Carina

[newbyowner]

hello all

I've just bought a 1996 carina e 1.8 gs, I just wondered if there were any common faults to know about or keep an eye on.

Many thanks

[chon]

-steering rack prone to leaking (premature failure of oil seals)

[Danny K]

From 2001 until a fortnight ago, I worked my way through two Carina E 1.8 lean burn's until ultimately they both ended up as 'scrap'.

- As mentioned above, the steering rack is very prone to leaking/packing-up. Steering-rack specialists quoted £500 all-in for fully refurbished and fitted steering racks. The Carina's are that reliable, I drove them through the 'crises' with faulty steering racks - hence 11 months without an MOT until the tax ran out. Listen, I was/am very poor. :(

Another inherent fault of equal concern is the crunching (failing synchromesh) gearbox, like the steering rack they all tend to suffer greatly from these two maladies - and again, as it's mostly motorway driving I did, I decided in the end to just 'put up' with it.

And one thing that goes on all of them and IS very expensive, is the oxygen sensor in the exhaust system. Had to pay for that; £300+ at main Toyota dealers.

Then there's the Lambada sensor that pops it clogs too - identified usually by the engine light that comes on, and stays on. This sensor is at the front of the engine bay and is easy and dead simple to fit - 20 seconds tops! That is, if you can obtain a secondhand one from the scrap yard. When selling the first Carina which was sold as without MOT - I got £185 for it on eBay. The buyer brought a Vauxhall Lambada sensor with him - he fitted it there and then - and the red engine light in the dash went out after being 'on' for 12 months. A cheap Vauxhall part fitting a Toyota, doh! - What are the odds?

And finally, (although there are other common faults suffered by others, I'm just listing mine) the throttle assembly WILL start 'sticking' - in all of them - (after all, these cars are all over 12 years old and more, now). You have to kick down hard on the throttle pedal in the morning to 'break' it. Yet another thing I learnt to live with. Getting a scrapyard throttle assembly replacement is pointless as on average they all tend to go like that. It's either new (a small fortune) - or just put up with it. The Carina E's (E for Europe) were generally reckoned to be fault prone when built by Europeans - so production was pulled from their/our incompetent European hands in 1997 - the year they ceased production - my second Carina was a '97 - it still misbehaved like the first, a '96

- Oh, and they wear through a pair of front tyres in record time, the like of which, no other car can match for rapidity of wear - Should be in the Guinness book of records really for that - hence mine were shod with the cheapest, budget-priced, Chinese imitation, fake rubber, available.

Having said all that - not once did either car breakdown or refuse to start first time, every time. I never got less than 50 miles to the gallon (I'm 99% motorway driving) - and the second car never had an oil change in over a year and half and 25,000 miles of its end life - and still returned 50 mpg (I knew it would not be sold on, but scrapped hence the driving it into the ground, literally). In short despite the faults, I thoroughly enjoyed the huge luggage space and all-conquering fuel economy of my Carina's. For the money, rather than fix the expensive faults, I used them as disposable transport - if it passed the Mot it lived for another year, if not, then buy another that comes attached to an MOT, they're only five hundred quid nowadays on average, just about get you a quality bicycle that.

The car borne of the Carina E - the Avensis I have now, is superior in every way - AND even MORE economical - and like the Carina - has the largest luggage space in it's class. But this time it will get it's oil changed. I've finished behaving towards my car like I'm some sort of automotive 'Dexter'. :)

[Red diesel]

To put all thats been said in prospective - fault prone means i assume fault prone by Toyota standards - given that Toyotas were generally fantastic for reliability - its possible for something to have only 75% of the reliability of a fully reliable Toyota - and still be a very reliable car.

Also the bills while high - are not at all excessive when compared to what goes wrong on other cars - you want to see the bills that some of the modern turbo diesels (of all makes) are landing their owners. I think the main problem with the steering racks at this stage of the cars life - isn't so much the fact that they go - its the fact that the cost of fixing it is almost as much (if not more) then the cars worth.

Id still say a Carina E is more reliable than more recent Toyotas (ive not heard of them burning a litre of oil per 1000 miles after only a very low mileage like the later VVTI engined cars for a start). Theres no doubt though that they were not quite as good as some of the cars that went before them (JD Power noted that based on owner replys to their survey that (at the time) they weren't quite as good as normal for a Toyota (at the time being mid to late 90s) - but thats like saying that one formula 1 car is quicker then another - all formula 1 cars (even the crappy ones at the back of the field) are very very fast. I think its worth remembering that they were/are used a lot by taxi drivers (who bearing in mind that time off the road means no income) aren't too inclined to bother with unreliable cars.

If the cars in good condition - you should not have too many problems

Best wishes anyway - one more car thats avoided the 2 grand scrappage scheme

Red diesel

[gbone]

I have had four carinas over the years all used as taxis with pretty much no problems at all the only reason I got rid of two of them was to have a change of interior,out of all of them I preferred the J reg carina II the best, a phenomenal car I sold it with over 200,000 miles(petrol) on 8 years ago and its still going now I see it every now and again around town.

My last was a R reg 1.8 GS,I found the only thing apart from servicing which you have to do anyway, was my abs light would stay on sometimes but usually once the car had warmed up a restart would have the light going off and I had to do this before the MOTs run round for a bit then switch the engine on and off and it would sail through the MOT it was ridiculous to try and solve as I spent a few hundred and got no closer to fixing it, I needed a new radiator once as well and that was it,flew through 4 MOTs.

Ironically I am after a cheap carina E now as a runaround(I genuinely would not spend money on any other cheap second hand car) preferably a cdx or an executive and cant find anything locally that isnt overpriced or a bit tatty 100 miles away its insane two years ago due to new council rules I could have bought 30 ex taxis off friends alone,now I want one Im struggling.I will land on one sooner or later off eBay or an auction nearby.

In my experience which is a lot of miles in them ,keep them serviced regularly and no other car will give you such trouble free motoring for a little bit of money,I am lucky that I have a few toyota scrapyards owned by ex taxi friends all in my area so keeping them on the road is relatively pain free when something goes wrong which like I say for me was very rarely