Hiro

Shouldn't you be using the seatbelt to protect the beer anyway? Any time I have cases on a car seat I put the belt on, don't want precious beer wasted on carpet.

No such Toyota stud pattern as 4x120, RWD Celicas are 4x114.3, most FWD Celicas are 5x100 (as are all the early Camrys), all the way up to ST204, not sure what the ZZT231 uses. Newer Camrys use 5x114.3, which basically every Toyota car bigger than a Yaris uses (including the new Corolla)

Worthwhile flushing the core with plain water so if you do spill anything it's just water, and will dry normally?

New Zealand hit $2 a litre, yes, but thats in NZ Dollars (they have a different currency to us, remember). Current conversion rates put $2NZ at $1.63AU, so that number is about right.

Is it manual? You can pick up a C52 pretty cheap these days (couple of hundred dollars, more for a C56), and if you get a friendly mechanic I'm sure they'd install it for a few hundred too (usually means dropping the engine, so a bit of work there). $2600 for a second-hand Corolla gearbox is an absolute rip though.

For manual windows, you need to pop the winder off. Do this by one of the following methods 1) Get a large and small flat-blade screwdriver. Lever out the washer and window winder with the large screwdriver (do it at the base bit, not the knob which you grab), and look for the horse-shoe shaped circlip holding the winder on. Use the small flat-blade to push the circlip off, watching very carefully to see where it flies to (and it can fly quite a fair distance). I do this most of the time 2) Use a tea-towel stretched tight and kind of slide it underneath the handle to pop the clip off. Lots of people swear by this, but I've never got it to work 3) Fork out $10 or so and get the clip removal tool from Toyota, Supercrap or wherever you get your car parts from Once the circlip is out, the winder handle just pulls off. Everything else should be exactly the same as the front doors.

You're lucky having power windows, makes the job a lot easier and less frustrating. Anyway, here goes: 1) Prise up the power window switch base with a thin flat-blade screwdriver (cover it with cloth to stop scratches), disconnect the wiring plug and remove the switch. 2) Lever up the top panel of the arm-rest (once again with a flat-blade covered in cloth), remove panel 3) Undo screws holding arm-rest to door, remove arm-rest 4) Undo the screw from the interior door handle and, levering the handle open, remove the door handle surround (you may need to disconnect the control rod and remove the handle too, can't remember) 5) Insert large flat-blade (cloth-covered, of course) between door trim and door, gently lever to pop door trim clips. Repeat along both sides and bottom of door trim until all clips popped (try not to brake them) 6) Lift door panel upwards to disconnect door lock button, remove trim

Yep, exactly. Put it into first to line up the synchro's, and then gently push it into reverse. The beep comes on when the stick is in the gate, not when reverse gear is selected in the gearbox. First to Second gear change is different. Reverse doesn't have synchros though, the reason why it can be hard to engage is that it has straight-cut gears, not helical like all the forward gears (which is why you get the supercharger-style whine in reverse). If straight-cut gears don't align exactly, they won't engage. Changing into first (any gear really, but first works the best) will rotate the shaft slightly and maybe line up the straight-cut teeth better.

Probably because by that stage the Celica image in Australia was that of a hair-dresser's car, more style than substance. The 5SFE is probably a much cheaper engine than the 3SGE, it was the same engine as the locally manufactured Camry so parts would be everywhere and cheap, it could also be a marketing thing as well (bigger engine, more torque etc).

I know, there are around 4 different generations of the 3SGE, ST162 is GenI, SW20 and ST182 (I think) is GenII, later ST202s and SW20s had the red-top BEAMS, SXE10 Altezza had the black-top BEAMS

Blocked oil drain in the head maybe?

Firstly, just checking, is it manual? A lot of the AE10x series are autos (horrible little things), glad my parents were sensible and got the manual. Make sure the car is cold (you don't want hot gearbox oil burning your hands). Jack the front of the car up, place on chassis stands and remove the left-side plastic splashguard (if you're sitting in the driver's seat, so the one on the right if you're looking from the front of the car). Should just be a bunch of little bolts and screws, just remember which ones go back where. Now, the filler plug is about half-way up the front of the gearbox, about 15-20cm from the flywheel. The drain plug is on the bottom of the gearbox, underneath where the left-hand driveshaft exits the diff. To check the oil level, undo the filler plug and stick your finger or a bit of wire into the filler hole. The oil level should be even or just below the lip of the hole. To drain the oil, undo the filler plug (so you know you can fill it up again, and also to allow air into the box), then place a container under the drain plug and undo the plug, and let the oil drain out (should be 2.6L). Put the drain plug back in, and fill up with fresh oil from the filler hole using an oil-gun. If you don't have an oil-gun, try a funnel and a long piece of hose so you can fill it from the top of the engine bay. Remember it only needs a bit over two and a half litres, so stop and check repeatedly that the level isn't over the lip of the filler plug. Once filled, replace plug and bolt splashguard back on, and you're done. Picture's a bit dark, but you should be able to see everything you need.

Basically, from the ST16x to the ST20x inclusive, if it had a 2 on the end of it it had a 2.0L 3S engine. If it had a 4, it had the 5SFE. If it had a 5, it had the 3SGTE with all-wheel-drive. Somewhere in there as well were the rare four-wheel-steering models, and the convertibles. There were also coupe and liftback versions of each model. Australia got the following: ST162 - SX + White Lightning model with 3SGE, ST model with 3SFE - liftback for SX, liftback and coupe for ST ST184 - SX model +WRC Trophy with 5SFE - both coupe and liftback ST185 - GTFOUR + GT4 Rallye with 3SGTE - liftback only ST204 - SX and ZR models with 5SFE - liftback only ST205 - GTFOUR with 3SGTE - liftback only Anything else is an import The big ones we missed out on were the ST185 GTFOUR, ST182 with 3SGE, and the ST202 SII and SIII with the redtop BEAMS 3SGE.

ST182 = 3S, either FE or GE. Weren't sold here, are all imports ST184 = 5SFE Camry boat-anchor, were sold here ST185 = 3SGTE GTFOUR, sold here but in limited numbers I believe Pretty sure both the 182 and 184 could be had in convertible form, but no convertible was sold on the Australian market.

Mullets and Richard Dean Anderson is 'not' annoying Angelo. /slap You must admit though, it is an excessively large sig. Takes up a good third-to-half of the screen on lower res. Anything to further exercise my middle finger. I likes to scroll! Thats strange, I prefer scrolling with my index finger

Mullets and Richard Dean Anderson is 'not' annoying Angelo. /slap You must admit though, it is an excessively large sig. Takes up a good third-to-half of the screen on lower res.

My parents were over in China when the earthquake hit actually, only about 100km away from the epicentre too. Will expect some interesting stories when they get home in a few weeks

All FWD xE8x series Corollas have IRS (in fact, all FWD Corollas up until the ZZE122 have IRS). Toe adjustment at the rear is via a cam on one of the lower control arms. Your mechanic may have been getting confused with the AE86, which has a solid (coil-sprung) rear end.

After reading the article, "slammed" is nowhere near appropriate. They rate it as a "must-drive" alternative to the Commodore, Australia's most/second-most popular new car at the moment, and the comments about it not being the right car for the times purely relate to the dying large-car market in Australia. NRMA is criticising Ford for it's decisions to make the car the way it is, not the end product itself.

The 3SGE in the ST162 (unless you have an ST model instead of the SX) is a completely different animal to the Camry-spec 5SFE in the ST184 and ST204. Even though they're both S-series, the 3SGE has much better heads, revs better, more power etc, and plenty of aftermarket support. The 5S is an economy motor, long-stroke to make more torque but rev worse.

Don't be so hasty to blame CVs when you get a knocking noise. Could be something like a flogged-out bush, especially something like a sway-bar. Also, could be steering rack ends worn or the steering rack itself - my AE102 has horrible clicks and clunks when going over bumps and arond roundabouts off-throttle, was convinced it was CVs until I gave it to Toyota and they said steering-rack.

Being a undersquare torquey commerical motor, they respond spectacularly well to having a supercharger whacked on top. In fact, someone on Toymods is in the middle of twin-charging (turbo AND supercharger) one and putting it in his MA61. Another guy who's on Rollaclub as well has a turbo one in his KE wagon. Some bottom end work to strengthen crank etc may be needed, but apart from that it's a pretty strong engine.

Coopers Sparkling (call it Red and I punch your face in) Coopers Best Extra Stout Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale Coopers Special Old Stout Grolsch Lowenbrau Hoegaarden Chimay Blue/Grande Reserve La Trappe Quadrupel (my beer of choice at the moment, 10% and only $18 for a 4-pack) Tooheys Old Monteiths Black thats all I drink at the moment (apart from Coopers Special Stout, haven't been able to find that anywhere for years, even rarer than Vintage)

The reason that tyre pressures are higher than recommended when you get the car from the dealer is that the manufacturer over-inflates the tyres so that they don't flat-spot during transportation and display at the showroom (which is why it is recommended you also over-inflate your tyres if you're going away for a long holiday overseas, so the tyres aren't flat-spotted when you get back, which leads to serious wheel shudder)

Funnily enough I had almost the exact same problem a week ago, although it was a 7A instead of a 4A. Was driving along and heard a thump followed by a few whacks on the underbody of the car, thought I'd run over a rock or something. Turned out the cap had blown off the P/S reservoir and took a trip down the road, lucky it didn't lunch itself in a belt. The replacement one (can't remember the original exactly) is of the kind where you press down and then turn 1/4, it is spring loaded so you do have to put a bit of force on it to get it to click in. Hopefully won't pop out again, but I have been having troubles with the steering rack the past 12 months or so, basically the whole rack needs to be replaced/re-conditioned, may or may not have contributed.