NightFlight

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm getting new tyres anyway just to be sure. I ran the old ones at 30 PSI. I'll keep the new ones at 35.

Wouldn't the inside threads be also worn if it's under inflated? Depends on how under-inflated it is. Lower pressures may still give relatively even wear across the tread, but they will give more roll in the sidewall and it is always the outside sidewall of the tyre that cops it (due to weight transfer in corners), so you would expect to see more on the outside on tyres with soft sidewalls and low pressures. What would you say was the right PSI for city driving with these tyres then?

These are fine, might get away with these :) You need wheel allignments as u mentioned earlier :) Thanks for the vote of confidence Ronnyboy. I've got clearer pics of both front tyres here. Looks like DS on left and PS on the right. IF the question is safety, there is no question that these are safe, with the on road tread almost as good as new. We'll see. One thing for certain - it shows the need for regular wheel alignments. I had a 2nd one at the 6 month mark, but either that was faulty or a bump since took both (?) front wheels a tad off.

The wear extends 15mm from the outside of the tread. The rest of the tyre surface (that contacts the road) is as new. Here is a photo of the worst affected tyre (passenger side). The question is Do these 18 month old Sumitomos need to be trashed because of this 15mm outer tread wear?

Hi, Just about to take the car in for the yearly rego inspection. It's a front wheel drive, with a pair of 185/60-14R Sumitomo HTR200s on the front. I bought them 18 months ago, and with just local driving we've done a total of just 6,290kms on them since then. Despite that the outside 15mm of each tyre is quite worn. From 1mm to 0mm on the outside 15mm. The rest of the the tyre road surface and sidewalls are otherwise fine. [bTW - sounds like a poor wheel alignment? Comments on the cause would be appreciated] As for the upcoming inspection - given that the RTA rules state: "For vehicles with a GVM 4.5 tonnes or less, a tyre must have a tread pattern around its circumference that is at least 1.5mm deep across the entire surface which contacts the road." Does this mean then: 1) the tyres are OK, as the outside 15mm is normally NOT in contact with the road (the tryes give excellent cornering still anyway) or 2) Is this a grey area, open to how rule hungry the inspector feels that day. or 3) The matter is simple, the tyres are toast, end of story, new pair for rego renewal, regardless of how good and new the Sumitomos were?

Thanks for that Dave89. Actually reading Toyota's own material about the electrical system, the battery does have a bit more to do than start the car. It does have a hand in power regulation and also gets called in at low speeds when heavier electrics are turned on. This may explain some of the odd behavior of recent months, as well as that caused by the rev problem. Toyota's "Toyota Charging Systems" pdf file goes into it. Anyway I got another tech to come over & do a thorough test of the electric systems. He thought the battery was fine at first (loose battery connector lecture). Then the battery died after acting like a little angel for a few cycles. Big surprise! ;) The battery is going: I like the look of the new Century NS60 to replace it. Alternator tested fine at all stages: phew! The low rev problem was more complicated. It is actually pretty erratic, and is much worse when the car is idling in DRIVE than in PARK (pretty nasty at traffic lights). It varied from a start at 1000RPM, dropping to the 600RPM level I'd often get at those traffic lights. The tech's verdict is that the THROTTLE BODY needs cleaning. He wants to wait for the radiator to be replaced before he does that though, & I'm in the market for the replacement that. So it's come down to 1) Replace the battery 2) Replace the stabbed and exploded radiator and then 3) clean the throttle body. I hope that gets the dear auto back to it's former reliability! TOTALLY RANDOM STAR TREK REALISATION: BTW. I just thought - you know how they always used gadgets called "Tricorders" on Star Trek. I wondered why they called them "Tricorders" since they seemed to record fricking well over thousands of weird type ****. Possibly they are an in joke on the Voltmeters that all present day techs carry as their basic portable "Sensor" equipment: which are in fact TRICorders: measuring voltage, current and resistance..... Bring that up at the next party that has the right crowd present.. but only the right crowd

