Good luck. I really hope that Corolla could live for years more under your care 
Yeah you are probably right 
Its sad to see the Corolla dying, itās sad that people have to lie and cheat to sell a car and make a bit of cash, hope it all gets sorted for you though
the Corolla isnāt dieing itās just feeling unwell! Donāt use the D word!
Ahh I forgot that word is a swear
Well, seller is being awkward about it sadly. Definitely not looking too good for it.
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3sgte swap???
or grab a vrs kit to suit and a torque wrench then its only a matter of decking the heads and block by an engine machine shop. Head gaskets are easier to replace than most ppl think. If the gasket failed but no water has entered the combustion chamber u should b golden even if it has, a good quality engine flush will quickly clean up the bottom end of any moisture that may be present. All up minus machining its a 6hr job. Dont be put off by this i know a guy that races that blow out the head gasket ever 2-3 passes due to 30+psi boost and they just rip the heads off check that nothing has warped and throw a new set of gaskets in and thats a ls style motor the toyota will survive. If you had any major damage it would have been noticable (theres no noises from the bottom end that sound like a worn bearing ?)
Haha, I wish, couldnāt afford to insure it.
Ordinarily Iād do it myself, Iāve done head gaskets before, but I started stripping it (before I knew thatās what it was), it was 4 degrees and damp and I couldnāt shift the crank pulley, so I took it to a garage to try and locate the leak. At that point I still thought it was perhaps a cracked water pump housing.
As the garage had it partly disassembled to find the leak, I decided to just let them do the job. From what was found there it doesnāt look like thereās and coolant in places there shouldnāt be except where itās flying out the side of the engine under pressure. The engine as it is runs sweet as a nut, but the coolant is coming out like a tap.
I worry about what they will find, what damage the cooling system sealer has done or what damage was done before I bought it thatās caused the gasket to go, as they donāt tend to go at this age/mileage on these without repeated overheating. I hope the head gasket isnāt the result of something else that will remain if it gets done.
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Someone at work sent me this earlier:
I might have done a bad thing.
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In reference to bad thing.
At this point, repair quote was basically the same as the cost of the car. The sensible thing to do would be to put it out of itās misery, it is after all, to most, an old Toyota Corolla. Most have ended up in scrapyards for less. Really, my decision was pretty much made up.
Cue A-Team music
Them Nightbreakers work pretty well, eh?
Of course, it needed to be repaired, no question. Fortunately Iām not sensible or logical, and it is against my religion to personally scrap a Toyota.
Iāve only done 30 miles so far since getting it back earlier tonight, and it seems to be OK up to now besides a slightly loose alternator belt. The garage gave me my old head gasket as a souvenir because of how bad it was.
Exhibit A - Coolant channel next to cylinder 1
Exhibit B, Cylinder 4 - And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, and it was not good; and God divided the fire ring from the gasket.
Also the whole gasket was sort of dissolving, this black gunky crap here was some sort of sealant that had eaten into the gasket and was just falling off in lumps.
However, it is back. Head gasket done, head skimmed, coolant all flushed out and replaced with good stuff, oil and filter change and new belts.
Letās hope itās all good now.
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And God spake onto Adam.
āTrust in the 'rollaā
And Adam did and Lo for then did Adam find grace in the arms of the lord, for though he and his 'rolla walked in the valley of death, the rods and bearing were comforted, and the waters did roll away from the pistons, and the lubricants were free of the pudding.
And Adam did say back to the Lord
āYea, though my trials be fearful and my money limited, my trust I put in you and back have you rewarded me. My faith is firm and I shall go forth and preach the gospel of Toyota, henceforth let it be shouted from the mountains, the Toyota can never die!ā
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āHave faith in my child, the Toyota, and witness it borne into eternal life, that ye may know of its Divine Salvation.ā
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what are you guys on?
gimme some
I made a thinly veiled Bible reference about daylight coming through my headgasket (yes there were cars in the bible, obviously - Jesus drove a Honda) and it sort of spiralled from there.
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Who knows, maybe he had other cars he never spoke of.
Man you would have thought he had better taste in cars as well as a higher budget but I guess maybe he didnāt want to seem douchey or pretentious
Only God could drive an Aztec because only God has nothing to prove
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Many many Alfas obviously
Well Iāve done something like 1500 miles now since having the head gasket done and besides a couple of little issues it (touching various bits of wood) seems to be going OK, itās keeping its coolant in at least.
Itās about due its first wash now mind, Iām just not looking forward to doing it in the freezing cold. Weāre well into salt season now so itās more grey and white than it is red, absolutely filthy. As it seems to be going OK, Iāll try and start getting into improving it soon, restoring plastics etc.
Fortunately that rattle canned silver paintjob the dealer did on the wheels is starting to flake off already, so should save me a bit of work come the better weather for refurbing them.
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Right then, small update to the above.
- It still hasnāt had a wash.
This picture is like one of those āthe longer you look, the worse it getsā illusion things.
- Iāve been stuck at home quite ill for a couple of weeks now, and I was getting bored. Itās crippled me, but I decided to spend a little time with it today. As some of you may have seen in the What broke on your car today thread, a quick check of my injector seals revealed that one of the lower seals was more outside the head than in it, and injector 2ās top o-ring was leaking as it was rather damp with petrol around the body.
Spent a couple of hours earlier pulling the injectors, giving them a quick clean and fitting the new seals I got from Toyota. I think itās safe to say that lower seal on injector 4 was completely knackered.
Fortunately, all the injectors look quite clean, impedance measures good, so I think theyāre alright.
Itās sprung a massive oil leak from the rocker cover, so Iāve got a new gasket kit coming for that, and the PCV valve is broken and gummed up, so managed to get another one of those from Toyota. Got some remote housing/rubbers coming for the central locking remotes as one of those is cracked and the other very worn.
Next up after the valve cover - a wash! and some paint restoration hopefully.
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