VBlue

I was wondering about this as well, contacted a few eBay sellers and they said the rebuild kit from the 4A-FE would not suit the 4A-FC, I don't understand why, thought it was the same engine :osama:

Haha...well, I don't know whether it will be 'simple' for me, but I sure hope you are right. What of the existing heating element, do I need to remove that?

The car didn't come installed with an A/C unit, I'm thinking of getting the full A/C system from a wreckers and putting it in. Partly because I don't have the money to buy another car at the moment, and I want to learn something along the way. How difficult is this to do? Time isn't too much of a problem, I'll be doing it over the summer. The heating system works, do I need to remove the existing heating system when I'm going to install the A/C unit? I'm also a little confused looking at the diagrams. It seems the condenser is where the car radiator usually is. Am I going to need to do some major moving around of parts to get this full unit in? This means, compressor, condenser, all the hoses, the dryer which I think is attached to the condenser? And whatever else comes with it. I've also heard about re-gassing new refrigerant into these old systems being a problem. My car is a 4A-FC 1990 Seca, and chances are I'd be getting an existing unit from a similar type and era.

What really confused me was that I looked up the Max Ellery service manual and in the diagram in that, the metal backing (the shim or whatever it's called) has the arch and not the friction material, so it seems it's actually the other way around. Anyhow, thanks for the reply, will save me a bit of time and money not having to fiddle with that for a while. Cheers!

My brakes are working fine, there is no metal on metal noise or anything unusual, but since I bought the car last year I didn't change any brake pads nor do I know when it was last done. I removed the wheel and just took a look, but I'm a bit confused as to what I should be exactly looking for. This was a picture of the left wheel side (passenger side), so the rusty bit on the right side of the opening is the part of the rotor: I didn't open unbolt the caliper because I'm at a friend's house and he doesn't have a proper sized socket wrench. I scratched a bit off what I thought was the friction material and that looks rather metallic to me so I was a bit worried that I've run out of the brake pad and now it's contacting the metal bit. Although the rotors look rather polished and even, nothing seems to be unusual, but I'm no expert. Am I in trouble?

Cheers, I think I'll do that. I wasn't really worried about the cost, but more about learning and doing something I haven't done before, but it's probably true; it hasn't been serviced in a long time. I don't know anything about the car's history besides it was purchased in December 1990 by some Katherine, oh well.

AE92 Toyota Corolla Seca, blows air fine, heat is working well, just not cooling, so I suspect it's time for a regas. Was planning on getting one of those DIY refrigerant kits, can anyone recommend a good brand? EZ Chill appears to be very popular, however I will go with what people here use. Also since this is a '90 model: 1) Would I need to get an R12 refrigerant? 2) Is there any way of finding out whether the A/C unit has been modified to use R134? The reason I ask is because I've only had this car since mid last year, so I have no idea if it's been changed over to re-gas with R134. Thanks.

Take a look on eBay, here's an example, obviously you'll need to find one that suits yours exactly, so enter the model and year: http://www.ebay.com/itm/85-92-Toyota-Geo-Head-Gasket-1-6L-DOHC-VIN-4AGE-/360419813571?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A1990|Make%3AToyota|Model%3ACorolla&vxp=mtr&hash=item53eab1e8c3

Did a compression test today, got the readings as follows with around 5 cranks. DRY: 1: 170 PSI 2: 167 PSI 3: 90/110 PSI (Cranked a couple of extra in a 2nd attempt for cylinder 3 as I thought I did something wrong initially) 4: 168 PSI WET: 1: 190 PSI 2: 200 PSI 3: 140 PSI 4: 190 PSI So the issue seems to be mainly with the 3rd cylinder. What should be my course of action from here? Cheers

Cheers, thanks for that info. I never did realise that, I just assumed things. It's not a big difference at all, yea.

Yea, I might as well do it I guess. I'm hoping to do a part-time course in engine reconditioning, should hopefully get me up to scratch.

How they jumped from the 4A series to the 7A.

Cheers, thanks all for the info!

That's a bit of a weird jump isn't it? ^ :blinks:

Don't know the finer details, but is it really worth all that time, effort and money to get all that done? I think you maybe better off selling the car and buying a car with a M/T, an A/T Toyota Corolla can bring in a decent price. That way you could buy a cheaper manual and still have some money left over. There are plenty of M/T Corollas lying around, got one myself and they are definitely a lot cheaper than an automatic option.

