1999 Toyota Corolla Ce build thread

[y2kbug]

1999 corolla build thread

This is currently my daily driver and its survived hell. It was the neighbors wifes car but she died and it sat untouched on the street for 6 years. My dad bought it from the neighbor after the city impounded it for abandoned vehicle. Interior was nasty with moss and trash and front of the car was wrecked. We got it started after having to replace a seized alternator. It smoked an insane amount and we idled it for days after dumping seafoam, trans fluid and what ever else we could find into the engine. It finally loosened up and quit smoking as much. I drove it down to florida and drove another car back the corolla spent a few years down there. My dad let bad family borrow it in exchange for rides to the airport and they proceeded to destroy the car. Wrecking it, constantly running it out of oil, breaking wheels, dents, crunching roof, tearing up interior and more. It got stolen twice. Some how the car survived. He finally got fed up and hid the keys and the car sat unused for about a year. I tried to talk my dad into selling me the car as i absolutely hated seeing it being destroyed. Finally i talked him into selling to me for $900 he said the car still ran and drove. A few weeks later i got rear ended in my dodge dakota and it was totaled. I needed something to drive! My only option was to ride a plane down to florida and get the corolla. I got down there and it has water in the floor boards and trash all over the floor. The battery was shot and coolant had oil in it. On further inspection the radiator was cracked. At first i assumed they had overheated and blowen the headgasket i was so angry and almost walked to the bus station and went home. After cleaning up the interior, airing up the tires, replacing radiator and battery it started up and drove. I drove it ~13 hours back home. I underestimated how much oil it burnt and accidentally let the oil get too low driving through the mountains. I made it home. Headgasket is fine somebody was stupid and put engine oil in the radiator.

-When my dad got it from the neighbor it had 313,xxx miles i think.(2018?)
-When i bought it from my dad in december 2023 it had 350,xxx miles
-December 2024 it has 382,000 miles

Nicknames for this car:
-Florida *****
-Third World Problems

Short version: this car has survived hell and I still refuse to let it die.
I try to keep an updated list of repairs on my website
https://y2kbug.neocities.org/pub/CAR/car

[y2kbug]

Current modifications to gain mpg:
Aluminim wheels in summer. I had tire pressure higher than door jam specifies. switch back to steel wheels with new ebay tires for winter in september 2024.

-Disable power steering pump. Shorter belt that avoids power steering pully

-Disable automatic and daytime running lights.

-paint roof white to reduce heat in cab. Then i dont need the windows down as much.

I also fixed exhaust leaks and replaced failing front o2 sensor

[freebeard]

You're in a position to settle a disagreement here:
ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/borpower-additive-26602-5

[y2kbug]

I can put my 2 cent in when i get a chance but i have neither interest nor time to participate in a great debate. Thats the only instance that i have seen results from seafoam but we also had trans fluid in the engine too. We dumped a whole bottle of each in the engine. I have some small engines i still want to try seafoam in when i get time. I used to dump some trans fluid down the sparkplug holes and in oil on my old 1998 corolla. Towards the end Its engine was tired and annoying with low compression and burning oil. I finally retired it because of bad frame. It ran and drove with ac until the junkyard crushed it.