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.