1st Gen. Lunch Table - General Discussion

Pics from mom.

 

Sorry dude.

 

So... limp to payday, and then see what I can do...
2003-2008 Toyota Corolla Passenger Side

And then the cheapest set of headlights I can get.

 

Dang dude, glad you're okay and it was just a deer.

Welcome to the beater 'rolla club now. You could probably find something cheaper, but this is what I got:

$89 Factory Style Headlight Assembly Lamps Compatible with Toyota Corolla E120 2003-2008, Driver and Passenger Side, Black Housing Amber Corner

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JIAL5F2?ie=UTF8

 

Thanks! Me, and mine are glad I'm safe too. Was on my way to a date, but... the absolute shitbox edition now. Bet there's a sticker for that...

Sliding sideways in the median was entertaining. The roll back driver, guy named Mike, said that I was in the best spirits he'd seen just after something like this in a long time.
https://youtu.be/5Ay3-znV8OQ

 

So immediate impressions... my back is tweaked, and my left shoulder is sore. I'm sure I'll hurt more tomorrow, but the pain is only a reminder.

 

Epsom salt baths work wonders.

 

No baths here. Only showers. Guess I could see what a large tote runs at Wallace wurl, but I'd rather hurt than spend any money that I don't have. Need to get out of this house...

War on all fronts.

 

Ah, another way to do it is get a warm wash cloth with some Epsom salt and compress it directly on the area that is sore. Epsom salt is my cheap go-to if I am aching really bad after riding the motorcyle. Totally get what you're saying about the money aspect and wanting to get out though...

 

I'll do that for sure. Thank you. Yeah, the giver learned his limits a little too late, and now I'm paying for it... literally. Guess I'll be driving crackie for a little bit...

Need to get the interior put back together...

I've got to change something soon or it'll all be naught!

 

Welp, I caved and bought a half-width basket to go on my cross bars for the upcoming trip. I'll likely use it for my chairs and laundry. 6' x 24" and I can shorten it if I want.

 

Ooof. "When it rains, it pours". You got this...

MMmmmmm, baths. People soup.

 

Damn. Sorry to hear, man. Hopefully your physical pain is temporary. Sux to see that car nearly totalled. I take it you don’t have collision on it? Guess you might be able to get it drivable again with aftermarket or used panels. Not sure about the structural work underneath though. I’d have to ask my old man what’s done there like drilling out pinch welds and replacing it or if it can be straightened.

 

Speaking of rain... it started thunder storming here about the time I started posting here so I'm rained out today. Good news, the passengers side door isn't leaking, but probably will once I realign everything.

Anyways, I'm going to bed... I'll post up some more stuff for sale soon. Starting to run out of options but to let go of some of these things. Man, things have been just steadily going downhill since I took this new job. Started asking around a few days ago. Seems like everyone's luck here takes a down turn after they start...

That can't be a coincidence. Must be built on Indian burial grounds or something.

 

Thanks Jack! Honestly I don't give a single flying shit about what it looks like as long as it performs. I'll zip tie the headlight in if I have to. I think mechanicaly it's going to be fine.

As far as insurance, only liability... hadn't made a decision on a new provider yet, and was going to fully insure the car since I drive it the most, but little late now, eh?

 

Man let me tell you we've had some rough times, bankruptcy, IRS issues, unemployment...

Best advice I can give you is keep fighting, some days it feels like the universe is out to fuck up your life.

Here's a cool thing about you being single, you can literally find a job anywhere, pack up a truck and go. I know it isn't that simple but it almost is.

Sometimes taking life risks works out sometimes it doesn't but it can help set you on the right path.

 

What a weekend.

I headed to San Diego to attend a birthday party for my wife's cousin. I thought it would be in the evening like most others, and I didn't ask for any details because I never do. Around noon I learned it was to start at 3. No biggie, I threw on some black shorts and a nice shirt. Waited on my wife to get ready as usual.

We get into the car at 3, which is pretty standard practice- to leave when you're supposed to be arriving. She is all flustered and tells me her brother was buying something from Craigslist but he doesn't have time to meet the seller, we have to pick it up. I wasn't too bothered, sure let's go. We drove to his area and she claimed we have to meet then seller at a community center.

We pulled in and I asked what car are they driving. She says they're in the center, they work here, we have to go in there. I started getting suspicious, especially when I glanced over the parking lot and saw her brothers car.

We got close to the ball room and when I walked in, SURPRISE! Her family, my family, a bunch of friends singing happy birthday to me, 2 weeks early. It was very touching. The most surprising part was as I walked through the crowd hugging people I saw my older sister. I hadn't seen her in 33 years. She drove all the way from Colorado. My wife really pulled people together.

A bit later when I got to chat with her I learned that she drove in the previous night with her two giant dogs in her mini van. The van wouldn't start the day of the party so my brother picked her up from the motel. When the party was over I went to check her van out.

She told me she had just taken it to a mechanic prior to leaving to make sure it was road worthy. He did the timing belt job, replaced O2 sensors, the serpentine belt tensioner, cam and crank shaft position sensors. That last part and the O2 sensors struck me as odd. I asked why he did those, she said after the timing belt job it threw a code for crankshaft position sensor. He thought bad sensor and replaced it, along with the cam sensors. She left and it threw the same code. He told her it must be a wiring problem and loaned her a scan tool to clear the code if it pops again. I found that super odd.