Do these test results say yay or nay for the battery? OK so did my own voltmeter test on the system: 1) Before start battery is at a lousy 4.3 volts. 2) Start engine (with the help of a charger). 3) WTH! Idle RPMs are now at 1000! Havn't seen that in months. Has it been lkistening to you Rolla? 4) Anyway I rev the engine to 2000RPMs for a few minutes and check the battery voltage: 13.5 volts. 5) Next I run a few systems, electric windowup & down a few times. 6) Battery voltage check: now 6.5 volts. - That's notta good is it? What does that mean? 7) Rev engine again for more minutes at 2000RPMs & battery returns to 13.5 volts. 8) Idle speed settles to 900RPM. It's not doing the 600-700 RPM shuffle today. Keep it at 900 RPM. 9) Run Blower fan for 3 mins (not aircon) - battery down to 10.4v 10) Run Aircon with fan at max & coldest setting for 5 mins - battery goes down to 9 volts. Turn off engine & battery goes down to 5 volts. 11) Leave idling at 900RPM and battery comes back up to 13.5 volts after 5 minutes. 12) New knocking sound I haven't heard before from engine, sounds like popping steam, but the coolant is fine. 13) Anyway leave for a few minutes and engine starts fine on battery power. 14) Try again and no start. Battery now down to 5.5 volts. What to make of all THAT...... There seems to be recharge current getting to the battery. It looks like the battery just isn't holding a charge reliably. But the idle speed of 900RPM is like back before the electrics went whacked after that service. What does control that?

Here's the 4A-FE engine. Can anyone direct me to the throttle bypass screw & the AC idle-up valve?

It's a 4A-FE. I went out to the car again after leaving it to cool for about 10 minutes. Battery now at 10.4 volts, it is all over the place, was 5.5v just after I last switched off. It just managed to start on that. Does it stress the starter system starting under 12v do you think? The idle RPMs are now back to 700. Did another 4 starts, (battery held this time, but no load on it between starts). Yes revs back to the recent performance: starts actually at 1000RPM & then drops off to 700RPM. It held at 900RPMs all through those tests. No idea why. Should have restarted the engine to see if it was a one off for that for all that testing, still it does show performance at a 900RPM idle. You'll have to direct me to the throttle bypass screw & the AC idle-up valve.

OK so did my own voltmeter test on the system: 1) Before start battery is at a lousy 4.3 volts. 2) Start engine (with the help of a charger). 3) WTH! Idle RPMs are now at 1000! Havn't seen that in months. Has it been lkistening to you Rolla? 4) Anyway I rev the engine to 2000RPMs for a few minutes and check the battery voltage: 13.5 volts. 5) Next I run a few systems, electric windowup & down a few times. 6) Battery voltage check: now 6.5 volts. - That's notta good is it? What does that mean? 7) Rev engine again for more minutes at 2000RPMs & battery returns to 13.5 volts. 8) Idle speed settles to 900RPM. It's not doing the 600-700 RPM shuffle today. Keep it at 900 RPM. 9) Run Blower fan for 3 mins (not aircon) - battery down to 10.4v 10) Run Aircon with fan at max & coldest setting for 5 mins - battery goes down to 9 volts. Turn off engine & battery goes down to 5 volts. 11) Leave idling at 900RPM and battery comes back up to 13.5 volts after 5 minutes. 12) New knocking sound I haven't heard before from engine, sounds like popping steam, but the coolant is fine. 13) Anyway leave for a few minutes and engine starts fine on battery power. 14) Try again and no start. Battery now down to 5.5 volts. What to make of all THAT...... There seems to be recharge current getting to the battery. It looks like the battery just isn't holding a charge reliably. But the idle speed of 900RPM is like back before the electrics went whacked after that service. What does control that?

