Desperate For Info

[jonrev]

Think I've made a real booboo. I've just bought a Corolla which seemed a good deal and was just what I was looking for ie a diesel estate which is nice and simple and should be reliable. I want to do a few jobs on her before putting her into service so have tried to find a handbook/workshop manual. neither of which came with the car. That's when the problems started. The car I've bought is a 1998 Corolla diesel 4wd and it appears to be the only one in the world! (well that's what it feels like). After scanning the net for hours with no joy I contacted Toyota who said a handbook would be no prob till I gave them the chassis number. Seems it's an import but they can't tell me where from or any other info- frankly they're not interested.

I'm hoping someone here can help me to sort out some info about the engine in particular. I need a workshop manual for it. The particulars I have are:-

Engine 3C-E 2184cc non turbo diesel

Trans/Axle E59F FA12 constant 4WD

The car is a RHD estate with apparently British fixtures and fittings and it has 'Full time 4wd' printed on the sides. It has macpherson type strut front suspension and old fashioned solid back axle with cart spring rear suspension.

The trim is very basic with only speedo and fuel guage etc. No central locking or remote.

As I say I really do need engine info of some sort as I need to change the cambelt and give it a full service and any details of the rest of the car would be good as I need new brake shoes/pads all round and may well find other things will need sorting.

If anyone can suggest another Toyota which uses this engine and/or mechanicals or a possible source of a manual I would be very grateful.

Thanks in advance

[Boro Sera]

If you're after parts/service items then the Full Model and chassis number will get you these from your local Toyota Dealer - If it won't then it's the dealer being awkward and you should find another one.

Other than that I can't really help much !

[jonrev]

Well thanks for the reply but my Toyota dealership lost interest as soon as he found it wasn't a standard UK model. His computer didn't list it and therefore didn't recognise any parts it uses. Said I might be able to get a handbook from Japan but it would be in Japanese??? Guess I'll just shop around for parts and try to work out how to fit/adjust things. I had hoped the engine might have been used in one of the other Toyotas. Really annoying as I like the car but I imagine I'd be best trying to offload it asap.

Thanks again

[Boro Sera]

Try another Dealership.

Talk to the guys in the parts department - they seem to be universally helpful .

My Car was NEVER sold anywhere outside Japan - no bother getting info and parts for it from Toyota.

You could drop a PM to Parts-King and see if he can help you out ( Lindop Toyota section of the forum )

[jonrev]

Thank you for that and I'll try as you suggest. It was actually the parts department of my Toyota Dealership that I spoke to the other day. It seems the 3C-E engine was used in the Liteace and Townace so I should be able to get info and spares for this???

Feeling more optimistic I decided to replace the brake shoes. I went to my local (and very helpful) car parts shop today with a pair of the old brake shoes and he tried to match them with other Toyota shoes but had no luck so he phoned Toyota while I was there and gave them details and asked for suggestions. He was told that it was very unlikely there were any in the country and if there were Toyota could not help with finding them!

Since one shoe has shed it's lining and the others are completely shot I am stumped again at the moment. Think I should have bought that Peugeot 405 I saw instead :-)

[Andy]

If you take the shoes to a good motor factors they will be able to match the parts, if not they will be able to get the shoes relined.

Also might be worth downloading the Toyota EPC from here http://forums.bauchan.org/portal/downloads.php then you can look up your chassis number and get the parts numbers.

[rickers]

hi;

try this link:

http://www.cars-directory.net/specs/toyota/corolla/1998_4/

you can pick and choose youre model from here.

if your local dealershiip doesn't want to know like said above. find another one. Not much good for yuo but Loders in Yeovil is very helpfull, ask for Paul on 01935 421050. they might sent to you depending on size and weight.

good luck

rick

[bigshark]

drop Parts-King a PM and he'll be able to sort you out!! :)

my car is an import, and granted quite a few parts are used in models sold here, i had no trouble ordering some oem parts from him! my idler was a back order from japan so it took a few days to arrive! and he delivers right to your door step.