Toyota maintenance

1992 4-door Toyota Corolla 4 cylinder

Windshield wipers

The size of the wipers on our Corolla:

17.75 inches (17 and 3/4)

21.625 inches (21 and 5/8)

If buying Trico brand, the model numbers are:

18-1

20-1

Tail light replacement

September 19, 2005 Replaced a bulb in the Corolla brake light. It uses 12V 1157 bulbs.

Regular service

February 22, 2005 At odometer 93, 713 I had the following work done:

• tune-up
• new plugs, new rotor, new wires
• new horn
• new timing belt
• new oil seals, water pump
• new drive belts
• new vacuum valve for charcoal cannister

Total cost $1273.27 @ Hawthorne Auto Clinic

Speakers

October 18, 2003 Our poor, abused car speakers have finally annoyed me for the last time. It appears that the cones have been weathered by the sun enough to crack and split which makes a horrible vibrating racket. They were Infinity speakers of a mere four years. I replaced them with some cheesy, but more rugged Blaupunkt speakers. I’ll have to check back in four years to see if there is as much deterioration in these as in those delicate Infinities.

Tire size

P175/70R13 82S

Oil change Rday 15:47, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

John did an oil change for me at about 14,440 miles.

Also replaced wiper blades.

Alternator fails Rday 21:43, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

The red dashboard light behind the battery and brake lit up on the way home from work last Friday (4/24/09). Testing the volts at the battery with the car off found 12.4 and with the car running it was 11.0. So the alternator is bad. John considered just replacing the diode, but given a rebuilt alternator is about $100, it seemed reasonable to just replace the whole thing.

Getting the old part off was pretty easy except for the the following details:

• I had to remember that there is a squeeze latch that holds the large plug into the alternator. Comes off easy if you press in the right place.
• The bolt holding the hinge side of the alternator was too tight to remove with a flat wrench that bites into your hand. Had to use a round-handle socket wrench with a rag and glove and apply lots of force.

Replaced alternator with a rebuilt part with a two-year warranty from Carquest parts.

new stereo, October 2009

• replaced Alpine 9851 (wouldn't eject CDs)
• installed Dual XHD7714

Oil change procedure

Battery won't hold a charge, July, 2014

Left some device on in the car for weeks and drained the battery down to the nubs. After that, couldn't get it to hold a charge for more than a day.

Installed battery is a Les Schwab:

• Part number 35 XT
• Cold cranking amps: 640
• Cranking amps: 800

I was surprised to notice that I had access to fill the battery cells. I asssumed it was all sealed up. Looking in the cells, they had plenty of room for more water. I added about 10 ounces to each of the two sets of three cells. So 20 ounces in total. And then put the 4 amp charger back on it for an hour.