Front Suspension For An 86 Corolla Saloon!

May 8, 2005

Hi there, i'm kinda a new member, but i've been driving this 86 corolla i bought off eBay for £150 since october, and in that time have covered around 13'000 miles, only needing to fix the blowing back box (and gave her a diy service half-way through that mileage).

Anyhow, mot time is coming, and i know for a fact that the front nearside suspension is leaking from the shocker, so that will have to be changed, but parts are a problem....

I wold like to know if the suspension from an 91 1.3 model will do the same job as the one that is serving me currently, any help there?

I do know that the rest of the car is sound, there isn't any rust! It has never, and does not need to be welded, due to the fact it has been kept in a heated garage all it's life, so i'm almost certain this is all it needs for the mot, however, if anyone knows of common faults for these cars, i would like to know, as it's proving difficult to find any, this was meant to be a stop-gap for a year, but i can't get rid of it while it's running this well!

Oh, nearly forgot to say, automatic choke is non-existent, but it's been that way ever since i got it, and i can put up with one minute of chugging in the morning!

Thanks to anyone that can help.

May 9, 2005

I can't help much with the suspension, but I am almost certain the parts from a 1.3GL will not fit/be correct for the car. You might find the units from a MKI MR2 is more likely to fit and there are a couple of suspension items going on eBay right now.

With regards to your "choke"... The 4AGE engine never had an automatic choke as such. Idle speed is controlled via an item called a "Waxstat"

Here's how it works (thanks to IMOC when I had a coolant problem):

If the coldstart waxstat is open it allows extra air to be drawn past the throttle butterfly,its this extra air that gives us the fast idle when cold,it duplicates you slightly opening the throttle manually. During cold running the ecu to some degree ignores the sensors...Now the green EFI coolant sensor on the head tells the ecu when the engine is warm,the ecu now starts to listen to the MAP sensor which says "throttle partially open" due to the extra air being drawn in via the waxstat. But the ecu is also being told by the TPS (throttle position sensor) that NO throttle is being applied and this is what throws the ecu into a conflict as it battles between the two sensors to control fuelling....

The most common thing to go wrong with cold idling is the waxstat as these have a tendency to stick.

Check out Club 4AGE - Click Here for more information. It's loaded with info for the 86.

HTH :thumbsup: