Hiro

Fun on a bun. I was planning to do the rear swaybar at the same time (as that requires dropping the fuel tank and the muffler) but after all that hassle I don't want to disturb the exhaust at all so might just bite the bullet and pay a shop to do it on a hoist....................man I wish I had a hoist.

After 18 months of pottering around with a stock exhaust, I finally got fed up of being bored to sleep and decided to pull the pin and install my old exhaust. In theory what should be a ~2 hour job by a mechanic with a hoist turned out to be a 2.5 day marathon in my driveway on chassis stands - first I had to drive around the world to find a shop that was open on a Saturday that actually had 2" 2-bolt exhaust flange gaskets (everyone had 2.5" and 1.75"), then the factory bolts were a pain to get undone (not surprising since they're ~18 years old, but at least they haven't been copping salt or snow), then the hangers didn't want to slide off the pins (copious amounts of WD40 required), then the engine pipe didn't want to slide out over the subframe (had to take the front hanger off the subframe), then I had to loosen the alternator to get the last manifold nut out which THEN highlighted the fact that my alternator belt had discovered meiosis. So that was the first day. The second day involved wrestling the extractors in to place (at which point I realised I had to fully remove the alternator to have a chance of getting the extractors around the oil filter and air-con lines), which added a few dings to the back of the radiator (I'll probably get a new alloy one at some stage anyway), then slowly piece-by-piece bolting the new exhaust up (with the new gaskets and bolts/nuts/antisieze), then wrestling with the muffler to get it on to the hangers. Job done, fire it up and take it for a spin around the block to savour the sound.....................of a bloody rattle. Bugger. So that was the second day done and dusted. Yesterday then consisted of jacking the car up on to stands AGAIN, then going about the task of finding the rattle - turns out it was the pipe between the hotdog and the muffler hitting the tunnel heat shield (initially thought it might have been the engine pipe over the subframe) as well as the left rear muffler hanger hitting the muffler heat shield. Figuring that the only thing that could be affecting it was the engine-pipe hanger (as the bolt holes are slotted) I loosened them and wriggled things around for next-to-no improvement.... Bugger. Next step was a niggling thought that I'd put the cat in the wrong way (as the flanges aren't parallel/aligned), so I went through the 3 other permutations of spinning and flipping the cat to see if things would line up better. On the fourth permutation (ie upside-down and back-to-front to how I had initially installed it) it seemed to make everything clear the heatshields, until I noticed that the rear cat flange was hard up against one of the studs holding the cat tunnel heat shield on..... Bugger. So out came the hacksaw to shorten that stud down (I don't have an angle-grinder). After an hour or so of sweating, grunting and swearing (not to mention sore arms) I had knocked off about 10mm from the stud, which then allowed the cat flange to sit high enough for the bloody rear pipe to start hitting the heat shield again.... Bugger. So THEN I decided that maybe I had been right all along when I put the cat in first time, and things just needed to be wriggled around a bit. So for the 5th time in as many hours I removed the cat and flipped it back around to the initial guess I had made as to its orientation. Except this time I also loosened off the bolts on both the front hanger AND the subframe mount nut, then as I installed the cat I slowly did up each bolt/nut evenly all the while making sure to keep the mid- and rear-pipes centred in the tunnel. And when that was all said and done, I finally had an exhaust that was fully tight and not rubbing on anything. It would still kiss the heat shield if I kicked the tip of the muffler to each side, but a quick drive down to the post office to pick up a package showed that in day-to-day driving it wouldn't come close (if it crops up in the future I'll probably just rip that heat shield out, or at least bash it a bit more open). Something missing? Ahh there it is Alternator belt discovering cell meiosis

I'm assuming the OP is not in Australia as they have a LHD car...

There's a reason why there's a Facebook page called "When Camrys Attack" As Trent said though there are tonnes of stereotypes out there when it comes to cars - if you drive a Falcodore you must be a VB-drinking bogan, if you drive a Euro you're an elitist snob (even if it's a Skoda or Seat, the bargain-basement Euros), Toyotas are whitegoods on wheels, everything out of China is made of tin-foil and folds up at the merest hint of an accident, anything Japanese is a rice-burner, Volvos are giant bricks driven 10k under the speed limit on the way to lawn bowls every Sunday (although "bloody Volvo driver!" has started to fall out of the lingo these days as they've had a bit of a coolness resurgence) etc etc.

"Engine mounts" are a general description used to describe all the mounts attaching the engine/transaxle assembly to the frame on a FWD car (RWDs it is a bit more obvious why there is a distinction between the two). On a lot of Toyotas however 3 of the 4 mounts technically attach to transmission rather than the engine, but they're still "engine mounts" (if you get the drift).

Check your engine mounts, get someone to give the engine a quick rev whilst you watch it and see if the engine moves significantly

Leaving a few things aside until I get some time off over Easter, but did a trial fit of my genuine JDM Toyota weathershields the other weekend - still need to get the window frames painted black (and the power folding mirrors too) and some new 3M tape run but the preliminary results look nice and neat. These are the good ones too that actually have clips that go under the window seal as well as the double-sided tape so much less chance of them flying off at 100 on the freeway. Figured I should go back and update the original post with the current car state too

I've spoken to him a bit on Facebook recently, as far as I know he's still got the 86.

Is it the kind where you put the remote fob in to the socket in the glovebox or the later one? Generally with remotes you only program one at a time - setting one shouldn't wipe the other out from the system (that generally only with aftermarket systems I have found)

Being mid-engined I imagine it'd be a remote cable-shifter, so getting access to the top of the box to check linkages might be a bit hard (depending on where they are on the box). Quick check, does reverse still work?

So far my experiences with eBay LED neowedge bulbs has not been positive, if any more blow in my dash I'll be trying to get OEM first

Where is the leak inside the door? You'll always get water leaking down past the weatherstrip/bailey channel in to the door cavity as it would be impossible to seal and still allow the window to move up and down freely. The door cavity will have a plastic waterproofing sheet separating the outer skin area (window glass, outer door handle, lock mechanism) from the inner skin area (inner door handle, window winder/switches, speakers etc), and holes drilled in the bottom to allow the water to drain out (these can clog over time if your car gets dirty all the time or you regularly park under trees).

1) It depends on the life it has had. Treated well and serviced regularly, yes 120k is nothing for a Corolla, but if it has been neglected or thrashed for 120k it may not have much life left before major components need fixing. 2) I've found hatchbacks always sound boomy especially when sitting in the back seat, the boot acts as a big reverb chamber for both the exhaust and tyre noise. 3) Check to see if the tyres are worn, old or they are pumped up to ridiculously high pressures. Any FWD can spin the tyres if launched aggressively (especially with an open diff) but it shouldn't be all the time. 4) If you're having trouble getting in to reverse, shift in to first or second and then try going back in to reverse. No synchromesh on reverse means that if the dog teeth aren't perfectly aligned they'll struggle to engage, so shifting in to another gear will index the shafts slightly and improve alignment

Correct, timing belts/chains are almost never exposed on stock-standard engines (some people do remove timing covers to show off adjustable cam-gears etc).

And for all the cardigan-wearers out there, the ultimate in car-mod minutiae - upgraded windscreen washer jets. We all know that the 90s jet-type Toyota washers suck - two piddly streams of water concentrated nowhere near where the wiper blade starts, so you're guaranteed a couple of screechy dry sweeps with the blade before they actually start cleaning anything. Enter the 5th generation Camry to the rescue! Toyota switched to a resonance-chamber fan spray with these models, and the results are night and day. Not only that, but they clip straight in with no modification required (there's enough slack in the stock hoses and 90 degree fittings to compensate for the different barb orientation, I've got some 4mm hose offcuts if I ever want to tidy it up) Upgrade yours today!

If you or the next owner isn't too concerned about fashion then you can fix it for even less than that, just buy a box of thumbtacks from Spotlight and go to town. To fix it properly you need to remove the headlining completely from the car (which'll involve removing A/B/C-pillar trims, dome light, grab handles, sunvisors etc, the hopefully squeezing it out a door without bending the backing, otherwise you might need to remove the front seats or even the windscreen - don't laugh, it HAS to happen on some cars), then remove the cloth and get the backing board sanded smooth to remove the old foam, then applying spray adhesive and a new piece of foam-backed cloth. It happens on pretty much every car eventually, as has been said it is a combination of heat/time/UV degrading the glue and foam holding the cloth to the board, the foam then disintegrates in to the classic sticky "orange snow".

The 111 seats don't look quite as sporty as the 101 seats but that's mainly due to the headrest shape and the fact that it's a one-piece base rather than a 3-piece - they're just as good (if not better) in support (although lacking lumbar adjust), and are a tonne lighter to boot

A two-part update, separated by ~3 weeks Part 1: My recently-installed fog lights decided to quit working just before Christmas (to be fair we don't have fog in summer anyway but I just like using them, even if it's illegal), figured that either the switch had gone bad (it was buzzing instead of switching them off even when they were working) or the globes had blown (could well be the originals from the 90s still in there). Had some time yesterday to investigate (the benefits of work shutting down over the break, 3-week holiday yay :D even if I had to burn 7 days of annual leave to get it), started with the switch and the relay but they all seemed fine, so figured the globes had gone - jacked up the front of the car to change them (and find out what size they are so I could get some cool yellow fog-breakers), only to find the shared ground wire for them had detached its solder and broken free Since it wasn't my solder job (and I have no idea whether I still have a soldering iron or where it might be), I drove over to my mate's house (the one who did the wiring) for a quick patch job. 15 minutes later and they were all fixed, plus I switched switches with him as his never buzzed (figure it's a tiny short in a contact inside). Then figured we'd swap over my old AE101 Levin seats for his spare AE111 Levin ones as my driver's side one had collapsed significantly and the bolster foam on the right thigh area had worn through to the rebar. The drive home was soooooo much more comfortable, even if I was sitting a little bit higher than normal and no longer had lumbar adjustment. Part 2: My birthday-present-to-myself arrived a little early, and even though it was stinking hot on Saturday (and I ended up with a bull-ant sting to the face because he crawled on to my sweat towel) I couldn't be bothered waiting for cooler weather to arrive. Now that I've got a USB input on my headunit (and I haven't needed cassettes since 2004) there wasn't much need for the double-din cubbyhole any more, and since I love collecting the JDM options it was a no-brainer Enter the Toyota Original Accessory Multi-Box and For Your Life Scene spring-loaded drawer (got to love Japlish...) Next weekend will hopefully be exhaust-fitting time and maybe a trial-fit of the 275mm SS twinpot brakes now that my ST204 pad carriers have arrived

MWR website says that it's 1/4" longer than stock

If you've got cash then buy stuff that has unlimited shelf-life but you're guaranteed to need in the future - things like oil and air filters, spark plugs, windscreen wiper blades etc etc.

I've changed the topic to reference the fact that we're talking about a power steering hose, most people will think of the radiator when you say "upper hose"

I'm fairly sure some cars run the radiator fan constantly whenever the air-con is on regardless of temperatures, to combat the extra heat being placed on the system due to the A/C condensor ejecting heat straight on to the radiator (since it is usually placed directly in front of it). Might be worth checking exactly which fans you are hearing turn on and off, some cars have the air-con fan mounted on the front of the condenser (push-type) and others have a second one mounted to the radiator next to the radiator fan (pull-type)

Up up down down left right left right B A Start. In reality, a lot of traction control systems are never really "off" even if you press the button and the light comes up - often they will re-activate above a certain speed or in particularly bad conditions, same with stability control etc. However, there is often an over-ride to this, and as @Jordanlove91 mentioned above holding the button in for 5-10 seconds should kill it completely. Still better than the Aurion hokey-pokey tap dance sequence...

These are the ACV36 ones too, with the fan spray rather than the twin jets @trentmeyer23 I could always just swap the old Corolla ones in to the Camry and give you the second set, not sure the wife would notice as long as they work (they currently do not)