New Corolla Owner - Inlet Manifold Destroying Life

[petemagsati]

Hello everyone

I'm from Ireland and just bought an E12 1.4 vvt-i with 43k miles on the clock. Mixed emotions so far, used to have a 1.0 yaris which was rock solid. The first thing (including minor stuff) that went wrong with that (that wasn't my fault!) was a water pump at 70k, and as for driving it was actually brilliant. Great off the line and around corners and connected to the road, but a bit small, ugly, girly and sluggish at high speeds. I loved that car but needed a change.

Love the handling of the corolla, the power (when the throttle finally realises I'm stamping on it), the interior is pretty high quality, and it looks good, but there is a horrible noise coming from the intake manifold (baffle broken/loose). My driver side electric window check strap needed changing 800 miles after I got the car (110 Euros!!!!!!), and 3rd gear is starting to feel dodgy (could be 700 Euro if it eventually goes but I'd rather skip from 2nd to 4th than pay that right now). I fixed a whole host of small problems as well as getting a full service. I'm fine with the stuff that was wrong when I bought the car, but so many things have happened since I got it I feel nervous driving it around hoping nothing will fall off.

The inlet manifold is always there making that noise which reminds me of the money I don't have (350Euro + 150 labour), so maybe when I can get that fixed I'll stop my spiral into paranoid psychosis. Despite my complaining about the thing I spent 4 hours cleaning the interior the other night and it really is a nice looking car. Definitely a love hate relationship so far. Anyway here's a picture.

And does anyone know where to get an inlet manifold for this thing without going through a dealer? I would buy a performance one if I could find one; it would be nice to have that as my first modification instead of the typical air filter, and I would feel like I'm adding something to the car rather than paying to keep it the same.

[G6-R]

try

http://www.deijne.nl or http://www.cartoyotaparts.com

[Black Knight]

How old is the car/when was it first registered?

[Smølfen]

Sounds like your car have been mistreated.

Gearbox problems with 70k on the clock?! What the hell?

My first Corolla had driven 260k km before the original gearbox gave me troubles.

Actually, it sounds like the same problem.

When you're driving in 2nd gear and wanna shift to 3rd.

Do not let the rpm go under what the 3rd gear will go to.

(Sounds weird so let me give an example)

You drive 40km/h in 2nd gear at 3000rpm.

At that same speed in 3rd gear, the car would spin at 2500rpm.

So, when you shift the gear from 2nd to 3rd - do NOT let the engine rev lower than the 2500rpm.

It worked just fine in my old E9 Corolla.

Try it, I don't know the english word for the wrecked part, but in danish it's the "Synkromessering" which has blown.

I think it's called "syncromesh ring" or something like it!

If that's the wrecked part - gee, your car have been raped :(

[petemagsati]

How old is the car/when was it first registered?

2002, you can tell on Irish cars by the number plate 02-DL = 2002 Donegal. It was originally a UK car but the previous owner imported it from Northern Ireland and registered it here.

[petemagsati]

Sounds like your car have been mistreated.........

70k (miles) was the mileage on the Yaris! The Corolla only has 44k miles on it. Yes it has been raped, unfortunately the guy before me was a fireman who used to start the car up and drive the hell out of it for about 30 seconds to the station near his house anytime there was a fire in his town. The gear oil was cold every time the car has been driven for the last 5000 miles! It goes into 3rd gear fine most of the time, its maybe 1 in 20 changes that just don't work and I have to let out a bit of clutch to get it in. You're right about the synchromesh too, because the gears are always connected to eachother, and when you shift you just connect one to the shaft with the synchromesh, nothing actually happens with the gears except more torque going through them. As for the matching revs thing, I'm used to doing it just to get smooth changes, but how I actually move the gearstick into 3rd seems to have more effect.

I got the car for 2500 less than market price, so I'm gambling with whether the engine was strong enough to hold up to the abuse it got from the fireman. So far I'm pretty lucky, I'm told the inlet manifold thing is a common problem and nothing else has gone wrong mechanically. I'm crossing my fingers!

[Black Knight]

In pre-2002 cars it's very common. After that they're pretty good, hence my question earlier.