Yea there is major blowby from the oil filler cap, removed the filler cap and when I turned on the engine, dad had his hand over it to check for compression and it threw up a decent amount of oil and continued to do so. There's definitely a sealing issue as I suspected. I can't do any machining so boring/honing the block is out of the question. However the parts aren't very expensive for a full gasket/rings/piston set. Is it something that a newbie could do alone at home? I'd definitely need to buy an engine stand and some other tools of course. By the book it doesn't look too difficult, unbolt this and that, remove the head, strip it down, use a gasket scraper, scrape off the gasket material etc. dismantle the rest, remove pistons, replace rings, etc. etc. Sounds easy enough, but is it? The car was $1700, I don't mind spending a few hundred in replacement parts and other tools as I can learn something along the way too and get fresh new parts to last for a long time, but I'm guessing this would be an expensive labour job if I had to get it done by someone.

I haven't checked for blowby, but I will soon. I'm just wondering whether a rebuild kit like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360320374796&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en for the 4A-FE engine, I didn't think the 4A-FC and the FE were too different, so it should be OK considering it's not a late model 4A-FE engine? I emailed the seller, but he wasn't sure. I think it's simply known as 4A-F in the USA, so perhaps that's why. Oh, and Merry Xmas by the way.

Hey guys, my '90 AE92 seems to be burning oil, it's not really noticeable unless it's over about 5000rpm, but I know it is slowly burning oil especially when I'm on the motorways, it's not too bad at the moment, but I have to make sure I keep topping it up every few months, which is not ideal. I'm guessing the head gasket maybe a bit faulty as well as the valve guides being worn and/or piston rings failing, etc. Would it make sense to purchase a VRS and change these parts out? How difficult would it be to do? My dad's telling me not to do it and that I'll screw something up. Can't really find a Youtube video on how to do it for a Corolla of this model (4A-FC/FE) which would have been nice, but I do have a manual...so you're probably asking why are you asking us if you have a manual? Well I generally find that reading something up and then translating that to actually doing it is a bit trickier, parts seem to be different, can't locate some thing and there are often problems that are not mentioned in manuals. I also found 4A-FE replacement piston set, would this fit a 4A-FC? I'm guessing since the cylinder would be slightly bigger over years of use, I should have to order a larger size? Eitherway, I plan on doing a compression test soon and then removing the head and getting a measurement for the cylinder size so I will know whether I have to order an oversize. Any info greatly appreciated.

How do you go about removing the quarter panel? Since it's been raining again I noticed that there is water inside the car once more >| - am not impressed, so the windscreen was not the source of the water leakage in the first place. I suspected it was through the cowl, there must be something rusted and holed allowing water to seep in on the passenger's side, so I decided to put some cling wrap over the cowl on that side, I'll have to now just put a car cover when I'm at home. For me I guess I would have to remove the left quarter panel, if it's the same way that the water is coming in for mine as it was for yours, how do I do that?

Is it really wise to be doing that with such old cars? Unless yours is heavily modded and can stand that level of abuse, drag racing the 4A-FC is not that great an idea either, granted it has surprising power for a 1.6L. These things usually start to have a domino effect, after you replace your clutch you'll probably find your head gasket has blown. :laff:

I have similar issues with mine, it's just the carburetor I think. I sometimes have to pump the gas pedal a bit to allow the fuel in the cylinders. This only happens when the engine is completely cold and I go to start the car in the morning. The stuttering and shaking is due to low rpm's at idle, it shouldn't be a major concern. Is yours a manul or automatic? Manual transmissions tend to have lower idle rpm's and will vibrate a bit more than automatics at stand-still. Also, check your spark plugs to make sure they are in good condition.

It was $233 for the resealing with the original screen, or $360 for the resealing with a new screen. I opted to put in a new screen, was worth it I reckon for only $130 more. Didn't take too long, about 1.5 hrs in total.

With your SECA, was it the original windscreen with the initial factory installation job, or had someone changed the windscreen later on before you got it?

Well I went in today, there was no major rust as I thought there would be. The top of the windshield housing was rusted, but it didn't appear wet. However, he pointed out that the original seal wasn't applied properly in some way and that there was no confirmity with the seal sticking to the glass around the entire screen, some parts were hard to remove because it had stuck well and other parts came out too easily and he said that's possibly allowed water to seep in through heavy rains as what we had. Then he put some O'Brien's sealant or whatever they use and guaranteed that the water will definitely not seep in through the windshield if that's the way it originally came in, couldn't establish the method of water entry. I guess I'll find out when the next heavy rains come in, I certainly hope not though. :glare:

Thanks for the tips on the door, I will definitely check it out. Though I'm fairly certain it's not leaking from there because when I was removing the carpeting I noticed that all the tops of the slopes were clean dry at the door area, so if it was coming from the door it would have to make the slopes wet and then drip down, so this seems to be directly entering the floor-well, but I will check it now just to be sure. This is not the first time I've heard of insects living in unlikely places in the car, what are they eating from the car ?? :blinks: - I will definitely let you know what happens at O'Brien's