at Zero.

6. Petrol gauge has a mind of it's own and bears no relation to the amount of fuel in the tank.

7. The clock is still working but cannot be seen at all - only with the help of a torch. I was quoted Rs. 1800 for a new one.

8. Front passenger seat is not reclining. Opened up the entire seat but still no success.

If anyone can suggest any "fixes" for the above, I would be much obliged.

The car is presently in Bombay.

All this work has been done at an FNG and has cost a pretty penny. However, if I had gone to Toyota, I am sure it would have cost me double (at least) as they quoted 18K just for the 80K service.

Regards,
SS

@SS - no pics, means there is no car ! :D
We demand proof - of the work done, of the car how it was and how it is now ..

Totally ! Restoration jobs are fairly uncommon here and we demand a full write up with pictures, costs, sources etc. Regarding the Speedo issues, the Toyota guys could be contacted. If it is too expensive, you could try online for new or used replacement units.

Hi Condor and Fiestarry,

I am afraid that I am not one of those people who whips out his phone to take pics at the drop of a hat. I have taken some pics but please bear with me as they might not be in order and not of great quality. I am still trying to find some pics of the car before the bodywork and painting was done. Let's see.
Anyway, here's a starter.

You will have to be patient as I am not super fast on the computer, I have to re-size the pics and it's 1am, so time for bed.

More to follow.
Regards,
SS

Hi Guys,
Here are some more pics of the "Restoration" while in progress. Sorry, but am unable to find any "Before" pics of the outer body. The Owner was kind enough to do a complete paint job on the car before handing it over to me. Since then, I have just done a "Polish".

Fitting on new tappet cover gasket and new spark plugs.

Some pics of the interior after fitting a new Head Unit, New Gear Lever leather cover, new arm rest cover, new hand brake cover et al.

Please excuse the disjointed method of posting. Hope Mods can amend as required.

Here are the Old (Some were 10 years old and all 4 were different brands and different sizes!!) and New Tyres (Bridgestone) and wheels which were scraped and painted.

Clutch was completely overhauled with new clutch plates, bearing and clutch cylinder.

Hi Guys,
This is the final set of pictures.
There is still minor work to be done on the car. I will definitely take pictures in future.
Apologies to "Dushie" for hijacking his thread.
Regards,
SS

Mods, please make corrections if required.
Apologies for back to back posts.

Mod Notes:

1) Before uploading, make sure orientation (inverted/rotated) of photos is proper

2) For uploading images with captions, check https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/annou...-team-bhp.html

Wow. I'm also looking out for such friends. stupid:

Why don't you just fit some fog lamps.

Buy a sheet of Heatlon and fix it.

You should be able to find a set of working seats at the local scrapyard.

At the current prices, this is an ideal beater car. I'm adding it to my list as I will need a car to drop my son to school and other chores. I will be keeping a driver for this.

Hi Guys,
Here I am back again with an update.

I managed to source the fog lamp cover from Toyota Lakozy for Rs. 220. Quite unbelievable as I was quoted Rs. 1300 outside (Opera House). It took 9 days to come from Bangalore but I was in no hurry. I also got a new IRVM from them for Rs. 850.00.



Fog Light Cover



Old IRVM



New IRVM with dimming facility

I also managed to finally find a guy at CST road who had the reclining mechanism's for both front seats (I discovered that both were seized) and so left the car at Milan Subway with one of the shop owner's there with whom I have been dealing for the last 30 years or so. They removed the seats and took it to CST road. The job took 8 hours and now both front seats are reclining. Cost was Rs. 7800.00 :Frustrati

The upholstery had to be completely removed. The seat was then cut to remove the old recliner and the new(second hand) recliner was welded back in place. After that the upholstery was replaced.
Attached are pics of the old recliner. Totally rusted away.



Front Seat Reclining Mechanism

Needless to say I had to get the seats cleaned all over again as they were really messed up.

@SmartCat : Apologies for not uploading the previous pics correctly.
I have checked this post several time and now all appears O.K.

@pedro lourenco : Yeah. Everyone is shocked when I tell them he "gave" me the car! So far I have spent about a lakh on it. Hope no more major expenses in the near future.

Regards,
SS

Off topic to your query : What is the price of an O2 senor & its wire? My sensor and wire is broken and need to be replaced.