Every expert I've spoken to has a different explanation for this one. It hasn't been helped by the budget for the last six months being blown by the car's original mechanic playing extremely dodgy & time consuming games that have completely missed this electrical problem or whatever it is. I've been to two different mechs since him just fixing problems caused by the first one, and he's a very well respected one on the Northern Beaches. ANYWAY, if the idle speed at 600 RPMs (& it sometimes cycles up to 700) is too slow, where is the fault causing that? What controls the idle speed? So at present it's either 1) The alternator, possibly the low speed phase? or 2) A timing problem causing the idle speed to be too low. Whatever it is it's affecting other systems: in the last hot month the cooling fan failed to engage in time and the radiator coolant boiled, blowing out the radiator at points where someone had stabbed the radiator with a screwdriver. (I can guess who, or at least one of his idiot apprentice techs, probably when the oil filter was last changed) The radiator's got to be replaced as well now.... So I've either got to get the alternator or whatever controls the timing replaced to get the electrics right. The battery is unlikely to be at fault then, no point replacing that?

Hi, The electrics on my 1991 Seca worked fine until a few months ago, since then they've been pretty odd. 1) Battery keeps going flat (down to 4 volts charge), I was about to replace it when my mechanic said it was an old generator fan belt slipping & not charging, so that was changed. No improvement. Total Russian roulette on starting the car. I've ditched the 1st mechanic (too many bad things there). A separate one checked the current from the generator to battery & pronounced it fine. So getting a new battery next week. But there are other things I wonder about..... When the car is idling it sits at 600RPM and all electrical systems are on half power. It wasn't like that before a few months ago. Often when left on its own it will cycle between 600-700 RPM and the headlights, radio and any other electrical system will go closer to full power at 700RPM. But these are only basic electrics like running lights, interior light & radio. If I rev the engine over 700 RPM then all systems run at full power, including the headlights, electric windows etc. There doesn't seem to be enough juice being supplied for even basic electrics below 700RPM. This is certainly even before bringing in a real heavy like Aircon, that saps everything and even slows down the engine noticeably while driving. Aircon used to be a fuel guzzler but didn't affect engine performance appreciably (no ageist jokes pleez! ;) ). But anyway haven't been running Aircon for weeks, that's not a major issue here. All these changes in the electrics happened after there was a service done where the ignition lead set and cap were changed, along with a new set of plugs installed, again, some months ago by the original mechanic. The engine has run fine since then but the electrics have gone to hell along with the battery which is about a year old.

Thankyou CHA54 for all this information. It is really appreciated. B)

Thanks for that. So to sum up: 1) The handbook going on about the need to drain from the ENGINE drain plug is wrong for this model? 2) You recommend replacing the thermostat and thermostat gaskets with each coolant change? 3) Do you have the litre capacity of this unit? How many total litres does the coolant system hold? The AE92 is part of the 6th generation of Corollas. You'd have through Toyota would have made the process a little bit more user friendly by that stage...

I'm just really looking for an answer to the steps involved in changing the coolant in this model. Engine disassembled??? The handbook goes on as if draining & replacing the coolant is just one of those things any owner can do every 20,000km or once a year. It has as steps 5 & 6 in the procedure as 5. Open radiator drain plug. 6 Open engine drain plug. But I don't think I'm really up to disassembling the engine right now... <_< Does the engine side of the coolant system need to be drained for a coolant change, or can I get away with just draining from the radiator spigot & then flushing? Maybe the manual was aimed at a different engine model or something, though it's the right handbook for the car.

Yes I can see the white plastic tap. Looks like the splash guard will need come off to access it. Is this a security feature or did they make access simpler in later models?

Engine disassembled??? The handbook goes on as if draining & replacing the coolant is just one of those things any owner can do every 20,000km or once a year. It has as steps 5 & 6 in the procedure as 5. Open radiator drain plug. 6 Open engine drain plug. But I don't think I'm really up to disassembling the engine right now... <_< Does the engine side of the coolant system need to be drained for a coolant change, or can I get away with just draining from the radiator spigot & then flushing? Maybe the manual was aimed at a different engine model or something, though it's the right handbook for the car.

Accessible only from beneath the car I take it. Sounds like it needs jacks.

