96 toyota corolla!

[Hillarie]

Ok guys/gals.

I have a 96 Toyota corolla. IT is reaching 100,000 miles sometime this month. I LOVE this car! I want to have it tuned up, and pampered!

What all should I replace and or update? I don't want to put any mods on it, or anything like that! I just want to set it up for the best chance to get another 100,000 miles on it!

Ooo, and what speakers would you put in it? I am getting new speakers for it, and it doesn't have to be AWESOME, I just want some good quality speakers!

Basically I want her shined up, tuned up, and fixed up!!

Anyways, she runs fine, and has no "problems" and I would love to keep her this way!!!

[ishop4less]

Change the timing belt very dangerous if you never change it at 100K miles, after that then you can start thinking of tuning it up and change a speaker. But first TIMING BELT is A MUST.

[Hillarie]

How hard would it be to do myself? I am REALLY interested in doing all this stuff myself, but am low on experience. Between myself and a hanes book would I be ok to do this myself? OR should I trundle on down to Pepboys again?

[WissNX01]

Spend the 300 bucks at pep boys. Unless you have done this before, timing chain/belt replacement can be a pain in the ass

[ishop4less]

Hillarie, wissnxo1 is right timing belt is not an easy job. Experience mechanic spend 2-3hours of time to do the job, people who never done it before could take a day job or more, if the timing is not correct it could make your engine run very bad. I did not mean to scare you, just a suggestion.

[WissNX01]

And as far as pampering your car and wanting to tune it up, a full tune up is not as important as it was say in the 60s to a car. A tune up now is just changing out plugs, maybe some wires and some filters, thats it. Cars used to run really bad if they didnt get a tune up, it doesnt matter anymore with all the OBDII stuff. plugs and new wires are good ideas though. I would just keep up on regular oil and fluid changes. Something that people overlook is having your cooling system flushed. YOur car and you will appriciate not having to replace the radiator if you do this regularly. Your car will cool better, cause you are getting rid of that calcium build up.

[Hillarie]

Good to know! I am PRETTY sure the timing belt was done at 50,000 miles. I'm gonna call the dealership and see, but I think that was one thing they listed as new when I bought it! At any rate, I'm gonna get it changed again.
So basically change the oil, new timing, belt and flush the coolant system... And sit back and wait for something to break?

[WissNX01]

Never ever just wait to have something break. Say you wait to have your timing belt changed, and you forget. The belt breaks, bending or breaking valves and valve stems. Guess what, not only do you have to get a new belt, damn near all of your valves are now fucked. Valves arent expensive, maybe no more than 10 bucks a valve. How many valves does your car need?, its a 16 valve if its DOHC. Theres 160 bucks just for parts, if you do it yourself.

My nieghbor waited for his timimg belt, in a V-8 Lexus. Thing busted, took out all his valves, 32 of them, and those valves are like 20 bucks each. His water pump is fucked, and his cams are scored pretty bad. Of course hes not so bright and doesnt listen to me, he just replaced the belt. His car makes some aweful noises, and it runs like crap. His gas milage just took a giant shit on him.

You know your car best. If you hear a wierd ass noise, localize it and note when the noise is made. If you have to go to a mechanic, tell him the noise you hear, and everything you know. He may ask what seems like really retarded questions, but they are all important so it can get fixed. If something in your car doesnt feel right, then something is probably wrong. You can take your valve cover off and check the timimg belt that way. If there is too much play in it, or its too tight, then it either needs adjusted or replaced. Without taking the cover off, you can hear a loose or weak belt slapping the top of the valve cover. But if you are not sure, its always a good idea to fork over a hundred bucks to have someone check for you, than having to pay an assload and take it up the ass to pay someone a thousand bucks to get your car running again.

[Hillarie]

No, no, no... I'm changing the timing belt... I also looked and am thinking the cooling system needs flushing. Oil change is coming up in another 1000 miles...
But what I meant was, once I do those three things, I really don't have to do much else? Yes or no?
So basicaly I would be sitting around waiting for it to not start or make funny noises, or whatever... But there aren't more "Preventative" measures I can take?

[WissNX01]

I wouldnt do anything besides what the owners manual says. Oil changes, filters and greasing bearings and stuff is all you need to do.

[WissNX01]

And you have to realize cars are unbelievably controlled by computers and sensors. Sensors go bad, and there is nothing to be done about them until a sensor fails. If your car faills to start one day, it could just be a bad sensor, nothing could prevent that, unless you periodically replace sensors, which is dumb, because sensors are expensive.

[WissNX01]

Besides, theres very good reason to believe a car can last 200,000 miles or better. I have a 91 Nissan with 260,000 on it, and until recently it ran like a champ, so I wouldnt worry about getting lots of miles on your car, it'll happen if you have it long enough

[WissNX01]

[Cro]

Yea changing the timing belt is a must. I replaced mine not too long ago and found that it had almost ripped cause something got between the belt and the pulley and ripped a nice hole in it. I don't know about where you guys live, but the shop wanted to chanrge me for 6 hours of labor...so I did it myself. It was my first time, and I replaced all the drive belts while I was already reaplacing that one. I also replaced a gasket that was leaking. Took me ~8 hours, but I figured that it wasnt that bead since the dealer said that it would take em 6.

[WissNX01]

Yeah, Im a mechanic, and if they say it will take 6 hours, it might take them 3, if they are good enough, then you will get charged for the full 6 hours, because some book from Japan says it takes 6 hours.