2003 Corolla "Virus"

rusty fuel line? Have the Corolla & Mule been talking?

 

I'll see about borrowing the shop at the school so I can get out of this weather. Need to change earl anyways. I need to do an inspection.

 

Slightly over due oil change today. 6,100 miles since last change. 150,655 miles on odometer. General inspection, and mending today also.

Suspected leaky hose on power steering reservoir. Fluid was a little dingy, and didn't smell like atf anymore. Just kinda like used oil.




Installed new tree-ates hose. I made sure there would be good flow through it before installing it with the usual bend'n'blow method. Reused old clamps.


Topped the fluid off at the cold max setting and then went for a drive to warm up both the engine oil, and the PS fluid. Here's where it was when I got back. Calling it bueno. Refilled with maybe a quarter of a quart of Lucas ATF.


Now it's time for the oil change. I thought I had one more toy filter, but I didn't so I stuck my last Fram oil filter on. I know, I know. Fram bad. The silver tundra had Fram oil filters for 200k miles. One rotation with Fram won't kill it. Refilled with my preferred measuring device. Also, sprayed all the wet down with brake clean so I can monitor future wetness around the PSred, and new magnetic drain plug.



I popped the engine air filter compartment for giggles. This may actually cause issues...




Damn rodents! Gonna have to quit feeding that damned cat! Anyways, I didn't want to put this back in, and I didn't have one handy so I stapled this one together a few times just to seal up that hole. Vacuumed out the airbox too.

Gonna have to pull that drivers side fender one of these days, and see if I can put some kind of mesh or something over the inlet.

 

Brillo pad.

 

$207 CURT 112653 Class 1 Trailer Hitch with Ball Mount, 1-1/4-In Receiver, Fits Select Toyota Corolla, Black

Amazon.com: CURT 112653 Class 1 Trailer Hitch with Ball Mount, 1-1/4-Inch Receiver, Compatible with Select Toyota Corolla : Automotive

We've got a bike carrier laying around the house. Could tow a small, lightweight type of cargo trailer too which we also have. Hmm.....

 

and you could also get

Darby Industries 944 Extend-A-Truck

Amazon.com: Darby Industries 944 Extend-A-Truck : Patio, Lawn & Garden
and using it in this configuration you could carry big/long shit or build a roof top deck.


pair it with this for rooftop.

Darby Industries 968 Black Roof Turbo Rack

Amazon.com: Darby Industries 968 Black Roof Turbo Rack : Automotive
strap on rack (aw, currently unavailable)

 

Another CEL popped a few days back, and have been driving as is until tonight.


Replaced a few of the cracked vacuum tubes under the hood with silicone hoses already on hand.


Didn't do them all. Just a few of the easy to get ones since I was in the shop.

 

Well, it's certainly been a while... Done a few oil changes, and am overdue for another, but time for a big recap... I wrecked the virus on April 11, 2022...

First Lunch Table thread link is here. So what had happened was... Cruise set on 75 in the hammer lane. Truck on my right side. Running about the same speed. Deer came up on the road from the right side of the road, over the guard rail. Truck swerved right. I swerved left, and went into the median. Tried to correct, and come back up on the road. Running about 40/50 mph at the time... Came up out of the ditch too hot, and couldn't stop in time before hitting the guard rail. Here's a link to that post I made.

Anyways, time for pictures...












April 21, 2022 I went back to the scene of the accident to try to piece my mind back together. Was pretty shook up from it... Here's pics of the guard rail..








May 3rd, 2022. Finally, halfway put the virus back together with el cheapo scamazon parts... Had to pull out some of the sheet metal, and move some bolt holes around to make it all fit halfway decent like...
Like that hood prop, don't-cha?









I had to replace both my passengers side headlight bulbs, but since then I've just been tooling around in the virus. Need to get on an oil change here purdy soon... I'm about 3,000 miles overdue currently...

 

hairdryer on that front bumper and it'll pop right back. she looks good for another 100k.
We have this show back home where aborigines fix the truly undrivable called bush mechanics, some really good ideas.
the trailer build due to a rusted out chassis @ 15mins is a good one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDeHI3fOlzo

 

That was harrowing. I’m glad you and the Virus made it through, mostly intact! Great MacGyver repair job too.

 

Going to take it in for an alignment?

Looks like that guardrail saved your bacon, not there & you'd been doing the dryer tumbles.

 

Well, here's an update on the current mileage so far.

 

Rolled 177K miles today. Anyways, thats not the update this post is for. I hit a buzzard on my way into work today. Flew up off the left side of the road, and then into the road. He/she bounced off my grille, and then broke his/her wings on my lightbar. I snuffed him/her out like you would a turkey. Moseyed on to work afterwards. I added some of its feathers to my light bar mount. Below you'll find a 1st gen lunchtable link where I made my post about it on the way to work.

Spoiler: 1st. Gen Lunch Table link

Post #39,696

 

I added a "States Map" to the first post on this thread. Here's a link.

 

I made a map, couldn't figure out how to post the picture, only links posted.

 

How did you manage to hit the entire western US except for Colorado and Utah?

 

Girlfriend didn't want him getting any ideas in UT

 

Hit another buzzard running about 60 today. Stopped, snuffed him, and then carried on.

Got run off a 1 lane gravel road by a dodge caravan. Straddling the road, and the ditch... felt a bit ole boom on the passengers side. Had enough momentum to pull the car back onto the gravel.

Stopped, and investigated. No visible damage. No leaks. Impact was hard enough to turn on my intermittent wipers, open the glove box, and readjust my rearview mirror.

Guess I'm crawling under the car tomorrow. Lol

 

I think that impact fixed my alignment. Car was drifting slightly left. Goes straight now. Win. Lol

 

Were you recording?

 

Well, here's some pics. Looks like I smacked the oil pan, and the mount for the lower arm pretty hard.





Here's the drivers side for comparison.

 

Does it pull to one side? Did it need motor mounts before?

 

It pulled to the left very slightly. Now it drives straight lol

Didn't need motor mounts before.

 

Uber cold this morning at 29°F with a thick covering of frost on errythang. Had random misfires on all cylinders till she got warm. Reminded me of the V6 after it sat for three weeks, but the car had only been sitting about 9 hours.

Here's a list of everything that the code reader pulled up.

 

a piece of hard plastic shrunk slightly in the cold allowing an air leak? Went away, so it's in the engine bay because engine waste heat fixed it?

 

The corolla virus claims yet another mammalian life. Fox squirrel. Stock photo below

 

Like I mentioned on the crackhead resurrection... my baby wiped down all the hard plastics in both the virus, and the truck.

Here's some pics.


And one picture for now of the dog divider with rear headrests installed. I'll take more when I get to work.