Hi, Need to change the coolant on my 1991 Corolla (4AFE engine). (The images go from right to left, 4 to 1) The Owner's manual isn't much help locating the radiator and engine drain plugs - see Image 4 from the manual. I cannot see anything on the near side of the radiator remotely like in the Manual's drawing. Ditto for the driver's side. In image 3 is a top down photo of the Near Side of the radiator. Is that round cylinder the top of a release system? In Image 2 is a photo from below up, with the bottom of that cylinder just visible and an open pipe visible at the bottom of the photo. Is this it? As for the Engine drain plug, I can't see anything remotely like in the drawing on the driver's side of the engine block - see photo 1. Changing the coolant is such a common thing, these plugs must be fairly accessible.

I'm on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, are you in the Sydney area?

That's some service......... <_< The oil & oil filter were changed on this car in June along with replacement of the Ignition lead set and Cap and the plugs. Then the fanbelt (engine - generator) was changed in November. The electrics began to have an intermittent problem charging the battery after the June service. This was diagnosed by this shop as a slipping fanbelt (engine - generator), hence the November replacement. Attached is a pic of the engine from oil cap to radiator (belt on left). I take it the Engine oil filter is under the grey cowling between the engine block and radiator? I'm wondering at this stage if there was also damage done to the generator leads.

That might explain a lot. The "rust" is more of an orange colour, not at all brown, and doesn't crumble at all.

I need an idea of how long ago rust stains would have formed on a part of my radiator's exterior. I haven't had one problem with my car's coolant system since I bought it in December 2008. I'd check the radiator, opening it every few weeks and could see the coolant level was unchanged, one could actually see the water with the coloured coolant well over the inner flanges of the radiator every time. I checked under the car regularly & no oil or water/coolant marks on the garage floor - ever. Then a few days ago my son heard a hissing sound from under the bonnet after a short local trip (about 20kms all up). Steam was venting from the driver's side of the radiator! I opened the cap under an old doona and the radiator was pretty well empty, no steam pressure left, just a little steam, and otherwise empty. The radiator needed two 4litre jugs of demineralised water for an emergency refill, so it was pretty well empty. Incredibly the dashboard engine temp gauge had not risen above the just below half way mark. OK, I though, a hose has failed or something. But now water was leaking with the coolant additive (green) on to the lower trays and the garage floor and staining it. This was the first time I saw these stains on the floor. this is important to date the beginning of this problem. Tracing the water & coolant additive leak I had another huge shock. See Image 3: stab marks in the drivers side back of the radiator. (looks like from a Phillips head screwdriver). It's only on the side reachable from the front and unprotected by large hoses. Image 1 shows the obvious leaks from the back of the radiator immediately after it is filled. Note the water only seems to come from the drivers side cells on the right. Water is beading out at the lower right of the image. No leaks from the obvious brown smeared stab areas. Image 2 shows the radiator back when dry. Note the white deposits on the vertical strip drivers side cells. What the heck is that? Since the radiator has shown no signs of leaking at all until this last week I find all this very perplexing. The whole engine area was gone over in FOUR different mechanic shops in December, tracing a phantom oil leak & replacing the rack boots. The engine was degreased in mid December. No one noticed anything wrong with the radiator then. Is it possible the caustic degreasing agent could have brought on the brown corrosion in the "stabbed" areas of the radiator back that are not leaking. the area that IS leaking has a WHITE residue on it? I'm trying to get an idea of a rough date for when this may have happened.

Yeah it'll need a full flush to get rid of the green gunk. I got a quote from a specialist Toyota place, $46.45 for 4 litres. They weren't nasty like some other such places when I mentioned the age of the vehicle but their spare parts department said "they knew nothing about a vehicle that old." I find it odd as my son took a movie the other day driving from Dee Why to Manly, where NINE Toyota AE92s either passed us or were parked by the side of the road. All but one looked in great condition. That was opposed to TWO Toyota Camrys of similar age and ONE Mazda 323. The AE92 is still popular for a reason, that's why I got one. But I never cease to be surprised by the lack of support from local Toyota dealerships. I'm still to find a place that could be considered a specialist in this ubiquitous model. They must be serviced somewhere! Anyway I'd say it was worth getting the LLC.

Can anyone recommend an actual Toyota spare parts center or dealership or two anywhere in NE Sydney - that treats pre 2000 Toyotas with respect.