The car wouldn't start. The starter wouldn't even click. A D3 light was on the dash, I found a write-up on that implying that it may be the neutral safety switch telling the ecu that the car is in drive and blocking power from the starter. It was already 11pm so I retired to sleep and got that part in the morning.

Next day I towed her van to my uncles house, he is a retired mechanic and I had his tools and his brain on my side. I swapped that sensor in 20 minutes, it made no change. We did some voltage testing and decided to yank the starter and have O'Reilly test it. It passed the voltage test, failed the current test, and the shaft test failed as well. Okay, bought her a new one for $130 and headed back with high hopes.

Got it installed and buttoned up in 30 minutes. Went to start it, now the starter hits but we hear clunk and the motor doesn't move. Shit. Tried a few things to no avail, including using a strong jumper. Finally I started brain storming with my uncle and decided to put a wrench on the crank shaft and try turning the motor. I had a 2 foot breaker bar and all 180lbs of me doing a hand stand on it, didn't move at all. While looking over things I noticed her oil filter was really old, and her serpentine belt was never replaced, showing cracks and worn off printed logos. Who does a timing belt job and reuses a cracked serpentine belt? This guy changed her $913 and couldn't throw in a $10 belt. Also her coolant was not the blue Honda stuff, it was regular green and the reservoir was empty. Radiator was full.

We think that when her mechanic did the timing belt job he either misaligned the timing or used a bad tensioner and the timing skipped. The crankshaft code going off wasn't the sensor or wiring, it was an indication that the timing was out. He let her drive 1400 miles that way clearing the code every once in a while(and eventually hiding the evidence). The night she arrived at the hotel and shut it off, the motor cooled and seized I assume. It shall never start again.

I got home at almost 2am last night. She is stuck at a bad motel with 2 giant dogs and wondering what steps to take. She's calling her mechanic today to see whats up. She wants to get the motor swapped to get back in business, replacing the car would cost quite a bit more. I feel really bad about the whole thing, this is what bad mechanics do to people.

 

If you want to learn to weld and have the time (I know you don’t..) apron replacement isn’t impossible just time consuming. You missed the frame rail. So this is very fixable as long as you can get the firewall straight enougg

 

A water bootie definitely flew off your camper shell on the way to chocolate falls, strap that shit down!

 

THAT'S WHERE THAT WENT!!! You do not know how much I have been searching for that thing. I probably didn't shut a side window and it bounced out.

 

Liability insurance only? I'm sorry man. The important thing is that you're ok physically.

 

That's horrible. What started as a good weekend turned to shit. I hate that happened to your sister. She tried to do the responsible thing before a road trip and it sounds like that mechanic screwed her.

 

@Tundra2 big oof, glad youre alive. Get some steel from work and mad max it.

@Darkness great start, surprise parties are fun. Not great ending, can you find a jy engine?

 

You guys went hard AF while I was away.
I'm back on page 1044 right now. I'll see you all in a bit.

 

This. Best thing to do is keep treading. There's only so much shit life can throw at you.

Honestly, sometimes purging excess shit is a good way to dig out. Just make sure you think ahead, realistically, and decide what you won't have regrets about ditching later. I've been holding onto a lot of shit and purging like crazy lately, as you've witnessed firsthand. Really trying to pare back, you don't realize how much that shit alone weighs. There's so many things you can easily buy back later, potentially even cheaper, it just doesn't make sense to travel heavy.

I don't believe in coincidences. But I do believe bad luck comes in waves and seems to impact several people at once, I've seen and experienced it more than onces, I think that's just what you're seeing here. Not saying the new job has nothing to do with it, it sounds like you've had your fair share of BS there to deal with. While the place may have issues, I doubt it is the issue.

When shit gets thick, I roll back: One day at a time. One task at a time. The more unitized you can make things so you're clearly knocking down pins w/o biting off more than you can reliably chew, the easier it is to put distance between where you are and where you're doing.

I need to send your ass some deer repellent.

 

You need to calm down and let some of us take a little bit of that bad luck. Just keep your head up friend, it's always darkest before the dawn.

 

yup he totally screwed her. She talked to him today and he's telling her that her mechanic (she told him her car is at a shop) is full of shit and its probably the head gasket. While that is possible, replacing a head gasket is no less expensive that swapping the motor, and on a motor with 250k miles it doesn't make a lot of sense to do. We didn't see any visible sign of coolant in the oil, or oil in the coolant.

My uncle is taking care of it now, this all happened 3 hours south of my house. Hes going to look at a few more things and if nothing works he will get a JDM motor dropped in. His best friend has a good shop, they can knock it out in 2 days. He agreed its possible that the motor overheated and a cylinder filled with coolant, but knowing about the crankshaft sensor it seems more likely. My sister mentioned the last 100 miles or so the motor sounded different and seemed to be revving higher than normal.

 

@Darkness Like how can someone not know the timing is off? Maybe it's just the cars I've dealt with, but in my experience either the car doesn't start or it runs extremely rough.

 

They’ll run fine a tooth
Off at the cam. At the crank you’ll get a rough runner. But the code will come on immediately if it’s out of time. Mechanic fucked up. Big time.